The Ascent of Chiefs: Cahokia and Mississippian Politics in Native North America - Softcover

"Pauketat enriches our understanding of Cahokia and stimulates productive debate." Warren DeBoer, The City University of New York "Pauketat has set a benchmark for future synthetic treatments in the region. . . . Ascent of Chiefs stands as a welcome challenge to address complimentary issues in a comparable fashion." American Antiquity

This ambitious book provides a theoretical explanation of how prehistoric Cahokia became a stratified society, and ultimately the pinnacle of Native American cultural achievement north of Mexico. Considering Cahokia in terms of class struggle, Pauketat claims that the political consolidation in this region of the Mississippi Valley happened quite suddenly, around A.D. 1000, after which the lords of Cahokia innovated strategies to preserve their power and ultimately emerged as divine chiefs. The new ideas and new data in this volume will invigorate the debate surrounding one of the most important developments in North American prehistory.