Cahokian Exports to Spiro

Abstract

In the twelfth century the Spiro site emerged as a substantial northern Caddoan ritual center. The Craig Mound at Spiro reveals a long history of ritual regalia inputs from the east, especially the Mississippian urban center at Cahokia. The ritual paraphernalia indicate that the Cahokian belief system played a significant role in the religious activities associated with the great mortuary and later with the spirit lodge. Inalienable goods that reached Spiro include copper plates, flint clay sculptures, shell cups and gorgets, and symbolic weaponry. The contemporaneity of Cahokia and Spiro suggests an intrinsic ritual connection and sustained interaction over several centuries through the agency of ritual sodalities and social houses.