ZOOMORPHIC EFFIGY PENDANTS: AN EXAMINATION OF STYLE, MEDIUM, AND DISTRIBUTION IN THE CADDO AREA

Abstract

Caddo zoomorphic effigy pendants were crafted from a wide variety of raw material, such as freshwater mussel shell, Busycon perversum (whelk) marine shell, animal bone, and various types of soft stone. They have been documented at contemporaneous Late Caddo (A.D. 1400–1700) sites along the Red River in northeast Texas, southwest Arkansas, and northwest Louisiana; the Black Bayou, Big Cypress Bayou, and upper Sabine River basins in northeast Texas; the Ouachita River in south-central Arkansas; and the Arkansas River in central Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. This paper describes the development of a comprehensive corpus that investigates stylistic groups, differential raw material or medium utilized, and the spatial distribution of zoomorphic effigy pendants throughout the Caddo area. Results reveal north-south heterogeneity, suggesting the presence of broader traditional cultural narratives associated with a complex idea that is manifest regionally in distinct stylistic forms and linked to Caddo beliefs concerning Beneath World themes. Additionally, this stylistic and spatial analysis offers an additional dataset to further explore social, political, and economic linkages among and between contemporary Caddo groups around A.D. 1500.

Keywords:

• Caddo
• Pendants
• Shell
• Spatial Distribution

Notes

1 The Arkansas River is also host to the enigmatic Spiro site known for its one-of-a-kind assortment of elaborately crafted objects. While zoomorphic effigy representations have been found at the site (see Hamilton 1952:Plate 23B, 57, 61A), they are not included in the corpus because of uncertainties in provenience, the earlier temporal association, and the vastly dissimilar representations.

2 It should be noted that the Clements site (41CS25) in Texas is distinguishable from the Clement site (34MC8) in McCurtain County, Oklahoma (see Bell and Baerreis 1951; Hammerstedt et al. 2010; Regnier et al. 2013).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Duncan P. McKinnon

Correspondence to: Duncan P. McKinnon, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR 72035, USA. E-mail: [email protected].