Reconstructing Tascalusa's Chiefdom

Amanda L. Regnier

ISBN 10: 0817318402 / ISBN 13: 9780817318406

Published by The University of Alabama Press, US, 2014

About this Item

Reconstructing Tascalusa's Chiefdom is an archaeological study of political collapse in the Alabama River Valley following the Hernado de Soto expedition.To explain the cultural and political disruptios caused by Hernado de Soto's exploration deep into north America, Amanda L. Regnier presents an analysis of ceramics and a novel theory of cultural exchange, which argues that culture consists of a series of interconnected models governing proper behaviour that are shared across the belief systems of communities and individuals. An approach not often applied to archaeological research, ceramic study serves as a test of whether historic cognitive models can be extracted from ceramic data via cluster and correspondence analysis. In addition, the summary of Late Mississippian sites includes a chronology of the Alabama River from approximately AD 900 to 1600, which previously has only existed in manuscript form, and a summary of excavations at major Late Mississippian sites along the Alabama River.The results of the study demonstrate that the Alabama River Valley was settled by populations migrating from three different geographic regions during the late fifteenth century. The mixture of ceramic models associated with all three traditions at Late Mississippian sites suggests that these newly founded towns had a distinct mix of ethnically and linguistically diverse populations. Based on the archaeological record, the polity controlled by Tascalusa appears to have been both multi-ethnic and newly formed. Perhaps most significantly, Tascalusa's chiefdom appears to be a pre-contact example of a coalescent society that emerged after populations migrated into a new region from the deteriorating Mississippian chiefdoms in their homelands.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780817318406

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Reconstructing Tascalusa's Chiefdom
• Publisher: The University of Alabama Press, US
• Publication Date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0817318402
• ISBN 13: 9780817318406
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Dimensions: 15.24W x 2.03H x 22.86D centimeters 15.24 centimeters width by 2.03 centimeters height by 22.86 centimeters depth
• Weight: 431 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Reconstructing Tascalusa’s Chiefdom is an archaeological study of political collapse in the Alabama River Valley following the Hernando de Soto expedition.


To explain the cultural and political disruptions caused by Hernando de Soto's exploration deep into north America, Amanda L. Regnier presents an innovative analysis of ceramics and theory of cultural exchange. She argues that culture consists of a series of interconnected models governing proper behavior that are shared across the belief systems of communities and individuals. Historic cognitive models derived from ceramic data via cluster and correspondence analysis can effectively be used to examine these models and explain cultural exchange. 

 

The results of Regnier's work demonstrate that the Alabama River Valley was settled by populations migrating from three different regions during the late fifteenth century. The mixture of ceramic models associated with these traditions at Late Mississippian sites suggests that these newly founded towns, controlled by Tascalusa, comprised ethnically and linguistically diverse populations. Perhaps most significantly, Tascalusa's chiefdom appears to be a precontact example of a coalescent society that emerged after populations migrated from the deteriorating Mississippian chiefdoms into a new region.

 

A summary of excavations at Late Mississippian sites also includes the first published chronology of the Alabama River from approximately AD 900 to 1600.

About the Author

Amanda L. Regnier is a research archaeologist with the Oklahoma Archeological Survey at the University of Oklahoma. Her research interests include archaeology of the Late Mississippian and Protohistoric periods in central Alabama, prehistoric Caddo sites in southeast Oklahoma, and removal-period Indian sites in eastern Oklahoma.