Mississippi State University Scholars Junction Theses and Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 8-7-2020 Mississippian Period (1000 – 1700 A.D.) wattle and daub construction in the Yazoo Basin: Comparing energy expenditure using context and construction methods William David Harris Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td Recommended Citation Harris, William David, "Mississippian Period (1000 – 1700 A.D.) wattle and daub construction in the Yazoo Basin: Comparing energy expenditure using context and construction methods" (2020). Theses and Dissertations. 3118. https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/3118 This Graduate Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Scholars Junction. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholars Junction. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Template B v4.1 (beta): Created by /15/19 Mississippian Period (1000 – 1700 A.D.) wattle and daub construction in the Yazoo Basin: Comparing energy expenditure using context and construction methods By TITLE PAGE William David Harris Approved by: Darcy Shane Miller (Major Professor) Evan Peacock James W. Hardin David M. Hoffman (Graduate Coordinator) Rick Travis (Dean, College of Arts & Sciences) A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Mississippi State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Applied Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures Mississippi State, Mississippi August 2020 Copyright by COPYRIGHT PAGE William David Harris 2020 Name: William David Harris ABSTRACT Date of Degree: August 7, 2020 Institution: Mississippi State University Major Field: Applied Anthropology Major Professor: Darcy Shane Miller Title of Study: Mississippian Period (1000 – 1700 A.D.) wattle and daub construction in the Yazoo Basin: Comparing energy expenditure using context and construction methods Pages in Study: 182 Candidate for Degree of Master of Arts Native American societies in the Yazoo Basin during the Mississippian Period (ca. 1000 – 1700 A.D.) extensively built platform mounds often associated with “elite” or “sacred” areas, and exotic or energy expensive artifacts. Excessive energy expenditure, or “waste” behaviors, may be explained with costly signaling and bet-hedging, hypotheses stemming from evolutionary theory. I argue that costly signaling may best explain the waste evident in hierarchical and agricultural Mississippian Period societies of the Mississippi Valley. Consequently, I feel that differing levels of energy expenditure may be evident from the remains of perishable construction excavated from mound summits and off-mound contexts. During that time, wattle and daub was a common method of wall construction in the Yazoo Basin, leaving abundant evidence at Mississippian sites. By studying imprints from preserved daub fragments, the use of specific construction methods can be compared between mound and non-mound contexts and relative energy expenditure assessed. DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to John Connaway and the late Dr. Janet Rafferty, who both showed me that the Past changes as if it were alive today. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would have been impossible without the help and interest of more people than can be accounted for here. I thank my committee member Evan Peacock, who has led me back to the bright but untrodden path many times, his work as a daub pioneer, and for his abiding support and interest. I thank my major professor D. Shane Miller for taking me on and voicing support when things were tough, and for some excellent classes and fieldwork experiences. I am extremely thankful to Jimmy Hardin who jumped on my committee when Janet passed, for always being willing to listen to my ideas, and for pointing me towards Old World analogues for my work. I thank the late Janet Rafferty who was supportive and knowledgeable about basically everything and helped steer my line of questioning. I could have also not completed this work without the contribution of John Connaway, who’s knowledge, and early daub work this is an extension of in many regards. I am extremely grateful to the Mississippi Archaeology Association and its members, especially Anna Reginelli, Bo Pitts, Tony Payne, Benny and Gena Roberts, Rob Bonney, all of whom contributed essential fieldwork, notes, figures, artifacts, listened to my presentations and gave good support. Jeffrey Alvey, Keith Baca, and Bradley Carlock of the Cobb Institute’s CRM program were enormously helpful at locating old collections and documents. Dr. Tony Boudreaux and my friend Hannah Zechmann at the University of Mississippi, Dr. Ed Jackson at the University of Southern Mississippi, Dr. Jessica Kowalski at the Arkansas Archeological Survey, Meg Cook and Emily Clark at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jason Ervin, Jim Turner, and Lizbeth Velasquez of iii Mississippi Department of Transportation, Jessica Crawford and Nikki Mattson of the Archaeological Conservancy, I thank you all with utmost sincerity, all of you helped make this happen. Finally, I thank my family for their sacrifices and support throughout the entire thesis writing process. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................1 II. ARCHITECTURAL THEORY, NATURAL SELECTION, AND ENERGY EXPENDITURE ...............................................................................................................4 Architecture and Evolutionary Theory ..............................................................................5 Hypotheses for Waste ..................................................................................................6 Waste and Mississippian Period Societies in the Yazoo Basin ...................................7 III. WATTLE AND DAUB: ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND REGIONAL BACKGROUND .........................................................................................................................................12 Description of Wattle and Daub ......................................................................................12 Daub Disintegration .........................................................................................................14 Structure Fires and the Archaeological Preservation of Daub ........................................15 Daub Identification ..........................................................................................................19 Descriptive and Functional Terminology ........................................................................23 Issues of Sampling, Analysis, and Curation of Daub ......................................................24 Classification of Daub for Relative Preservation ............................................................25 Wattle and Daub in Southeastern U.S. Archaeology ......................................................26 Prehistoric Structures in the Southeast ......................................................................26 Foundation Trenches ...........................................................................................27 Floor Plans ...........................................................................................................28 Interior Features ...................................................................................................29 “Rigid Post” and “Bent-Pole” Interpretations .....................................................31 Mississippian Period Mounds and Mound Summit Architecture ........................33 House Mounds .....................................................................................................36 Materials and Architectural Components of Yazoo Basin Daub ....................................37 Clay .......................................................................................................................38 v Giant Cane .................................................................................................................40 Grasses .......................................................................................................................42 Wood .......................................................................................................................43 Daubed Wall Plain/Plant Texturing ...........................................................................44 Daubed Wall Plastering, Painting, and Finishing ......................................................44 Woven Split Cane Paneling .......................................................................................48 Lashed Pole/Posts ......................................................................................................53 Previous Research ...........................................................................................................58