A.D. 900-1540
| Previous slide | Next slide | Back to first slide | View graphic version |
Notes:
It is necessary to define the parameters of this discussion first.
For this paper, I use these definitions:
I use the term Mississippian as a PERIOD, not an artistic tradition, which covers a much broader time range than properly should be called SECC or Southern Cult.
The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex --also known as the "Southern Cult"--is just a central and particularly spectacular episode in a long series of cultural events associated with Mississippian and other late prehistoric groups from AD 800 on.
Moreover, it should not simply be assumed that the many other local and regional so-called "florescences" (such as the various genuinely late styles in gorgets) are the same kind of phenomena as the SECC or are even remotely linked historically or culturally to the SECC.
I , for one, still consider the "main-stream" SECC or "Southern Cult," including such styles as Eddyville and Hightower (as defined originally by me in 1966 and in other places up to 1989), to date to the late 13th and early 14th centuries, not the later period suggested by Brain.
My assessment is not based mainly on the associations at Spiro, but rather on the basis of grave lots and dates from many sites across the East.
There is no doubt that some styles date to the 15th century and later --the issue is whether nearly all of the gorget and other "Cult" styles are so late.
There are early and late components with the Eastern iconographic tradition(s). These stretch the time line for elaborate "display" artifacts from before A.D. 1100 to well into the historical period (much broader than "Southern Cult," per se). It is necessary to define the parameters of this discussion first.