Mississippian Women

Highlighting the role of precontact Indigenouswomen in building and transforming Mississippian cultureThis volume highlightshow women were powerful farmers, economic decision-makers, spiritual leaders,and agents of social integration in the diverse societies of the Mississippianworld, which spanned the present-day United States South to the Midwest beforethe seventeenth century. While Mississippian societies are some of the mostwell-researched pre-European contact societies on the continent, little attentionhas been dedicated specifically to Mississippian women. These chapters offernew insights into the vital role women played within their communities, anapproach directly informed by the powerful position of American Indian womenwithin contemporary American Indian communities.Contributorsexamine themes such as identity, labor, grieving, cooking, craft production,spatial organization, prestige, morbidity, kinship, and fertility. Case studiesinclude sites throughout the Mississippian world, ranging from Illinois toFlorida, including Cahokia and Moundville. MississippianWomen is the first volume to focus solely on the political, social, and economicpower of women during this period, linking their actions in building their culturebefore European colonialism with the work of Indigenous women in the regiontoday.Avolume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series