Crow-Omaha marital alliances and social transformations : archaeological case studies on the Taíno, Hohokam, and Archaic Lower Mississippi Valley

221 Pages·2003·9.7 MB·English

by  Ensor, Bradley Eugene

CROW-OMAHAMARITALALLIANCESANDSOCIALTRANSFORMATIONS
ARCHAEOLOGICALCASESTUDIESONTHETAINO,HOHOKAM,AND
ARCHAICLOWERMISSISSIPPIVALLEY
By
BRADLEYE.ENSOR
ADISSERTATIONPRESENTEDTOTHEGRADUATESCHOOL
OFTHEUNIVERSITYOFFLORIDAINPARTIALFULFILLMENT
OFTHEREQUIREMENTSFORTHEDEGREEOF
DOCTOROFPHILOSOPHY
UNIVERSITYOFFLORIDA
2003
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
IncompletingthisdissertationIreceivedtheassistaneeandencouragementof
numerousindividuals.Iwishtoexpressmydeepestappreciationtomymentorsand
committeemembersattheUniversityofFlorida.WilhamKeegan,myeommittee
chairperson,initiallyinspiredmetoexploretheimportanceofkinshipinarchaeologyand
toresearchTainoarchaeology.JohnMooreprofoundlyshapedmydevelopmentasan
anthropologist.Histeachingsonkinshipanddemography,methodsforethnohistorical
analysis,anddiscussionsinfluencedthedirectionItookinthisdissertation.Kenneth
Sassaman’sresearchintheU.S.Southeast,discussionsonlinkingtheorywithdata,and
practicaladviceprovidedmewithvaluableguidanceasanarchaeologist.Murdo
Macleod’sexemplaryuseofparticularhistoriesforevaluatingtheoriesalsocontributedto
myapproachinunderstandingthepast.
Severalothershelpedmeasexamples,indiscussions,insupport,andinassistance:
MichaelHeckenberger,MichaelMoseley,SusanGillespie,DavidGrove,LynetteNorr,
SusanMilbrath.RebeccaGonzalezLauck,RicardoArmijoTorres,JudithGallegos,Anne
Stokes,JamesPochurek,AllanBums,KarenJones,PatriciaGaitherKing,Salena
Robinson,andLeeAnnMartin.AlthoughmyfatherpassedawaybeforeIcompletedmy
degree,heandmymotherprovidedimmeasurablesupportthroughoutmyeducationand
the encouragementtopursuemyinterests.Finally,IthankMarisaOlivoEnsorforher
lovingsupportduringthesedemandingfinalstagesofmystudentlife.
11
08
TABLEOFCONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ii
LISTOFTABLES vi
LISTOFFIGURES vii
ABSTRACT ix
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION I
PoliticalEconomyandAllianceTheory 2
Crow-OmahaKinship,MaritalAlliances,andSocialTransformations 5
ArchaeologicalCorrelatesofKinshipandMaritalAllianceSystems 9
TteHohokam. 1
TheArchaic-TchefiinctePeriodsoftheLowerMississippiValley 14
TheTamo 16
2 MARITALALLIANCESYSTEMS 1
MaritalAlliances 18
ElementaryAlliances 19
Crow-OmahaAlliances 20
ComplexAlliances 22
OmahaAdherenceto“OmahaMarriageRules” 23
NormativeOmahaSocialStructureandMarriageRules 26
PotentialSourcesofHistoricalChange 29
MethodsandtheBureauofIndianAffairsCensusRolls;
1886,1894,and1902 30
ClanExogamy 33
PostmaritalResidence 34
ChildrenofWidowsandDivorcedWomen. 37
Discussioa 39
iii
11
Page
DisproportionateClanGrowthAmongtheOmaha 41
OmahaClans,1886-1902 43
OmahaMarriages 45
DisproportionateGrowthand“CrisesinExogamy” 53
3 ARCHAEOLOGICALCORRELATESANDEXPECTATIONS 58
Crow-OmahaAlliances 62
SettlementCompositionandCommunityPatterns 63
Ceremony,SurplusProduction,andExchange 65
RankingandDemography 66
SettlementHierarchyintheU.S.Southeast 68
ComplexAlliancesand“House”Societies 74
SettlementCompositionandCommunityPatterns 75
Ceremony,SurplusProduction,andExchange 76
Ranking 77
Summary 78
4 THEHOHOKAM 80
LateFormativePeriod 85
CommunityPatternsandSettlementComposition 85
Ceremony,SurplusProduction,andExchange 87
RankingandDemography 89
Snaketown 90
PuebloGrande 93
LaCiudad 96
ClassicPeriod 101
CommunityPatternsandSettlementComposition 101
Ceremony,SurplusProduction,andExchange 103
Ranking 105
ClassicPeriodPuebloGrande 106
ClassicPeriod“House”Societies? 110
Crow-OmahaAlliancesandtheLateFormative-ClassicPeriodTransition 11
5 THEARCHAICTOTCHEFUNCTEPERIODS
INTHELOWERMISSISSIPPIVALLEY 116
MiddleArchaicPeriod(ca.6,000-4,000BP) 127
LateArchaicPeriodandPovertyPointCulture(ca.4,000-3,000BP) 13
TchefunctePeriod(ca.2,500-1,700BP) 134
Kinship,Marriage,andTransformations 135
IV
Page
6 THEDEVELOPMENTOFCOMPLEXCHIEFDOMS
AMONGTHETAINO 141
TheoriesontheDevelopmentofTainoChiefdoms 143
Corporate-NetworkTheory 144
Problemswith“Corporate-Network”Theory 147
Crow-OmahaMaritalAlliances,PoliticalEconomy,andSocialRanking 151
Crow-OmahaKinshipandMaritalAlliancesAmongtheTaino 155
SummaryandLimitations 168
7 CONCLUSIONS 171
REFERENCESCITED 179
BIOGRAPmCALSKETCH 209
V
LISTOFTABLES
Table Page
2-1 Omahamarriagesbyclan,pre-1883 34
2-2 Omahamarriagesbyclan,1886-1902 35
2-3 Adherencetoprohibitionagainstmarryingmembers
ofmother’sclan,1886-1902 35
2-
2-4 Omahapostmaritalresidenceamongmarriages,1886-1902 36
3-
2-5 Residencelocationofchildrenofwidows
anddivorcedwomen,1886-1902 39
2-6 CeremonialofficesheldbytheOmahaclansinthelate1800s 46
25--7 Omahamarriagesbyclan,1886-1902 50
6-8 Unmarriedmenandwomenin1886whowere,
orwouldbe,ofmarriageableageby1902 52
1 Chang’scorrelationsbetweenkinship
andcommunitypatternsin53societies 59
3-2 Correlationsamong18aboriginalCaliforniasocieties 62
3-3 Correlationsamong31aboriginalSouthwestsocieties 63
3-4 Correlationsamong13aboriginalPlainssocieties 63
1 CharacteristicsofMiddleandLateArchaicperiod
moundsitesintheLowerMississippiValley 122
1 Toolsandcraftproductdistributionbyexcavated
volume(m^)reportedforMaisabeltrashmounds 161
6-2 SettlementsinPuertoRicowithformalcentralplazas
andballcourts 164
VI
1
LISTOFFIGURES
Figure Page
2-
2-1 Maritalalliancesystems 21
3-
2-2 RelativesizesofOmahaclansin1886 44
3-
2-3 RelativesizesofOmahaclansin1902 48
4-4 DisproportionategrowthintheCrow-Omahamarriagesystem
andpossiblesolutionstoresultingcrisesinclanexogamy 57
1 Hypotheticaldisproportionategrowthamongexogamous
settlementsandfissioningafter“crisesinexogamy” 72
2 Hypotheticaldisproportionategrowthamongexogamous
4- settlementsandlargesettlementfissioningintomultiple
5- exogamousgroupsremainingatthesarr^settlen^nt 73
5-1 LocationofmajorPhoenixBasinHohokamsites 81
46--2 TheSnaketownsiteduringtheLateFormativeperiod 91
4-3 ThePuebloGrandesiteduringtheSacatonphase 94
4-4 TheLaCiudadsiteduringtheEarlyandMiddleSantaCruzphase 97
4-5 TheLaCiudadsiteduringtheLateSantaCruz
andEarlySacatonphases 98
6 ThePuebloGrandesiteduringtheClassicperiod 107
1 CommunitypatternsatArchaicmoundsites 118
2 LocationsofArchaicmoundsitesinthe
LowerMississippiValley 12
1 CommunitypatternsatPeriodIla-IIbsettlements 159
vii
Figure Page
6-2 CommunitypatternsatPeriodIlla-IVsettlements 162
6-3 DistributionofPuertoRicansettlementswith
formalplaza/ballcourts 166
viii
AbstractofDissertationPresentedtotheGraduateSchool
oftheUniversityofFloridainPartialFulfillmentofthe
RequirementsfortheDegreeofDoctorofPhilosophy
CROW-OMAHAMARITALALLIANCESANDSOCIALTRANSFORMATIONS:
ARCHAEOLOGICALCASESTUDIESONTHETAINO,HOHOKAM,AND
ARCHAICLOWERMISSISSIPPIVALLEY
By
BradleyE.Ensor
May2003
Chairperson:WilliamF.Keegan
MajorDepartment:Anthropology
Maritalalliancetheoryprovidesgeneralcategoriesofkinshipsystemsbasedon
sharedtypesofgroupsandmarriagerulesthataremeaningfultopoliticaleconomyand
socialprocesses.Marriagealliancesystemsnotonlyreproducesocialstructurebutalso
regulatetheexchangeofpeopleamonggroups;structureceremonialorganization,related
surplusproduction,andexchange;andproducedifferentformsofsocialranking.The
dissertationillustrateshowamaritalallianceperspectivemayexplainpoliticaleconomies
andsocialtransformationsinprehistory.ThedissertationfocusesonCrow-Omaha
alliancesand,toalesserdegree,on“complex”alliances.
Specificgroupcomposition,maritalexchanges,ceremonialorganization,surplus
production,andexchangearestructuredbytheCrow-Omahamarriagesystem.TheCrow-
Omahamaritalsystemalsoisfoundtohaveaninternaldemographicprocessthatleadsto
crisesingroupexogamy.Ceremoniallyprominentclansgrowdisproportionatelylarge
IX
untiltherearenotenoughmembersinotherclanswithwhichtointermarry.
Disproportionatelylargeexogamousgroupsmayfissionoraltertheirmarriagesystem,
whichmaychangesocialstructureandpoliticaleconomy.Empiricaldataonnineteenth
centurymarriagesamongtheOmahaareusedtoconfirmadherencetotheCrow-Omaha
maritalalliancesystemandtodocumenttheinternalsocialprocessleadingtocrisesin
exogamy.
Anethnographicsurveyof62NativeNorthAmericansocietiesisusedtodefine
archaeologicalcorrelatesofCrow-Omahaandcomplexmaritalalliances.Usingmultiple
linesofevidence,theHohokamofsouth-centralArizona,theArchaicperiodculturesof
theLowerMississippiValley, andtheTainooftheGreaterAntillesarearguedtohave
sharedCrow-Omahaalliancesystemsandpoliticaleconomies.Eachofthesesocieties
experiencedtheinternalsocialprocessleadingtodisproportionateclangrowth.The
maritalallianceperspectiveisusedtoexplaindramaticsocialchangesamongthe
Hohokam,theemergenceanddisappearanceofmound-buildingamongearlyhunter-
gatherer culturesintheLowerMississippiValley,andthedevelopmentofchiefdoms
amongtheCaribbeanTaino.Allarearguedtohaveexperiencedcrisesinexogamybut
differentresponsestocriseswithdifferenttransformationaloutcomesaredemonstrated.