Conflict, Trade, and Political Development on the Southern Plains

Abstract

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Isotope paleoecology of episodic mid-to-late Holocene bison population expansions in the Southern Plains, U.S.A.

“…A variety of bison hunting strategies on the Plains are documented for early Younger Dryas-age occupations onward (Guthrie, 1980;Bamforth, 1988Bamforth, , 2011Frison, 1991Frison, , 1998Frison, , 2004Bement and Buehler, 1994;Cooper, 2008;Bozell et al, 2011;Carlson and Bement, 2013). Even in Late Prehistoric times, agriculturalists in the American Southwest and in Mississippi River drainages to the east often hunted for or traded bison parts, including robes and dried meat, bringing them into frequent contact with Plains tribes (Vehik, 1990(Vehik, , 2002Creel, 1991;Spielmann, 1991;Speth and Newlander, 2012). It is not an overstatement to say that bison exploitation played a significant role in shaping regional prehistoric and early historic economies across the Plains.…”

Political economic reorganization among non-state societies: A case study using Middle Holocene mortuary data from the Cis-Baikal, Russia

“…Archaeologists and ethnographers in the last several decades have also started to examine political economic organization among non-state societies, demonstrating great variation in the economic frameworks from which power relations derive in these contexts (e.g., Arnold, 1996aArnold, , pp. 60-62, 2009Earle, 2002;Hayden, 2001;Spielmann, 2002;Vehik, 2002;Wiessner, 2002Wiessner, , 2009. In this paper I discuss sources of variation in political economic organization among non-state societies, using the Middle Holocene huntergatherers who inhabited the Cis-Baikal, Russia, as a case study.…”

A Council Circle at Etzanoa? Multi-sensor Drone Survey at an Ancestral Wichita Settlement in Southeastern Kansas

“…Based on their unusual configuration, the archaeological materials they contain, and their alignments, Wedel (1967, 1977) argues that council circles were primarily ritual centers and suggests they may have functioned as astronomical calendars. Conversely, excavations show that council circles often contain not only significant evidence of domestic occupation, including hearths, grinding stones, and lithics, but also a high percentage of elite and imported objects, leading Vehik (2002a, 2002b) to argue that they are best interpreted as the residences of chiefly or priestly elites. Alternatively, some scholars have argued that council circles are defensive fortifications, similar to those found elsewhere in the Great Plains (Baugh 2007; Baugh and Blaine 2017; Drass et al 2018; Hollinger 2005).…”

“…Although earlier scholars had suggested locations for the Great Settlement/Etzanoa as far south as Oklahoma and as far north as the area previously explored by Coronado, the most common view, based on the description of the route traveled by the Oñate expedition, is that the settlement was located at the confluence of the Walnut and Arkansas Rivers (Hammond and Rey 1953; Vehik 1986, 2002a; Wedel 1990). If true, archaeological remains of the settlement might therefore be found within the Walnut River focus sites of the Great Bend aspect.…”

“…Excavations of council circles have revealed habitations, cache pits, ritual offerings, and exotic goods within pits and beneath mounds, leading to an ongoing debate among specialists regarding their function. Council circles have been interpreted variously as astronomical calendars and ritual sites (Wedel 1967), the residences of chiefly elites or warrior societies (Vehik 2002a, 2002b), or as a regional variant of defensive fortifications found throughout much of the southern Great Plains (Baugh and Blaine 2017; Drass et al 2018; Hollinger 2005). Whatever their purpose, most scholars agree that, although these circular earthworks may have once been more common, twentieth-century agricultural land use in the southern Great Plains has likely destroyed most evidence of these features.…”