Review by Choice Review
Based on seasons of careful excavation at multiple sites, Emerson's regional synthesis assesses the spectacular 11th through 13th-century archaeological site of Cahokia (East St. Louis, Illinois) from the perspective of its rural affiliate communities. Emerson studies the centralization of Cahokia political and ideological power by examining shorter-term sites that offer sequential snapshots of the "Cahokia process." Emerson's theoretical approach combines both materialist and ideological perspectives; it situates the study of prehistoric ideas in the obvious contexts of landscape and production. The differential distributions of materials reflect the unequal social positions occupied by elites and commoners of rural Cahokia society. The author's goal is a new understanding of the "political and ideological mechanisms that articulated the greater Cahokian polity," and a reconstructed image of 11th through 13th-century religious cosmology based on archaeological data, ethnohistory, ethnography, and iconography. Most important, Emerson's promising methodological approach combines qualitative grace with the strength and structure of excavated data. Upper-division undergraduates and above. S. R. Martin Michigan Technological University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
