Home Region:  Mississippi Basin (North America)

Cahokia - Late Woodland I

D G SC WF HS EQ 2020  us_woodland_3 / USMisRo

Preceding:
150 BCE 300 CE Cahokia - Middle Woodland (us_woodland_2)    [continuity]

Succeeding:
450 CE 600 CE Cahokia - Late Woodland II (us_woodland_4)    [continuity]

2000 BCE

Period of population growth begins [1]

1 CE
c1 CE "large quantities of native cultigens began to be incorporated into midcontinental diets. [1]

100 CE
Maize appears in the archaeological record [2]
Atlatl is the contemporary weapon [2]
"periodic rituals at ceremonial mound centers" [2]
"groups ensured access to needed resources through maintenance of alliance-exchange relationships" [2]

200 CE
300 CE
Early arrowheads appear. "Beginning A.D. 300-400, the bow replaced the atlatl in most regions" [2]
In the Mississippian region (Midwest and Upland South) the transition from atlatl to bow was "relatively rapid because dart points disappear from the archaeological record" [2]
Introduction of the bow in the Mississippi region decreased social complexity because it caused the collapse of the Hopewell system, the abandonment of mound centers and alliance-exchange relationships [2]
Bow enabled a new bow and native crops subsistence strategy which lead to a movement to and the effective exploitation of previously marginal lands and "household autonomy" [2]
There followed an economic intensification and population growth which eventually "packed the landscape with settlements." [2]

400 CE
500 CE

"The greatest environmental hazard would have been a late summer Mississippi River flood similar to the one that took place in 1993. A rise in the river at that time of the year simultaneously drowned crops, prevented easy fishing in shallow ponds, and ruined food stored in underground pits. Floods attributable to severe storms, including excessive water funnelled into the floodplain by creeks that drain the uplands, certainly caused localized disasters much like they did a century ago before effective flood-control measures were put in place." [3]
"No other major site was as advantageously situated. Cahokia was located in what was by far the widest expanse of land suitable for settlement in the American Bottom. More people could live there than anywhere else ... The high ground where Cahokia was located was bordered on the north and south by large tracts of low-lying land that received the waters of different upland streams." [3]

[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013)

[2]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95)

[3]: (Milner 2006, 168)

General Variables
Identity and Location
Utm Zone:
15 S  
Original Name:
Cahokia - Late Woodland I  
Alternative Name:
American Bottom  
Late Woodland  
Rosewood Phase  
Temporal Bounds
Peak Years:
450 CE  
Duration:
[300 CE ➜ 450 CE]  
Political and Cultural Relations
Suprapolity Relations:
none  
Supracultural Entity:
Late Woodland  
Succeeding Entity:
Cahokia - Late Woodland II  
Relationship to Preceding Entity:
continuity  
Preceding Entity:
Preceding:   Cahokia - Middle Woodland (us_woodland_2)    [continuity]  
Succeeding: Cahokia - Late Woodland II (us_woodland_4)    [continuity]  
Degree of Centralization:
none  
Language
Linguistic Family:
NO_VALUE_ON_WIKI  
Religion
Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Population of the Largest Settlement:
[30 to 50] people  
Hierarchical Complexity
Settlement Hierarchy:
1  
Religious Level:
-  
Military Level:
-  
Administrative Level:
[1 to 2]  
Professions
Professional Soldier:
absent  
Professional Priesthood:
absent  
Professional Military Officer:
absent  
Bureaucracy Characteristics
Specialized Government Building:
absent  
Merit Promotion:
absent  
Full Time Bureaucrat:
absent  
Examination System:
absent  
Law
Professional Lawyer:
absent  
Judge:
absent  
Formal Legal Code:
absent  
Court:
absent  
Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Market:
absent  
Irrigation System:
absent  
Food Storage Site:
absent  
Drinking Water Supply System:
absent  
Transport Infrastructure
Road:
absent  
Port:
absent  
Canal:
absent  
Bridge:
absent  
Special-purpose Sites
Mines or Quarry:
present  
Information / Writing System
Written Record:
absent  
Script:
absent  
Phonetic Alphabetic Writing:
absent  
Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Scientific Literature:
absent  
Sacred Text:
absent  
Religious Literature:
absent  
Practical Literature:
absent  
Philosophy:
absent  
Lists Tables and Classification:
absent  
History:
absent  
Fiction:
absent  
Calendar:
absent  
Information / Money
Paper Currency:
absent  
Indigenous Coin:
absent  
Foreign Coin:
absent  
Article:
present  
Information / Postal System
Postal Station:
absent  
General Postal Service:
absent  
Courier:
absent  
Information / Measurement System
Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
  Wooden Palisade:
inferred absent  
  Stone Walls Non Mortared:
inferred absent  
  Stone Walls Mortared:
inferred absent  
  Settlements in a Defensive Position:
absent  
  Modern Fortification:
absent  
  Moat:
inferred absent  
  Fortified Camp:
inferred absent  
  Earth Rampart:
inferred absent  
  Ditch:
inferred absent  
  Complex Fortification:
absent  
  Long Wall:
absent  
Military use of Metals
  Steel:
absent  
  Iron:
absent  
  Bronze:
absent  
Projectiles
  Tension Siege Engine:
absent  
  Sling Siege Engine:
absent  
  Sling:
inferred absent  
  Self Bow:
present  
  Javelin:
inferred absent  
  Handheld Firearm:
absent  
  Gunpowder Siege Artillery:
absent  
  Crossbow:
absent  
  Composite Bow:
absent  
  Atlatl:
absent  
Handheld weapons
  War Club:
present  
  Sword:
inferred absent  
  Spear:
inferred absent  
  Polearm:
inferred absent  
  Dagger:
inferred absent  
  Battle Axe:
inferred absent  
Animals used in warfare
  Horse:
absent  
  Elephant:
absent  
  Donkey:
absent  
  Dog:
inferred absent  
  Camel:
absent  
Armor
  Wood Bark Etc:
inferred absent  
  Shield:
absent  
  Scaled Armor:
absent  
  Plate Armor:
absent  
  Limb Protection:
absent  
  Leather Cloth:
inferred absent  
  Laminar Armor:
absent  
  Helmet:
absent  
  Chainmail:
absent  
  Breastplate:
absent  
Naval technology
  Specialized Military Vessel:
absent  
  Small Vessels Canoes Etc:
inferred absent  
  Merchant Ships Pressed Into Service:
absent  
Religion Tolerance Nothing coded yet.
Human Sacrifice Nothing coded yet.
Crisis Consequences Nothing coded yet.
Power Transitions Nothing coded yet.

NGA Settlements:

Year Range Cahokia - Late Woodland I (us_woodland_3) was in:
 (300 CE 449 CE)   Cahokia
Home NGA: Cahokia

General Variables
Identity and Location

Original Name:
Cahokia - Late Woodland I

Alternative Name:
American Bottom
Alternative Name:
Late Woodland
Alternative Name:
Rosewood Phase

Temporal Bounds

Duration:
[300 CE ➜ 450 CE]

Political and Cultural Relations
Suprapolity Relations:
none

Collapse of the Hopewell system lead to the abandonment of mound centers and alliance-exchange relationships. [1]

[1]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95)


Supracultural Entity:
Late Woodland

Succeeding Entity:
Cahokia - Late Woodland II

Relationship to Preceding Entity:
continuity

Preceding Entity:
Cahokia - Middle Woodland [us_woodland_2] ---> Cahokia - Late Woodland I [us_woodland_3]

Cement Hollow, Holding and Hill Lake are the successive traditions of the Middle Woodland period between 150 BCE - 300 BCE. [1]

[1]: (Iseminger, W R. 2010. Cahokia Mounds: America’s First City. The History Press. Charleston. p.21)

Preceding Entity:
Cahokia - Late Woodland I [us_woodland_3] ---> Cahokia - Late Woodland II [us_woodland_4]

Degree of Centralization:
none

Language
Linguistic Family:
NO_VALUE_ON_WIKI

Religion

Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Population of the Largest Settlement:
[30 to 50] people

Inhabitants. Estimate. Population of the American Bottom was negligible before Sponemann-Collinsville-Loyd phase.


Hierarchical Complexity
Settlement Hierarchy:
1

levels.
Before the nucleated villages of the Late Woodland Patrick phase
"From the Late Woodland Patrick phase through Emergent Mississippian times, communities in the floodplain and immediately adjacent uplands tended to consist of groups of structures. Most people lived in these nucleated villages, each of which was occupied by at least a few tens of people, and sometimes several times that number. Only a small proportion of the valley’s inhabitants lived in houses that were widely separated from one another." [1]

[1]: (Milner 2006, 98)


Religious Level:
-

levels.
Shaman-like religious leaders.



Administrative Level:
[1 to 2]

levels.
No evidence for an increase in social complexity and hierarchy or deviation from the "trend toward household autonomy" at this time. [1]
Collapse of the Hopewell system lead to the abandonment of mound centers and alliance-exchange relationships. [1]
1. Chief
2. Elder. kin group leaders [2]

[1]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95)

[2]: (Iseminger 2014, 26)


Professions
Professional Soldier:
absent

Professional Priesthood:
absent

Professional Military Officer:
absent

Bureaucracy Characteristics
Specialized Government Building:
absent


Full Time Bureaucrat:
absent


Specialized Buildings: polity owned



Drinking Water Supply System:
absent

Transport Infrastructure



There were no bridges in prehistoric North America.


Special-purpose Sites
Mines or Quarry:
present

From earliest times people of American bottom were visiting a number of sources. This is not mentioned in current literature. Two examples: Wyandot, in the Ohio river valley and Mill Creek just south of the American bottom.


Information / Writing System
Written Record:
absent

There is no written record for Cahokia. [1]

[1]: (Peregrine 2014, 32)



Phonetic Alphabetic Writing:
absent

Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Scientific Literature:
absent


Religious Literature:
absent

Practical Literature:
absent


Lists Tables and Classification:
absent




Information / Money



Article:
present

Exchange-system economy. [1]

[1]: (Milner 2006, 138)


Information / Postal System

General Postal Service:
absent


Information / Measurement System

Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
Wooden Palisade:
absent

Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." The situation only changed "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [1]

[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Stone Walls Non Mortared:
absent

Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." The situation only changed "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [1]

[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Stone Walls Mortared:
absent

Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." The situation only changed "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [1]

[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Settlements in a Defensive Position:
absent

Settlements primarily located for access to water and arable land. [1]

[1]: (Peregrine 2014, personal communication)



Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." The situation only changed "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [1]

[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Fortified Camp:
absent

Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." The situation only changed "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [1]

[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Earth Rampart:
absent

Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." The situation only changed "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [1]

[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." The situation only changed "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [1]

[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Complex Fortification:
absent

Checked by Peter Peregrine.



Projectiles


The atlatl was the main weapon of this region before the introduction of the bow c300-400 CE. [1] [2]

[1]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95)

[2]: (Iseminger 2010, 24) Iseminger, W R. 2010. Cahokia Mounds: America’s First City. The History Press. Charleston.


"Beginning A.D. 300-400, the bow replaced the atlatl in most regions" [1] However, not regularly used as a weapon: evidence of victims "struck by arrows and clubs" increased only during "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [2]

[1]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95)

[2]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Most sources only refer to bows and arrows [1] , and even they appear to have been used mostly for hunting, not warfare, judging from the fact that skeletons pierced with arrowpoints become common only later. Indeed, there is little evidence for warfare in the region up until "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [2]

[1]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95)

[2]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6



Gunpowder Siege Artillery:
absent


Composite Bow:
absent

Checked by Peter Peregrine.


"Beginning A.D. 300-400, the bow replaced the atlatl in most regions" [1] However, not regularly used as a weapon: evidence of victims "struck by arrows and clubs" increased only during "last half of the first millennium" [2]

[1]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95)

[2]: (Milner 2006, 174)


Handheld weapons

However, not regularly used as a weapon: evidence of victims "struck by arrows and clubs" increased only during "last half of the first millennium" [1]

[1]: (Milner 2006, 174)


Most sources only refer to bows and arrows [1] , and even they appear to have been used mostly for hunting, not warfare, judging from the fact that skeletons pierced with arrowpoints become common only later. Indeed, there is little evidence for warfare in the region up until "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [2]

[1]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95)

[2]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Most sources only refer to bows and arrows [1] , and even they appear to have been used mostly for hunting, not warfare, judging from the fact that skeletons pierced with arrowpoints become common only later. Indeed, there is little evidence for warfare in the region up until "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [2]

[1]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95)

[2]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Most sources only refer to bows and arrows [1] , and even they appear to have been used mostly for hunting, not warfare, judging from the fact that skeletons pierced with arrowpoints become common only later. Indeed, there is little evidence for warfare in the region up until "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [2]

[1]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95)

[2]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Most sources only refer to bows and arrows [1] , and even they appear to have been used mostly for hunting, not warfare, judging from the fact that skeletons pierced with arrowpoints become common only later. Indeed, there is little evidence for warfare in the region up until "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [2]

[1]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95)

[2]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Battle Axe:
absent

Most sources only refer to bows and arrows [1] , and even they appear to have been used mostly for hunting, not warfare, judging from the fact that skeletons pierced with arrowpoints become common only later. Indeed, there is little evidence for warfare in the region up until "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [2]

[1]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95)

[2]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Animals used in warfare



Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." The situation only changed "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [1]

[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6



Armor
Wood Bark Etc:
absent

Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." The situation only changed "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [1] Of course, wooden objects would not survive in the archaeological record.

[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Checked by Peter Peregrine.




Limb Protection:
absent

Checked by Peter Peregrine.


Leather Cloth:
absent

Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." The situation only changed "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [1] Of course, such objects would not survive in the archaeological record.

[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6



Checked by Peter Peregrine.



Breastplate:
absent

Checked by Peter Peregrine.


Naval technology
Specialized Military Vessel:
absent

Small Vessels Canoes Etc:
absent

Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." The situation only changed "[l]ate in the first millennium AD". [1]

[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6


Merchant Ships Pressed Into Service:
absent


Human Sacrifice Data
Human Sacrifice is the deliberate and ritualized killing of a person to please or placate supernatural entities (including gods, spirits, and ancestors) or gain other supernatural benefits.
- Nothing coded yet.
- Nothing coded yet.
Power Transitions
- Nothing coded yet.