Animals and Animality in Eastern Woodland Societies

Animals and Animality in Eastern Woodland Societies, Volume 1, examines the complex interactions between humans and animals in the US Southeast. This scholarly work in archaeology and anthropology explores how these relationships shaped social, ritual, and cosmological worlds from the Woodland period through the post-contact era. Rather than focusing solely on diet or ecology, the text analyzes the broader significance of animals within cultural and political frameworks.

Drawing on ethnohistorical and ethnographic sources, the authors investigate how animals influenced human identities and social structures. Case studies in this politics and social sciences volume highlight diverse expressions of animality, from Mississippian ceramics to Powhatan rituals. By utilizing Indigenous-informed perspectives, the book challenges Western binaries and presents animals as socially and cosmologically significant beings, contributing to modern debates on agency and materiality in archaeology.