Archaeology of the Moundville Chiefdom: Chronology, Content, Contest

4. Domestic Life on the Northwest Riverbank at Moundville

4. Domestic Life on the Northwest Riverbank at Moundville C. MARGARET SCARRY OUR DEPICTIONS OF MOUNDVILLE tend to emphasize glamorous political, economic, and ritual activities. Considerably less has been said about mundane domestic activities. Recent excavations on the riverbank on the northwest edge ofMoundville uncovered residential deposits dating to the Moundville I phase (AD 1050-1250). This chapter first describes the results of the riverbank excavations and then uses the data from the riverbank combined with information from earlier excavations to examine several aspects of domestic life at Moundville. Moundville and its associated sites have been the subjects of archaeological investigations for more than 100 years. As a result, we have a reasonably good understanding of the social, political, and economic organization ofMoundville and the polity it dominated. Despite this, there are some curious gaps in our knowledge. Notably, our depictions of Moundville's history emphasize the grand picture. We know considerably less about the domestic arrangements and mundane activities ofthe people who lived at Moundville and elsewhere in the Black Warrior Valley. Recent excavations on the northwest riverbank ofthe Moundville site exposed houses, fortifications, and burials. Except for the burials, most of the remains date to the Moundville I phase (AD 1050-1250). Thus, they provide data about the period when construction ofthe mound-and-plaza complex was begun and Moundville gained political dominance over the 64 SCAR RY valley (chap. 3; Steponaitis 1991:197-198). The new evidence complements previous evidence about Moundville's development and provides insights about domestic life in a dynamic period. In the following pages, I summarize what was found near the riverbank and use the data to examine several aspects of daily life at the paramount center. THE RIVERBANK EXCAVATIONS The people who built Moundville selected a high terrace overloolcing the Black Warrior River for their mound-and-plaza complex. This location provided a commanding view of the river. Unfortunately, today the steep riverbank is eroding in several places, and valuable archaeological resources are being lost. In 1991, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, began a project to stabilize the riverbank on the northwest edge of Moundville, where erosion was threatening both archaeological deposits and the Nelson B.Jones Conference Building (see areas labeled PA and ECB on figure 4.1). To prevent further erosion, the existing bank had to be cut back and reangled. In the fall and winter of 1991-1992, a crew from the Alabama Museum of Natural History Division of Archaeology conducted excavations to mitigate the impact of the stabilization project. PREVIOUS RESEARCH NEAR THE NORTHWEST RIVERBANK The area on the northwest periphery of Moundville had received considerably less attention than the central mound-and-plaza complex. Insofar as we could determine from the records stored at Moundville Archaeological Park, past investigations of this area were limited to four brief excavations. In March 1948, Steve B. Wimberly and Lewis Larson conducted test excavations before construction of the picnic shelter that is now known as the Nelson B. Jones Conference Building. (Their notes are on file at Moundville Archaeological Park.) WImberly and Larson found six burials, several parallel "stockade" trenches, and portions oftrenches for bastions that connected to the main palisade lines. 0 0 Op 0 0 OS ~N G OM C'T OJ H 4 L OK ~J ........ o 250 meters Fig. 4.1. Location of excavations in Moundville I deposits at Moundville. Courtesy Office ofArchaeological Services, University ofAlabama Museums. 66 SCARRY Later that year, Wimberly, Larson, and Charlie Lott excavated an area a few meters southeast of the new picnic building prior to the construction of a drainage ditch for that structure. They found a single poorly preserved burial but little else. A year later in August 1949, E. C. Chapman and Charlie Lott excavated a small patch of "kitchen midden" due east of the Conference Building. A brief note by Chapman describes the midden as containing abundant sherds, as well as animal bones, mica, and stones. He gave the distance from the Conference Building but provided no other information about the nature or circumstances of the excavation. Besides the excavations done in the late 1940S, one other small excavation was conducted near the Conference Building. In 1979, a field crew that I directed as part of the University ofMichigan's Moundville Archaeological Project placed two test units on a knoll south of the Conference Building (area labeled SCB on figure 4.1...