Archaeologies of Cosmoscapes in the Americas

J. Grant Stauffer is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. His doctoral research is on landscape transformations, mound building, and coalescence at the Cahokia site in Illinois. His research interests include iconographic analysis, ceramic analysis, geoarchaeology, geophysical prospection in archaeology, and their applications in the Eastern Woodlands of North America. Bretton T. Giles is Assistant Research Professor in the Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work Department at Kansas State University. He serves as KSU supervisory archaeologist at the Fort Riley Army Installation in north-central Kansas. Shawn P. Lambert is an assistant professor of anthropology and senior research associate with the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State University. He is also a co-editor of the book, New Methods and Theories for Analyzing Mississippian Imagery.

1. Front matter

1.1. Introduction: Approaching cosmoscapes

J. Grant Stauffer, Shawn P. Lambert, and Bretton T. Giles

 

2. Objects as cosmoscapes

2.1. Modeling the cosmos: Rim-effigy bowl iconography in the central Mississippi valley

Madelaine Azar and Vincas P. Steponaitis

2.2. Of snakes and masks: Retrospective clues to understand the meaning of Pre-Columbian Maya greenstone mosaic masks

Juan-Carlos Melendez, David A. Freidel, and Daniel E. Aquino

2.3. Negotiating Oneota and Tunica cosmoscapes in the lower Mississippi valley

David Dye

2.4. Sacrifice and the sun: The Aztec calendar stone and its origins

Annabeth Headrick

2.5. Cahokia’s wandering supernaturals: What does it mean when the earth mother leaves town?

Steven L. Boles

2.6. Hallucinogens and cosmoscapes: Datura production, consumption, and iconography in the central Arkansas river valley

Shawn P. Lambert

 

3. Placemaking and cultivating cosmoscapes

3.1. Center Posts, thunder symbolism, and community organization at Cahokia Mounds, Illinois

Joy Mersmann and J. Grant Stauffer

3.2. Mound 2 at the Hopewell site as cosmoscape

Bretton T. Giles, Brian M. Rowe, and Ryan M. Parish

3.3. Revealing the origins and cultural connections of the Braden art style

James Duncan and Carol Diaz-Granados

3.4. Persistent memories and cosmic futures: Ancient placemaking in the Tallahassee Uplands of Florida

Jesse Nowak and Charles Rainville

3.5. Whirlwind of a woman: An iconographic analysis of earth mother iconography

Melinda A. Martin

3.6. Portals of prophecy and creation: Spiro’s spirit lodge and an ancient American tradition

David Freidel

 

4. Back matter

4.1. Conclusion

F. Kent Reilly