The stone statuary of the Mississippian cultures of the Southeast represents perhaps the most enigmatic artifacts of that region. Archaeologist Kevin Smith of Middle Tennessee University and the late James Miller, an independent Choctaw scholar, have in this volume compiled the history of 42 of these fascinating statues from the Tennessee and Cumberland River systems. They obtained data from early documents and public and private collections, and they measured, analyzed, and photographed the statues.
Early European visitors noted temples and shrines of Native Americans that were decorated with idols made of wood, pottery, and stone. The authors conclude that both the ethnographic and archaeological evidence suggest that these statues were created to use in shrines for the veneration of ancestors. The two most definable themes in this region are the male-female pairs and the Old Woman. The pairs, which may represent progenitors, are largely restricted to the central Tennessee and north Georgia areas. The most spectacular example of a pair, carved from white marble and painted, is from the famed Etowah Mounds in Georgia. The Old Woman is more widely distributed and may represent the “earth mother” common in oral traditions across North America.
The authors remind us that most of these extant statues have no archaeological context and they hope that new examples will be discovered that offer greater insights into these fascinating works of art.
