IMPLICATIONS OF SOURCING CAHOKIA-STYLE FLINT CLAY FIGURES IN THE AMERICAN BOTTOM AND THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY

The interaction between Cahokia and precolumbian peoples of the Upper Mississippi River Valley (UMRV) has long interested archaeologists. Many scholars have identified trade as a motivating factor in these relationships. Despite this, few studies have utilized archaeometric techniques to trace the movement of materials between Cahokia and the UMRV. In this study we used a portable infrared mineral analyzer (PIMA) to show that Mississippian-period red stone figurines made in the American Bottom locality of Missouri flint clay were transported into the UMRV. The occurrence of broken fragments in nonmortuary, non-elite UMRV contexts is inconsistent with their having been distributed in a prestige goods exchange system. The nature and distribution of red stone figures in the UMRV favors a model of exchange operating within the context of politically or socially motivated fictive adoption rituals, as suggested by Hall (1991, 1997).