Chiefdoms, Collapse, and Coalescence in the Early American South Robin Beck Foreword by Charles M

Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-02213-3 - Chiefdoms, Collapse, and Coalescence in the Early American South Robin Beck Foreword by Charles M. Hudson Frontmatter More information

Chiefdoms, Collapse, and Coalescence in the Early American South

This book provides a new conceptual framework for understanding how the Indian nations of the early American South emerged from the ruins of a precolonial, Mississippian world. A broad regional synthesis that ranges over much of the Eastern Woodlands, its focus is on the Indians of the Carolina Piedmont – the Catawbas and their neighbors – from 1400 to 1725. Using an “eventful” approach to social change, Robin Beck argues that the collapse of the Mississippian world was fundamentally a transformation of political economy, from one built on maize to one of guns, slaves, and hides. The story takes us from ﬁrst encounters through the rise of the Indian slave trade and the scourge of disease to the wars that shook the American South in the early 1700s. Yet the book’s focus remains on the Catawbas, drawing on their experiences in a violent, unstable landscape to develop a comparative perspective on structural continuity and change.

Robin Beck is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Assistant Curator of North American Archaeology, Museum of Anthropology, at the University of Michigan. He is editor of The Durable House: House Society Models in Archaeology (2007). His articles have appeared in the journals Current Anthropology, American Antiquity, Ethnohis- tory, Latin American Antiquity, Southeastern Archaeology,andNative South. Beck has conducted archaeological ﬁeldwork in much of the eastern United States, as well as in Bolivia, Peru, and western China.

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-02213-3 - Chiefdoms, Collapse, and Coalescence in the Early American South Robin Beck Foreword by Charles M. Hudson Frontmatter More information

Chiefdoms, Collapse, and Coalescence in the Early American South

ROBIN BECK University of Michigan

FOREWORD BY CHARLES M. HUDSON Franklin Professor of Anthropology and History Emeritus, University of Georgia

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C Robin Beck 2013

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Beck, Robin, 1969– Chiefdoms, collapse, and coalescence in the early American south / Robin Beck. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-1-107-02213-3 (hardback) 1. Mississippian culture – South Carolina – Piedmont. 2. Chiefdoms – South Carolina – Piedmont. 3. Catawba Indians – South Carolina – Piedmont – Kings and rulers. 4. Catawba Indians – South Carolina – Piedmont – Politics and government. 5. Catawba Indians – South Carolina – Piedmont – Social conditions. I. Title. e99.m6815b435 2013 975.72501–dc23 2012039750

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Contents

List of Maps page vii List of Figures ix List of Tables xi Foreword by Charles M. Hudson xiii Acknowledgments xv

Introduction: Becoming Catawba 1

part one: chiefdoms 1 The Desert of Ocute 23 2 The Quartermaster’s List 59

part two: collapse 3 The Stranger Indians 99 4 The Waxhaws’ Burden 137

part three: coalescence 5 The Color of War 181 6 The Deerskin Map 223 Epilogue: The People of the River 261

References Cited 267 Index 293

List of Maps

1 Native towns and phases in the Carolina Piedmont, A.D. 1350–1400 page 37 2 Native towns and phases in the Carolina Piedmont, A.D. 1450–1500 41 3 Large Burke phase settlements in the vicinity of the Berry site 55 4 Hernando De Soto’s route across the Carolina Piedmont, 1540 63 5 Route of Juan Pardo’s ﬁrst expedition, 1566–1567 71 6 Hernando Moyano’s forays in the Appalachian Mountains, 1567 77 7 Towns visited by Juan Pardo’s second expedition, 1567–1568 79 8 The Iroquois country, circa 1624 105 9 Henry Woodward’s inland voyages, 1670 and 1674 115 10 John Lederer’s route through the Carolinas, 1670 121 11 Joara and its movements across the Piedmont, circa 1540–1711 129 12 Route of James Needham and Gabriel Arthur, 1674 133 13 John Lawson’s path across the Carolinas, 1701 163 14 The shattering of the Piedmont chiefdoms, circa 1656–1680 169 15 John Barnwell’s march against the Tuscaroras, 1711 199 16 James Moore’s march against the Tuscaroras, 1713 203 17 South Carolina’s frontier on the eve of the Yamasee War, circa 1715 205

vii

viii List of Maps

18 Major engagements of the Yamasee War, 1715–1716 207 19 Cherokee and Creek towns and polities, circa 1720 239 20 The Catawba Deerskin Map, 1721 245 21 The political landscape of the Catawba Deerskin Map 248

List of Figures

1 Lamar-style, complicated-stamped jar rims from the Berry site page 39 2 Lamar-style, incised cazuela bowl from the Berry site 40 3 Erosion proﬁle of Mound A at the Mulberry site, circa 1952 45 4 Town Creek Mound, circa 1939 47 5 Excavating a burned building at the Berry site, 2008 73 6 Spanish olive jar fragments from the Berry site 74 7 Wrought-iron nail from the Berry site 75 8 T. F. Nelson Mound, circa 1880s 86 9 Iron artifacts and Citico gorget from the T. F. Nelson Triangle 87 10 Powhatan seated on a platform in his longhouse. Detail from John Smith’s map of Virginia, 1608 101 11 “A Map of the Whole Territory Traversed by John Lederer in his Three Marches,” 1672 120 12 “Mort et Convoi du serpent Pique.”´ Funeral procession of Tattooed Serpent, with the sacriﬁce of retainers 125 13 Title page of John Lawson’s “A New Voyage to Carolina,” 1709 162 14 Artist’s reconstruction of the Fredricks site, circa 1700 173 15 European trade goods from the Fredricks site 175 16 Detail from Christoph von Graffenried’s plan of New Bern and its vicinity, circa 1711 187 17 Trial of Lawson and Graffenried, drawn by Graffenried, circa 1712 193 18 Dutch view of the Yamasee War, engraved by Peter Schenk, circa 1715 209

x List of Figures

19 Portrait attributed to Michael Dahl, circa 1710, believed to be of Francis Nicholson 224 20 “Map describing the scituation of the Several Nations of Indians to the N.W. of South Carolina,” circa 1721 (Catawba Deerskin Map) 225 21 Detail from “Carolina, upper Florida, and Louisianna [after] Barnveldt,” circa 1724 226 22 “A New Mapp of his Majesty’s Flourishing Province of South Carolina” by John Herbert, 1725; copy produced by George Hunter, 1744 227

List of Tables

1 Bandera’s record of Indian leaders who met with Juan Pardo at Piedmont towns during the second expedition, 1567–1568 page 80 2 List of Indian warriors under John Barnwell’s command in the ﬁrst Tuscarora campaign, 1711 200

Foreword

Charles M. Hudson

Every once in a while a book like this one comes along that makes you take stock of what you know and have known. More than 40 years ago, in 1970, I published The Catawba Nation, a revised version of my 1965 PhD dissertation. When I compare my book on the Catawbas with Robin Beck’s excellent new treatment of the same subject, my earlier work can be seen not only as out of date but also as a quaint relic of the past. It is worthwhile thinking about what has made it so. Several things have changed since 1970. First, the quantity and qual- ity of well-dated archaeological information on the entire southeastern United States have been increased many times over, such that very large geopolitical questions can now be asked and answered on the basis of this information. Second, we now have a much more accurate geographical grasp of the travels and activities of the Spanish explorers of the Southeast in the sixteenth century. Both ethnohistorians and archaeologists are now working to combine this early historical information with archaeological evidence to reconstruct the social, political, and economic structure of the native Southeast. And most importantly, ethnohistorians and archaeologists are asking questions about what kinds of changes occurred in the Southeast that link the native peoples of the sixteenth century to those of the early eighteenth century. A consensus is emerging that in the precolonial Southeast a Missis- sippian world existed, a world of horticultural chiefdoms that stretched from the Atlantic Coast to the edge of the Plains in the West, and from the Gulf Coast northward to Wisconsin. It was a world comprising many different languages and very many polities living under an overarching Mississippian umbrella. How did this world emerge over the course of

xiii

xiv Foreword

several centuries, how was it organized, and how did it collapse with the coming of the Europeans? And how, from the social wreckage of this shatter zone, as Robbie Ethridge terms the setting of this vast social transformation, did the eighteenth-century Southeastern Indians emerge? Robin Beck has made an excellent and timely contribution to the body of research and writing that is now emerging to give an adequate account of the rise and fall of the Mississippian world. Especially important in this book is the signiﬁcant progress he makes in developing a language with which to talk about the polities, relationships, and economic principles of these two centuries of radical transformation. Most important of all, he begins here to enunciate a theory to explain how this fundamental reordering of the social landscape of the early South came about. Clearly, the scholarship in this ﬁeld is being raised to a new level. As we can see in Robin Beck’s work, the coming decades of collaboration and debate among scholars of the Native South will be exciting ones.

Acknowledgments

The writing of this book has taken more than four years, from early 2008 through the summer of 2012, though my fascination with its central subject – the archaeology and early colonial history of what is now the Carolina Piedmont – spans a much longer period of time, much of my life, in fact. And although mine is the only name on its cover, many others have helped me see it through to completion. I was an impressionable teenager when I met my first real archaeologist, David Moore, just before he was to begin his dissertation fieldwork at the Berry site. It is my good fortune that Dave and I have gone on to become close friends and have now been working together in the upper Catawba Valley for nearly 20 years. Dave’s passion for archaeology, and especially for sharing what we learn with the communities where we work, inspired me then and still inspires me today. I was never formally a student of Charles Hudson, yet so much of what follows is a testament to his influence, academic and otherwise. From his support of my graduate school applications to his suggestions for improving multiple drafts of this book, not to mention the Foreword he contributed to it, I cannot thank Charlie enough for his belief in me through the years. Jim Knight at the University of Alabama guided me through my MA thesis, which in many ways held the seeds for this project. Rather than direct me into his own research at Moundville, he encouraged me to fol- low my own interests in the Catawba Valley, a generosity for which I am immensely grateful. Although my dissertation research at Northwestern University took me far afield from the Catawba, to Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca Basin, this book is very much a product of my Northwestern experience.

xvi Acknowledgments

Tim Earle’s broad knowledge and open mind proved essential as I began to develop my own perspectives on chiefdoms. Jim Brown, chair of my PhD committee, has had a more profound influence on my development as an anthropologist than any other person. I could not have written this book without his intellectual guidance and friendship. I began this project at the University of Oklahoma and completed it at the University of Michigan. At Oklahoma, Pat Gilman and Paul Minnis created a warm, collegial environment that placed a priority on nurturing junior faculty. At Michigan, Joyce Marcus and Kent Flannery have been unflagging sources of encouragement through much of this project. Joyce, in particular, read multiple drafts of the book and offered invaluable suggestions for its improvement. I am in their debt. I am also grateful to Carla Sinopoli for putting me in touch with Beatrice Rehl at Cambridge University Press. I would like to thank my two readers, David Anderson and Robbie Ethridge, whose advocacy motivated me through many long nights of additional writing and revision. Robbie was one of the first people with whom I discussed my conception of this project, and she read the entire manuscript twice. Her long conversations, detailed comments, and careful critiques have made this a better book than it would otherwise have been. By listening, discussing, and debating, many other friends and col- leagues have made significant contributions as well: Mark Williams, David Hally, Vin Steponaitis, Steve Davis, Brett Riggs, Charles Ewen, Alan May, Chester DePratter, Stan South, John Worth, Maureen Meyers, Ian Brown, Dick Krause, Duke Beasley, Marvin Smith, Patrick Livingood, Chris Rodning, and Doug Bolender. I am especially grateful to Chris and Doug. Chris and I have been directing archaeology at the Berry site (with Dave Moore) for more than a decade now. He is a wonderful colleague and friend. Doug and I entered Northwestern University from remarkably different backgrounds and with archaeological interests that seemed, superficially, to be just as remarkably different. Instead, our paths con- verged in ways that neither of us could have expected, and our many hours spent talking concepts and theory have deeply influenced the shape of this book. At Cambridge University Press, my editor Beatrice Rehl championed this book from our first conversation about a half-completed manuscript through the final stages of its completion. Her editorial staff, Asya Graf and Isabella Vitti, have made the production process as smooth and painless as possible.

Acknowledgments xvii

For as long as I can remember, my mother and late father, Martha and Robin Beck, encouraged my childhood dreams of becoming an archaeologist. Their example guides me as I raise my own children now. I would like to acknowledge my brother Kevin Beck, my sister Amy Trinkle, and mi amigo Gray Winkler. My mother-in-law, Fidelina Batista, has been a true source of support, as have my brother-in-law, Cadir Lee, and my father-in-law, Robert Lee. I would also like to thank the Berry family, particularly Pat and James, for their stewardship of the Berry site. Pat, my aunt, died suddenly just before this book was ﬁnished – I will miss her enthusiasm, her curiosity, and her great heart. My daughter Soledad and her little brother Cadir are my joy. My wife Laoma is my partner, my best friend, and the love of my life. She has read every line of every paragraph or listened as I read them aloud. I am thankful for her insights and critiques, for her patience, and for her uncanny ability – which she wielded like a superpower at just the right times – to articulate what I was trying to say before I even knew myself. Laoma still thinks it was bold that I included her in the acknowledgments of my dissertation, when we had only been dating for three months. But I knew then what time has only proved: she is the best thing that ever happened to me. This book is for her.