Late Woodland feasting and social networks in the lower Missouri River region

Abstract

Feasting and its function among small scale societies have received little attention among many descriptive and theoretical studies of this activity. Evidence of feasting focused on large roasting pits by Late Woodland (AD 500–1000) hunter-gatherer-gardeners in the lower Missouri River region on the eastern edge of the Great Plains is presented. Two features at the Quixote site and lipid analyses of stones from them attest single events focused on roasting deer and fish, and perhaps ritual use of red cedar and ceramic pipes. Such features at other Late Woodland sites in the LMRR, specifically the Valley Falls locality of the Delaware River valley in northeastern Kansas, are reinterpreted. Burned stone features at Middle Woodland sites differ and suggest pit roasting was a practice of dispersed Late Woodland groups. Feasting for solidarity forged a social network based on reciprocity, not competition, to mitigate food insecurity among diffuse, low level food producers.