Introduction

This chapter introduces the book with a discussion of culture contact dynamics and the need to investigate these questions in complex non-state societies. The spread of Cahokia’s influence through both direct and indirect interaction across the Midcontinent, had diverse outcomes in different regions. Mississippianization was a historical process whereby Woodland peoples had the agency to resist or participate in Cahokian practices and did so with reference to their own identities and traditions. Within this framework, the chapter lays out the following research questions: 1) did the Lower Illinois River Valley’s (LIRV) proximity to Cahokia enable certain social, political, and economic interactions with American Bottom groups that did not transpire with more distant groups; and 2) how did these interactions impact the social organization and daily practices of groups in the LIRV?

Making Mississippian

This chapter synthesizes the patterns presented in the book to reconstruct what life was like for Audrey Mississippians. It discusses the implications of these findings for the limits of Cahokia’s economic control and political influence and the nature of culture contact dynamics north of the American Bottom. The Lower Illinois River Valley’s proximity to Cahokia did in fact result in more changes to social organization at Audrey than observed in the northern hinterland. Audrey inhabitants nevertheless maintained certain Woodland-era conventions and hybridized others, generating new Mississippian traditions in the process. Finally, a discussion of exotic materials north of Cahokia characterizes a spirit of exchange and interaction between and among these diverse regions that likely fueled the Mississippianization of the north.

Culture Contact and the Cahokia Phenomenon

This chapter orients the reader with a discussion of anthropological and archaeological theory pertaining to culture contact and the history of research at Cahokia. A brief summary of Mississippian settlement systems and chronology in the Greater Cahokia area, the northern hinterland, and the Lower Illinois River Valley provides the regional background and theoretical focus necessary for situating the arguments made in subsequent chapters. The theoretical frameworks include political economy, craft production, and theories of identity and tradition, migration, and social interaction.