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Title
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The Rise and Fall of the Mississippian in Western Alabama:The Moundville and Summerville Phases A.D. 1000-1600
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Date
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1987
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Bibliographic Citation
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Peebles, Christopher S. 1987. The Rise and Fall of the Mississippian in Western Alabama: The Moundville and Summerville Phases, A.D. 1000 to 1600. Mississippi Archaeology 22(1):1–31.
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annotates
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• This article compares the social, economic, demographic, and ecological trajectories of two Mississippian polities in west-central Alabama: Moundville (Black Warrior River Valley) and Summerville phase communities in the Lubbub Creek locality (Tombigbee River Valley).
o Moundville is presented as a centralized complex chiefdom, rising rapidly after A.D. 1050 with extensive mound construction, imported goods, craft specialization, and evidence of elite status differentiation in burials. It was depopulated by the early 1500s, but continously visisted or occupied during the "decentralized" Alabama River phase.
o The Summerville community was smaller, politically autonomous, and stable, with little evidence for hierarchy. It persisted into the early 17th century with low population density, modest mound construction, and egalitarian mortuary patterns.
o Peebles uses radiocarbon dates, settlement patterns, mortuary data, and artifact analysis (especially ceramics, maize cob phenotypes, and faunal remains) to contrast the economic and political organization of both communities.
o He argues that Moundville's collapse was internally driven, not a result of European contact, and emphasizes the adaptive flexibility of the Summerville community, which shifted to broader subsistence strategies and persisted longer.
Choctaw / Ancestral Choctaw Relevance
• The Choctaw are not explicitly named in this article. However:
o The Lubbub Creek locality, including Summerville phase sites, lies in the Choctaw homeland, especially relevant to later Okla Hannali and Oakchay (Aqchai) divisions.
o Peebles discusses postcontact populations (Summerville IV and Alabama River phases) that extend into the 16th and possibly early 17th century, overlapping with early historical Choctaw in the region.
o References to the Sorrells and Moundville phases suggest ties to broader cultural traditions that are continuous with Choctaw identity.
o There is clear implication of continuity between precontact and early postcontact populations, especially at Lubbub Creek, which align with ethnohistoric descriptions of dispersed Indigenous occupation post-Moundville.
• From a decolonizing perspective, this work is highly valuable for reassessing Indigenous resilience and sociopolitical alternatives outside hierarchical models like Moundville.
Site Highlights
Data Presentation / Decolonizing Commentary
• Peebles explicitly challenges diffusionist and European-centric collapse theories (e.g., Soto/Luna contact), framing Moundville's decline as indigenous and internal.
• He emphasizes local social dynamics, ecological adaptation, and political choice, particularly the successful persistence of smaller, less hierarchical communities.
• This framing supports non-hierarchical Indigenous models of resilience, where not all complexity must lead to collapse.
• The paper uses terminology like “prehistoric” and “protohistoric,” but otherwise models a respectful and rigorous analysis of Indigenous complexity and variation.
• Highly useful for researchers working to re-center Indigenous agency and non-state forms of governance in Southeastern archaeology.
CRM Utility Assessment: Very high utility:
o Offers refined ceramic chronologies, phase definitions, and subsistence modeling directly applicable to CRM interpretations of Mississippian and early Postcontact occupations in Alabama.
o Essential for understanding Alabama River phase sites and for evaluating the presence or absence of centralized political control.
o Useful as a framework for distinguishing between Moundville-affiliated and non-Moundville Mississippian sites, which is key in assessing possible ancestral Choctaw persistence in smaller village contexts.
• Should be referenced in CRM reports addressing:
o Shell-tempered ceramic distributions
o Mississippian to historical transitions
o Low-status and dispersed habitation patterns
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owner
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sprice@wiregrassarchaeology.com