Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Mounds along the Mountain Fork: Sociopolitical Dynamics in the Caddo Area

University Of Oklahoma Norman Campus, Norman OK

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Patrick Livingood at the University of Oklahoma, Elsbeth Dowd will investigate a series of ancestral Caddo archaeological sites in southeastern Oklahoma. These sites, situated along the Mountain Fork River in the Ouachita Mountains, were home to a series of horticultural communities from approximately A.D. 1200-1600. These people, ancestors of the modern Caddo, were some of the original residents of the state of Oklahoma - and yet much remains to be understood of their early history in this area. Archaeologists have long been intrigued by the social and political history of the ancestral Caddo, who lived at the boundary of the woodlands and the plains. Researchers have commonly suggested that these communities were organized politically as chiefdoms, in which a powerful leader exercised coercive power over a number of surrounding communities. However, it is becoming clear that more diversity existed in sociopolitical organization across the Caddo area than has previously been recognized. Ms. Dowd will examine the social and political dynamics of these Mountain Fork Caddo communities in order to test the hypothesis that they were organized as a political entity characterized by leadership strategies of negotiation and power-sharing, rather than simple hierarchical coercion. This will involve examining the relationship between Woods Mound Group and surrounding residential sites. Woods Mound Group is a site with multiple ceremonial earthen mounds, constructed and used by one or more communities. These mounds, embodiments of of ceremonial, social, and political action, will provide a locus for studying the social relationships, political organization, and chronological history of the communities in this region. This research is important because it intersects with current anthropological debates about the complexity and dynamics of small-scale societies. It incorporates new theoretical perspectives into the study of a significant ceremonial and political landscape in the Caddo archaeological area. Research methods will primarily involve comparing pottery styles, in terms of technology and decoration, between the mounds and between archaeological sites. Data will be acquired from existing collections and from upcoming excavations at Ramos Creek, the newly-discovered largest and northern-most site in this drainage. A series of 25 radiocarbon dates will also be obtained from existing collections and Ramos Creek to clarify this region's chronology. In addition, to learn about subsistence at Ramos Creek, faunal and paleobotanical samples will be analyzed. This project will have broader impacts in addition to addressing research questions of interest to social scientists. First, the project will involve collaboration with the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma in learning about the history of their ancestors. Second, undergraduate students at the Ramos Creek field school will learn archaeological methods and Caddo heritage and history. Third, the results of this project will be broadly disseminated in both academic and non-academic venues, including presentations at schools, museums, and local archaeological societies and publication in peer-mediated journals. Finally, this project will support the doctoral research of a student at an EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) institution.