Ritual Economy and the Organization of Scioto Hopewell Craft Production: Insights from the Outskirts of the Mound City Group. Issue 2 (April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Everhart, Timothy D.; Ruby, Bret J.
• Is Part Of: American antiquity. Volume 85:Issue 2(2020)
• Page Start: 279
• Page End: 304
• Publication Date: 2020-04
• Subjects: ritual economy, -- craft production, -- small-scale societies, -- Scioto Hopewell, -- Middle Woodland; economía ritual, -- producción artesanal, -- sociedades de pequeña escala, -- Scioto Hopewell, -- Middle Woodland; North America -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; America -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; Archaeology -- North America -- Periodicals; Archaeology -- America -- Periodicals; Anthropology -- America -- Periodicals; North America -- History -- Periodicals; America -- History -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 970
• DOI: 10.1017/aaq.2019.105
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0002-7316

Abstract

Abstract : This article offers insights into the organization of Scioto Hopewell craft production and examines the implications of this organization through the lens of ritual economy. We present a novel analysis of investigations at the North 40 site, concluding that it is a craft production site located on the outskirts of the renowned Mound City Group. High-resolution landscape-scale magnetic survey revealed a cluster of three large structures and two rows of associated pits; one of the buildings and three of the pits were sampled in excavations. Evidence from the North 40 site marks this as the best-documented Scioto Hopewell craft production site. Mica, chert, and copper were crafted here in contexts organized outside the realm of domestic household production and consumption. Other material remains from the site suggest that crafting was specialized and embedded in ceremonial contexts. This analysis of the complex organization of Scioto Hopewell craft production provides grounds for further understanding the elaborate ceremonialism practiced by Middle Woodland (AD 1–400) societies and adds to the known complexity of craft production in small-scale societies. Furthermore, this article contributes to a growing body of literature demonstrating the utility of ritual economy as a framework for approaching the sociality of small-scale societies.