Moundville, near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is one of the largest pre-Columbian mound sites in North America. Comprising twenty-nine earthen mounds that were once platforms for chiefly residences and temples, Moundville was a major political and religious center for the people living in its region and for the wider Mississippian world. A much-needed synthesis of the rapidly expanding archaeological work that has taken place in the region over the past two decades, this volume presents the results of multifaceted research and new excavations. Using models deeply rooted in local ethnohistory, it ties Moundville and its people more closely than before to the ethnography of native southerners and emphasizes the role of social memory and ritual practices both at the mound center and in the hinterland, providing an up-to-date and refreshingly nuanced interpretation of Mississippian culture.

The purpose of Case Studies in Environmental Archaeology, Second Edition is to highlight studies addressing significant anthropological issues in the Americas from the perspective of environmental archaeology. Environmental archaeology encompasses the application of biological and geological techniques to the study of human/environmental interactions. Each chapter is an original or revised work by internationally-recognized geoarchaeologists, human biologists, paleoethnobotanists, and zooarchaeologists. Each study demonstrates how and why the information obtained using environmental techniques is important to anthropologists instead of describing, critiquing, or advocating a method. These ethnographic, geological, and biological case studies successfully demonstrate the application of environmental science toward the resolution of questions related to human behavior in the past.

This second edition is based on the 1996 book of the same title. The editors have invited back a number of contributors from the first edition to revise and update their chapter. They also have included new studies in order to cover recent developments in the field or additional pertinent topics. It also includes a separate index listing the scientific and vernacular names of plants and animals referenced in the volume.

These case studies present examples from sites in North America, the Caribbean, and South America. Some of the key topics addressed in this unique volume include:

Systemic relationships between people and the physical environments and paleoenvironments in which they live

Relationships among landscapes, resource use, residential patterns, and political alliances

Issues involving human nutrition, health, mobility, sedentism, plant and animal domestication, diet, and trade

Subsistence strategies and resource availability

Intra-community social relations, rural/urban relationships, ethnic identity, and the development of social complexity

The purpose of Case Studies in Environmental Archaeology is to highlight studies addressing significant anthropological issues in the Americas from the perspective of environmental archaeology. Environmental archaeology encompasses the application of biological and geological techniques to the study of human/environmental interactions. Each chapter is an original or revised work by internationally-recognized geoarchaeologists, human biologists, paleoethnobotanists, and zooarchaeologists. Each study demonstrates how and why the information obtained using environmental techniques is important to anthropologists instead of describing, critiquing, or advocating a method. These ethnographic, geological, and biological case studies successfully demonstrate the application of environmental science toward the resolution of questions related to human behavior in the past. This second edition is based on the 1996 book of the same title. The editors have invited back a number of contributors from the first edition to revise and update their chapter. They also have included new studies in order to cover recent developments in the field or additional pertinent topics. It also includes a separate index listing the scientific and vernacular names of plants and animals referenced in the volume. These case studies present examples from sites in North America, the Caribbean, and South America. Some of the key topics addressed in this unique volume include: Systemic relationships between people and the physical environments and paleoenvironments in which they live; Relationships among landscapes, resource use, residential patterns, and political alliances; Issues involving human nutrition, health, mobility, sedentism, plant and animal domestication, diet, and trade; Subsistence strategies and resource availability; Intra-community social relations, rural/urban relationships, ethnic identity, and the development of social complexity.

A much-needed synthesis of the rapidly expanding archaeological work that has taken place in the Moundville region over the past two decades, this volume presents the results of multifaceted research and new excavations.

How archaeology can shed light on past foodways and social worlds Through various case studies, Ancient Foodways illustrates how archaeologists can use bioarchaeology, zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, architecture, and other evidence to understand how food acquisition, preparation, and consumption intersect with economics, politics, and ritual. Spanning four continents and several millennia of human history, this volume is a comprehensive and contemporary survey of how archaeological data can be used to interpret past foodways and reconstruct past social worlds. This volume is organized around four major themes: feasting and politics; sacrifice, ritual, and ancestors; diet, landscape, and health; and integrative methods. Contributors weave together multiple threads of evidence relating to plants, animals, craft production, and human health and reconnect the material remnants with behaviors, practices, and meanings. The case studies show the varied and creative ways that multiple sources of evidence can be used to shed light on past foodways. Ancient Foodways demonstrates how environmental and cultural factors shaped past subsistence strategies and cooking practices and the role food played in shaping cultural identity and exchange networks, while also examining how food production methods can lead to environmental destruction and the detrimental role of dietary constraints on human health.