THE ASCENT OF CHIEFS: CAHOKIA AND MISSISSIPPIAN POLITICS IN NATIVE NORTH AMERICA. By Timothy R. Pauketat. Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press (Box 870380, 35487-0380), 1994. Paperbound. 235 Pp. ISBN Number 0- 8173-0728-1. $28.95. The archaeological record bears witness to the fact that beginning approximately 700 AD a powerful people, the Cahokia Moundbuilders, inhabited the region of the Mississippi Valley near the present-day location of St. Louis Missouri. Flourishing for only a brief time, the Moundbuilders disappeared as quickly as they had arrived, leaving their great mounds as testament to the fact that they had indeed existed.  Numerous theories have been formulated regarding the sociopolitical structure of these people. “The Ascent of Chiefs” makes detailed examination of the archaeological evidence to put forth the theory that the Moundbuilder formation of centralized chiefdom’s, thought to be characteristic of a certain time period during the domain of the Moundbuilders, came about quite suddenly in approximately 1100 AD. Shortly afterward this apparent social stratification, less than a century and a half later,  all that remained was over 100 massive mounds and the buried artifactual records.  Using pot sherds, lithic remains and other archaeological material, “The Ascent of Chiefs” traces the story of the Moundbuilders. Fully indexed and containing an extensive bibliography, “The Ascent of Chiefs” will serve an excellent reference to those interested in the sociopolitical dynamics of the moundbuilding cultures. In addition, its inclusion of detailed information regarding the material culture of these people makes it an interesting reference to those specifically interested in ceramics and other prehistoric artifacts. Anita Cheek Moon, Member Reviewers’ Consortium
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