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Patterns of Elite Faunal Utilization at Moundville, Alabama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

H. Edwin Jackson  and
Susan L. Scott
H. Edwin Jackson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5074
Susan L. Scott
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5074
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Abstract

In recent years, zooarchaeological research has begun to examine the roles of animals as part of the suite of symbols employed in the ongoing social, ceremonial, and political dynamics of prehistoric cultural systems. In the southeastern United States, studies of late prehistoric Mississippian chiefdoms have documented differences in species composition and meat cuts associated with particular social contexts of consumption—for instance, ceremonial feasting vs. private meals—and also with gross distinctions in social rank—elite vs. commoner. Differences in the latter reflect elite control of procurement as well as cultural rules that assign meanings to certain species, which in so doing regulates access to their consumption. Faunal samples collected by recent mound excavations at the Moundville site in west-central Alabama provide the basis for an examination of more subtle differences in the consumption patterns of elite residents. Zooarchaeological samples produced by two elite households, although generally similar and fitting expectations for elite consumption well, are distinguished by differences in the distribution of rare species, the role of fish, and possibly by evidence of differences in food waste, distinctions that can be associated with interpretations of these households' relative status in Moundville society drawn from other classes of archaeological data.

Resumen

Resumen

En años recientes, la investigación zooarqueológica ha comenzado a examinar las funciones de los animales dentro de la dinámica del contexto social, ceremonial y polí tico como parte de una serie de símbolos empleados continuamente en los sistemas culturales prehistóricos. En el sureste de los Estados Unidos, estudios sobre los asentamientos del período prehistó rico tardío de la cultura Mississippi, han documentado diferencias en la composición de especies y cortes de carne asociadas con contextos sociales particulares de consume alimenticio (por ejemplo, diferencias entre festines ceremoniales y comidas domésticas) y también con grandes diferencias en el estrato social (por ejemplo, entre la élite y los plebeyos). Las diferencias entre este último reflejan el control de la élite sobre las compras así como en las normas culturales relacionadas con el significado de ciertas especies y que al hacerlo, regulan el acceso al consumo. En excavaciones recientes llevadas a cabo en el sitio arqueológico de Moundville, localizado en la zona centro occidental del estado de Alabama, se han recogido muestras de fauna que proveen la base para un análisis de diferencias más sutiles en los patrones del consume alimenticio de la élite. A pesar de algunas semejanzas generales y que encajan bien dentro de las expectativas del consumo de la élite, las muestras zooarqueológicas excavadas en dos viviendas pertenecientes a ese contexto se distinguen por las diferencias en la distribución de especies raras, la función del pescado y la evidencia de desperdicios de comida o métodos alternos para la preparación de alimentos. Estas distinciones pueden estar asociadas con las interpretaciones del estrato social de los habitantes de estas viviendas en Moundville, que han sido formuladas en base a otros tipos de datos arqueológicos.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 68 , Issue 3 , July 2003 , pp. 552 - 572
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2003

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