In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

In the preceding pages we addressed some fundamental issues in the development of complex society in the ancient American Southeast. As a research strategy, models of sociopolitical organization were evaluated with evidence generated through archaeological excavations. Our research goal was to identify forms and scales of political and social integration in the lower Chattahoochee River region during the interval from A.D. 1100 to A.D. 1650 as a case study of sociopolitical change and variation in Mississippian rank societies. Taking a regional perspective, we focused on mound sites, the central places of polities. The number of same-period mounds at centers and the distances between same-period centers provided measures of polity complexity , hierarchy, and territory, and allowed us to trace polity forms and boundaries through time. By mapping the spatial extent of mound centers with shared ceramic styles for a series of time periods, we identi¤ed ceramic style zones and style-zone frontiers, distributional patterns that identify collective social identities and measure the scale of social integration. We proposed that the expansion and contraction of political and social integration in the study area was driven by a complex interplay of social and environmental factors such as population movement, the mobilization of surpluses, polity interaction, and climate change. An interpretive synopsis of the research ¤ndings is now in order. Research Synopsis From A.D. 900 to A.D. 1100, there were no mound-center polities in the lower Chattahoochee River region. The Averett and Wakulla ceramic phases, 8 Research Synopsis and Theory Synthesis products of indigenous populations without evidence of social ranking, have distinct styles with continuity from antecedent pottery traditions. From A.D. 1100 to A.D. 1200, peoples of nonlocal origin settled in the vacant frontier between the Averett and Wakulla territories. The immigrants established at least three polities marked by mound centers. The newcomer’s pottery styles (Rood I phase), architecture, forti¤cations, and other artifacts had no regional precedent, but faithfully replicated a regional variant of Middle Mississippi material culture previously established elsewhere. At the Mandeville site, the Mississippian settlers refurbished an abandoned Middle Woodland mound in an apparent attempt to assert a link to the past and bolster the legitimacy of territorial claims. Indigenous populations reacted to the Mississippian pioneers by unprecedented moves toward political integration. Averett populations constructed the Kyle mound center far removed from the closest Rood I center. The Averett–Rood I frontier was relatively impermeable to shared styles, most likely an indication of an antagonistic relationship. Farther south, Wakulladerived Early Fort Walton populations created mound-center polities on the Apalachicola River. The low frequency of ceramic types shared between Rood I and Early Fort Walton centers suggests a closed frontier between hostile, mutually distancing populations. During the A.D. 1200–1400 interval, descendents of the Mississippian founding population abandoned some original centers and founded new ones. Climate data from elsewhere in Georgia suggest that high-rainfall conditions from A.D. 1251 to A.D. 1359 favored mobilization of surpluses by elites to support larger populations and polity interaction. Regional political integration accelerated with the establishment of the multiple-mound Cemochechobee center. Participation in the inter-regional exchange of SECC goods re®ected the desire of emergent elites for access to panregional symbols that legitimated claims to authority. Regional leaders capitalized on a middleman position in an alliance-exchange network that linked them to other elites at Etowah, Moundville, and Lake Jackson. Indigenous Averett populations had a single-mound polity at Abercrombie until A.D. 1300, when the Northern zone was abandoned. Unlike Rood I–II phase pottery styles, many Averett ceramic assemblages have complicated stamped pottery, a utilitarian style shared with mound-center polities in the upper Chattahoochee and Etowah river valleys. The Averett af¤liation with northern Georgia polities may represent either a shared cultural heritage or a more expedient alliance in response to the threat from nearby Rood I–II polities. With Averett populations gone and no occupied centers in the Northern zone, regional political and social integration peaked in Rood III times, A.D. 1300–1400. For the ¤rst time, polities in the lower Chattahoochee River region shared a single ceramic style zone. The Rood II–III phase utiliresearch synopsis and theory synthesis / 137 tarian ceramic styles had a distinctive regional cast, yet continuity in form and decoration with the transported tradition of the founding pioneers was still evident. The multiple-mound polities of Rood’s Landing and SingerMoye , and the single-mound Omussee Creek polity...

Share