Home Region:  Mississippi Basin (North America)

Cahokia - Early Woodland

D G SC WF HS EQ 2020  us_woodland_1 / USMisEW

Preceding:
[continuity; Cahokia - Prairie Lake] [continuity]   Update here
Add one more here.

Succeeding:
150 BCE 300 CE Cahokia - Middle Woodland (us_woodland_2)    [continuity]
Add one more here.

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]

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

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

General Variables
Identity and Location
Utm Zone:
15 S  
Original Name:
Cahokia - Early Woodland  
Alternative Name:
American Bottom  
Early Woodland  
Carr Creek  
Florence  
Columbia  
Temporal Bounds
Peak Years:
150 CE  
Duration:
[600 BCE ➜ 150 BCE]  
Political and Cultural Relations
Suprapolity Relations:
none  
Supracultural Entity:
Early Woodland  
Succeeding Entity:
Cahokia - Middle Woodland  
Relationship to Preceding Entity:
continuity  
Preceding Entity:
UNCLEAR:    [continuity]  
Succeeding: Cahokia - Middle Woodland (us_woodland_2)    [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  
Polity Population:
-  
Hierarchical Complexity
Settlement Hierarchy:
1  
Religious Level:
-  
Military Level:
-  
Administrative Level:
1  
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:
unknown  
  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:
absent  
  Javelin:
inferred absent  
  Handheld Firearm:
absent  
  Gunpowder Siege Artillery:
absent  
  Crossbow:
absent  
  Composite Bow:
absent  
  Atlatl:
present  
Handheld weapons
  War Club:
inferred absent  
  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 - Early Woodland (us_woodland_1) was in:
 (600 BCE 151 BCE)   Cahokia
Home NGA: Cahokia

General Variables
Identity and Location
Utm Zone:
15 S

Original Name:
Cahokia - Early Woodland

Alternative Name:
American Bottom

Carr Creek, Florence and Columbia are the successive traditions of the Early Woodland period between 600-150 BCE. [1]

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

Alternative Name:
Early Woodland

Carr Creek, Florence and Columbia are the successive traditions of the Early Woodland period between 600-150 BCE. [1]

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

Alternative Name:
Carr Creek

Carr Creek, Florence and Columbia are the successive traditions of the Early Woodland period between 600-150 BCE. [1]

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

Alternative Name:
Florence

Carr Creek, Florence and Columbia are the successive traditions of the Early Woodland period between 600-150 BCE. [1]

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

Alternative Name:
Columbia

Carr Creek, Florence and Columbia are the successive traditions of the Early Woodland period between 600-150 BCE. [1]

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


Temporal Bounds
Peak Years:
150 CE

Duration:
[600 BCE ➜ 150 BCE]

Political and Cultural Relations
Suprapolity Relations:
none

Supracultural Entity:
Early Woodland

Succeeding Entity:
Cahokia - Middle Woodland

Relationship to Preceding Entity:
continuity

Preceding Entity:
Cahokia - Prairie Lake

Prairie Lake 1100-600 BCE. [1]

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

Preceding Entity:
Cahokia - Early Woodland [us_woodland_1] ---> Cahokia - Middle Woodland [us_woodland_2]

Carr Creek-Florence-Columbia Carr Creek, Florence and Columbia are the successive traditions of the Early Woodland period between 600-150 BCE. [1]

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


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. Rough estimate. Population of the American Bottom was negligible before Sponemann-Collinsville-Loyd phase.


Polity Population:
-

People.


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.


Military Level:
-

levels.


Administrative Level:
1

levels.
1. Elder
kin group leaders [1] . High status burials known after 300 BCE [2] would perhaps suggest some leadership, possibly kin group leaders.

[1]: (Iseminger 2014, 26)

[2]: (Iseminger 2010, 23-25) Iseminger, W R. 2010. Cahokia Mounds: America’s First City. The History Press. Charleston.


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

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)


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

Exchange-system economy. [1]

[1]: (Milner 2006, 138)


Information / Postal System
Postal Station:
absent

General Postal Service:
absent

Courier:
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." [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." [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." [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)


Modern Fortification:
absent

Moat:
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." [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." [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." [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


Ditch:
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." [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:
unknown

Long Wall:
absent

Military use of Metals
Steel:
absent

Iron:
absent

Bronze:
absent

Projectiles
Tension Siege Engine:
absent

Sling Siege Engine:
absent

Sling:
absent

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.


Self Bow:
absent

Introduced in the Mississippian region 300-400 CE. However, first evidence of use of arrow points for intergroup violence is from 600 CE. [1] atlatl primary weapon. no bow and arrow. [2]

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

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


Javelin:
absent

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.


Handheld Firearm:
absent

Gunpowder Siege Artillery:
absent

Crossbow:
absent

Composite Bow:
absent

atlatl primary weapon. no bow and arrow. [1]

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


Atlatl:
present

The atlatl was the main weapon of this region before the introduction of the bow c300-400 CE. [1] [2] However, the fact that there is very little skeletal evidence for warfare for this period [3] suggests that the atlatl was mostly used for hunting animals.

[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.

[3]: (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


Handheld weapons
War Club:
absent

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.


Sword:
absent

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.


Spear:
absent

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.


Polearm:
absent

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.


Dagger:
absent

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.


Battle Axe:
absent

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.


Animals used in warfare
Horse:
absent

Elephant:
absent

Donkey:
absent

Dog:
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." [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


Camel:
absent

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." [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


Shield:
absent

Scaled Armor:
absent

Plate Armor:
absent

Limb Protection:
absent

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." [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


Laminar Armor:
absent

Helmet:
absent

Chainmail:
absent

Breastplate:
absent

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." [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.