Chiefdoms, Collapse, and Coalescence in the Early American South

Abstract

This book provides a new conceptual framework for understanding how the Indian nations of the early American South emerged from the ruins of a precolonial, Mississippian world. A broad regional synthesis that ranges over much of the Eastern Woodlands, its focus is on the Indians of the Carolina Piedmont - the Catawbas and their neighbors - from 1400 to 1725. Using an 'eventful' approach to social change, Robin Beck argues that the collapse of the Mississippian world was fundamentally a transformation of political economy, from one built on maize to one of guns, slaves and hides. The story takes us from first encounters through the rise of the Indian slave trade and the scourge of disease to the wars that shook the American South in the early 1700s. Yet the book's focus remains on the Catawbas, drawing on their experiences in a violent, unstable landscape to develop a comparative perspective on structural continuity and change.

Cropping in an Age of Captive Taking: Exploring Evidence for Uncertainty and Food Insecurity in the Seventeenth-Century North Carolina Piedmont

“…Keeping issues of field scattering and future discounting in mind, I shift my focus to the North Carolina Piedmont, summarizing major social and political changes that occurred from the Late Woodland period to the seventeenth century. I argue that the mid-seventeenth century was a critical turning point for indigenous peoples of the North Carolina Piedmont (sensu Beck 2013). Around this time, English traders and indigenous slavers began conducting business in the region, activities that I and others (see Beck 2013; Ethridge 2010; Meyers 2009) argue ultimately resulted in the introduction of a new mode of commodity exchange and the widespread destabilization of indigenous polities.…”

“…I argue that the mid-seventeenth century was a critical turning point for indigenous peoples of the North Carolina Piedmont (sensu Beck 2013). Around this time, English traders and indigenous slavers began conducting business in the region, activities that I and others (see Beck 2013; Ethridge 2010; Meyers 2009) argue ultimately resulted in the introduction of a new mode of commodity exchange and the widespread destabilization of indigenous polities. To properly assess the gravity of these developments it is necessary to conceptualize major changes to the social climate of the North Carolina Piedmont that occurred in the preceding years.…”

“…Inhabiting the northern area of the Piedmont, Late Woodland peoples erected politically autonomous palisaded villages and practiced relatively egalitarian social relations; mortuary evidence suggests that gender and age were important axes of identity that differentially impacted burial treatment (Beck 2013:47–48; Eastman 2001). In contrast, South Appalachian Mississippians, located in the central and southern portions of the Piedmont, negotiated hierarchical social relationships, constructed earthen mounds on which they held feasting events performed for large audiences, and created regional, multicommunity polities (i.e., chiefdoms) with political centers that exercised control over surrounding villages (Beck 2013:30, 33; Boudreaux 2007; Ward and Davis 1999:119).

Figure 1.Approximate locations of study sites, Native towns/groups, and assorted landmarks mentioned in the text.

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The Iron in the Posthole: Witchcraft, Women's Labor, and Spanish Folk Ritual at the Berry Site

“…; Hudson ). The leader of Joara, referred to in the accounts as Joara Mico ( mico was a native term for regional or multicommunity chief [Anderson ; Hudson ]), held some authority over towns on the upper Catawba River and its tributaries (Beck :85). Pardo renamed this town Cuenca, after his own native city in Spain.…”

“…Charles Hudson (:91) observes that the Chisca peoples were probably the bearers of Pisgah culture. Sherds from no fewer than eight Pisgah‐style ceramic vessels were recovered from the fill of Feature 112, and because Pisgah towns were almost certainly among those devastated by Moyano (e.g., Beck :76–78; Hudson :91), it is likely that the materials recovered from Feature 112 represent the labor of Pisgah (or Chisca) women taken back to Fort San Juan from these destroyed towns (Moore et al ).…”