Chiefdoms, Collapse, and Coalescence in the Early American South [Paperback]

Offers a new framework for understanding the transformation of the Native American South during the first centuries of the colonial era.This book explores the transformation of Native American societies during the first two centuries following European contact. Robin Beck uses a range of archaeological and documentary evidence to offer a new perspective on how Indian nations in the early American South rebuilt their political and social organizations from the ruins of the precolonial world. Focusing on the peoples of the Carolina Piedmont, particularly the Catawba Indians and their neighbors, this book tells a story of contact, collapse, and reconstruction. It is the first book to explain how and why this transformation unfolded in the specific way that it did.This book explores the transformation of Native American societies during the first two centuries following European contact. Robin Beck uses a range of archaeological and documentary evidence to offer a new perspective on how Indian nations in the early American South rebuilt their political and social organizations from the ruins of the precolonial world. Focusing on the peoples of the Carolina Piedmont, particularly the Catawba Indians and their neighbors, this book tells a story of contact, collapse, and reconstruction. It is the first book to explain how and why this transformation unfolded in the specific way that it did.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 stol