Evaluating the dating and context of long-nosed god maskettes and iconography in the American midcontinent

ABSTRACT

Long-nosed god (LNG) maskettes and iconography have traditionally been seen as a pre-Southern Cult phenomena, placed variously in the tenth to thirteenth centuries. Researchers have suggested they were employed in political and religious interactions or to facilitate trade, but few have looked in detail at their chronology, context, and distribution. Here, an in-depth review of radiocarbon dates and context raises questions about the place of LNGs in midcontinental Native societies. This reassessment illustrates that LNG images do not predate the appearance of Caddo and Cahokian symbolic emergence and can be first securely documented in the late eleventh century. They clearly are objects that signify personal endowments and are inalienable, following that individual to the grave. Their context and distribution indicate that LNG icons are an integral part of the Caddo religious and political networks but are tangential at Cahokia and take on totally different contextual meanings to the north of Cahokia. This study demonstrates that proposing uniform explanations for LNG ideology and implementation does not correlate with the archaeological evidence. Future studies that account for regional variations in LNG chronology, context, and spatial distribution are needed to begin addressing the roles of these unique objects in Native societies.

KEYWORDS:

• Long-nosed god maskettes
• Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
• Mississippian iconography
• Cahokia symbolism
• Mississippian religion
• Spiro

Acknowledgments

Through the years, my understanding of precontact religious symbolism, practices, and ritual have benefited from interactions and exchanges with Susan M. Alt, Lawrence A. Conrad, David H. Dye, Kjersti E. Emerson, Duane Esarey, Andrew C. Fortier, Kenneth B. Farnsworth, Jeffery S. Girard, James B. Griffin, Robert Hall, Douglas K. Jackson, Timothy R. Pauketat, Charles Rohrbaugh, Mary L. Simon, and John A. Walthall, as well as many other colleagues. This research could not have been carried out without the generous assistance of the Caddo Nation. I thank them all. Additionally, SEAC reviewers were helpful in sharpening this presentation and their efforts are appreciated.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 All maskettes are considered here as examples of the “long-nosed” god character regardless of the depicted length of their noses. Not considered here are a number of small wooden and shell face “masks” reportedly looted from Craig Mound (Brown 1996:529–530). They appear to lack the classic features of the LNG images.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Thomas E. Emerson

Thomas E. Emerson is a senior research scientist with the Upper Mississippi Valley Archaeological Research Foundation (UMVARF), the retired director of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (1994–2018), and Illinois’s first state archaeologist (2013–2018). From 1984 to 1993, he served as the chief archaeologist of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Most recently, he oversaw the excavations of the East St. Louis Mound center, one of the largest modern excavations conducted in the United States. His interests are diverse, ranging from cultural resource management, the crafting of archaeological legislation, Great Lakes underwater archaeology, mortuary studies, French colonial studies, archaeometric research on dietary isotopes and geologic sourcing, early religions, symbolism, and the rise of social and political complexity to the impacts of early urbanism. He is the author of numerous articles and the author and editor of more than a dozen volumes on midcontinental archaeology and is the longtime editor and book review editor of Illinois Archaeology and editor of the Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology. He is the recipient of numerous state, regional, national, and international awards.