“…Finally, while no tobacco seeds have been identified from Feltus, we collected fragments of more than 20 ceramic pipes (Figure 7), and initial residue analysis suggests both tobacco and other plants were smoked during the feasts (Carmody et al 2018). For most Native groups, the act of smoking signifies or creates community bonds and helps to facilitate interactions by concealing apparent differences and making strangers into temporary kin (Rafferty and Mann 2004; Springer 1981; Steinmetz 1984), suggesting a solidarity-driven purpose behind these inclusions. Figure 7.Photographs of Feltus pipes: (a–c) undecorated elbow pipes from Feltus Archaeological Project excavations; (d) French Fork Incised pipe bowl from Feltus Archaeological Project excavations; (e) French Fork Incised pipe bowl in the collection of Robert Prospere, Natchez, Mississippi; (f) stone pipe collected in the 1840s by Montroville W. Dickeson (image courtesy of the Penn Museum, Image #237710, Object 14328).…”
Section: Archaeology Of the Feltus Moundsmentioning
This article contributes to an ongoing critical examination of feasting by developing a classification scheme that emphasizes the variable contexts in which feasts have occurred. Many recent archaeological and ethnographic accounts have focused on the political and economic roles feasts play in creating power and status differences among participants, while others have highlighted how they build community and increase solidarity within a group. My scheme reconceptualizes the term by giving two independent variables—group size and level of sociopolitical competition—equal roles in determining whether a given eating event is a feast; in turn, my dual-dimensional model facilitates more sophisticated interpretations of archaeological remains. After outlining its utility for describing and comparing eating events, this article evaluates the evidence for feasting at a precontact Native American mound site in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Botanical, faunal, and ceramic analyses of materials from the Feltus mounds (AD 750–1100) reveal fairly typical food-related assemblages, whereas the sheer amount of material, speed with which it was deposited, and size of individual specimens are exceptional. The resulting interpretation emphasizes feasting's role in creating and maintaining group solidarity at Feltus and advances understanding of noncompetitive outcomes of feasting behavior in the precontact American Southeast.
“…Finally, while no tobacco seeds have been identified from Feltus, we collected fragments of more than 20 ceramic pipes (Figure 7), and initial residue analysis suggests both tobacco and other plants were smoked during the feasts (Carmody et al 2018). For most Native groups, the act of smoking signifies or creates community bonds and helps to facilitate interactions by concealing apparent differences and making strangers into temporary kin (Rafferty and Mann 2004; Springer 1981; Steinmetz 1984), suggesting a solidarity-driven purpose behind these inclusions. Figure 7.Photographs of Feltus pipes: (a–c) undecorated elbow pipes from Feltus Archaeological Project excavations; (d) French Fork Incised pipe bowl from Feltus Archaeological Project excavations; (e) French Fork Incised pipe bowl in the collection of Robert Prospere, Natchez, Mississippi; (f) stone pipe collected in the 1840s by Montroville W. Dickeson (image courtesy of the Penn Museum, Image #237710, Object 14328).…”
Section: Archaeology Of the Feltus Moundsmentioning
This article contributes to an ongoing critical examination of feasting by developing a classification scheme that emphasizes the variable contexts in which feasts have occurred. Many recent archaeological and ethnographic accounts have focused on the political and economic roles feasts play in creating power and status differences among participants, while others have highlighted how they build community and increase solidarity within a group. My scheme reconceptualizes the term by giving two independent variables—group size and level of sociopolitical competition—equal roles in determining whether a given eating event is a feast; in turn, my dual-dimensional model facilitates more sophisticated interpretations of archaeological remains. After outlining its utility for describing and comparing eating events, this article evaluates the evidence for feasting at a precontact Native American mound site in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Botanical, faunal, and ceramic analyses of materials from the Feltus mounds (AD 750–1100) reveal fairly typical food-related assemblages, whereas the sheer amount of material, speed with which it was deposited, and size of individual specimens are exceptional. The resulting interpretation emphasizes feasting's role in creating and maintaining group solidarity at Feltus and advances understanding of noncompetitive outcomes of feasting behavior in the precontact American Southeast.
“…Ethnohistoric accounts indicate a variety of plants that were smoked in addition to tobacco, including Cornus sp. (Dogwood), Juniperus species (Juniper), Rhus glabra (Sumac) and Arctostaphylus uva-ursi (Bearberry) (Brown, 1989;Hall, 1977;Springer, 1981;Yarnell, 1964). The limitation is that the use of select ion monitoring for GCeMS requires the researcher to look for the presence/absence of compounds, rather than scan for all compounds.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 98%
“…Ethnohistoric evidence indicates that the use of tobacco was ubiquitous to Native American cultures at the time of contact (Springer, 1981). A practice with such a wide geographic distribution should have deep prehistoric roots, but the chronology of its origin and spread is still poorly understood due to a lack of botanical data.…”
“…Still, if tobacco was encouraged, tended, or even planted, this would be one of the earliest human-modified plants in the region, showing that non-subsistence plants played a significant role in early horticulture in addition to edible plants such as chenopodium or sunflower. Ethnohistoric and ethnographic evidence does contain examples of tobacco cultivation by non-agricultural Native American societies [24]. If further research indicates that the Adena and their Middlesex contemporaries were actively growing tobacco that would make Nicotiana tobacco one of the earliest known domesticated species in eastern North America.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 98%
“…And while the prehistory of tobacco is better known than that of other non-subsistence plants, there is still much to learn and residue analysis of tobacco alkaloids, primarily nicotine, is the most promising approach. Ethnohistoric evidence indicates that the use of tobacco was ubiquitous to Native American cultures at the time of contact, from California to eastern Canada [24]. Such a widespread practice can be expected to have deep prehistoric roots, but the exact timeframe of its adoption is poorly understood.…”
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