The Faunal Record of the Southeastern Elite: the Implication of Economy, Social Relations, and Ideology

Abstract

The primary thrust of faunal analysis has been the reconstruction of subsistence patterns, with assemblage composition most often viewed as the result of ecologically based relationships between human and animal populations. However, those relationships with the animal world are conditioned by a host of culturally defined constructs. In this paper we explore the roles played by animals in the political, social, and ideological processes of southeastern chief doms. We develop some general expectations about the possible extradietary roles of animal resources in chief dom societies, then look specifically at the southeastern case using available ethnohistoric data and archaeological examples from west-central Alabama and southwestern Arkansas.