The dynamics of pre-state political centralization in the North American midcontinent.

Abstract

Previous theoretical studies of the civilizing process have considered pre-state political centralization independent of the process of the formation of and interaction between social classes. From a political-cultural perspective, the two are inextricably bound. The regional political consolidation of chiefly authority at Cahokia, located in the Mississippi River floodplain of southwestern Illinois, is to be seen in the context of the long-term development of a cultural hegemony. When and how the political authority of complex chiefdoms may have been established and perpetuated is understood with reference to the diffusion of an elite ideology, elite actions in accord with this ideology, and the alienation of low-ranking subgroups from their traditional past. A relatively fine-scale subphase chronology is developed using K-means grouping and multidimensional-scaling procedures. This chronology permits the measurement of community-organizational and refuse-compositional change using architectural and artifactual evidence from the paramount chiefly center of Cahokia. Diachronic changes in the density of nonlocal items and craft-goods residues originating in the Ozark highlands, the Interior Low Plateau, and the Coastal Plain along with changes in community plans, the form and tempo of monument construction, and the appearance of decorative motifs on pots are analyzed. A qualitative shift in the political economy and community structure of prehistoric Cahokia is identified, corresponding to changes in the regional settlement patterns. It is inferred that regional political centralization occurred prior to the ultimate sacralization of chiefly authority. There exist indications of an initial (Lohmann-phase, A.D. 1000-1050) collaborative paramountcy legitimized through the control of exotica and esoterica and symbolized by hand-held objects or weaponry. This apparently was followed decades later by the iconographic and monumental signs of a divine chiefship (Stirling phase, A.D. 1050-1150), to the possible detriment of the continued expansion of the regional political economy. These results serve to highlight the critical importance of human consciousness, actions, and ideology in our understanding of the emergence of complex chiefdoms and social class, and in the evolution of inequality among human social formations in general.