Posts, Places, Ancestors, and Worlds: Dividual Personhood in the American Bottom Region

Upright posts in the pre-Columbian American Bottom Region, including at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, were central to the formation of 'dividual' personhood—a concept shaped by complex relationships between physical and metaphysical worlds. These posts, used during Late Woodland, Terminal Late Woodland, and Mississippian periods, connected plazas, mounds, structures, bodies, dimensions, and otherworldly beings, suggesting that personhood was dynamically constituted through these interactions. The study reveals that notions of personhood evolved significantly with the rise of Cahokia around A.D. 1050, marking a radical shift in how individuals were perceived within their social and spiritual landscapes.

Skousen, B. J. (2012). POSTS, PLACES, ANCESTORS, AND WORLDS: DIVIDUAL PERSONHOOD IN THE AMERICAN BOTTOM REGION. Southeastern Archaeology, 31(1), 57–69. https://doi.org/10.1179/sea.2012.31.1.004