MISSISSIPPIAN POLITIES OF THE NORTHERN YAZOO BASIN: ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT HOLLYWOOD MOUNDS (original) (raw)

The research presented in this dissertation focuses on archaeological investigations of the Hollywood Mounds site, one of several large Mississippian mound centers located in the northern Yazoo Basin of northwestern Mississippi. On a site level, the goal of the research is to delineate Hollywood Mounds’ structure and layout, and to understand how it changed during its occupation. These goals were explored through the multivariate analysis of artifacts recovered during an earlier systematic surface collection, acquisition and analyses of high-density geophysical data, excavations of areas associated with structures and other features, and radiometric dating of samples recovered during this project and previous projects. These data indicate there were three phases of occupation consisting of: (1) a village; (2) a mound center with several small mounds situated around a plaza; and (3) a mound center with one large mound and several small mounds organized around an artificially raised plaza. I propose that these occupational phases correspond to sociopolitical changes. This occupational sequence began in the mid-thirteenth century A.D. and lasted through the mid-sixteenth century A.D., and the latest occupation stage may postdate the 1541 visit to the region by the Hernando de Soto expedition. This dissertation explores the regional perspective through the analysis of mound site location, historical accounts of the Soto expedition, radiometric dating, and the multivariate analysis of previous surface collections. These analyses indicate that the northern Yazoo Basin contained a uniquely dense assortment of mound centers that formed a complex arrangement of polities. Different patterns of spacing and organization were present than those seen in other areas of the Mississippian world.