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The Provenance and Use of Etowah Palettes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Vincas P. Steponaitis ,
Samuel E. Swanson ,
George Wheeler  and
Penelope B. Drooker
Vincas P. Steponaitis
Affiliation:
Research Laboratories of Archaeology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB# 3120, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3120 ([email protected])
Samuel E. Swanson
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 ([email protected])
George Wheeler
Affiliation:
Department of Scientific Research, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10028 ([email protected])
Penelope B. Drooker
Affiliation:
Research and Collections Division, New York State Museum, 3140 Cultural Education Center, Albany, New York 12230 ([email protected])
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Abstract

Based on geological and stylistic evidence, we argue that stone palettes found at Etowah were made locally from nearby raw materials. We also show that they were wrapped in textiles and kept in bundles, i.e., that they were objects used in ritual. Etowah palettes were used as portable altars, perhaps in ceremonies that involved anointing other objects with colorful (and spiritually powerful) substances. The realization that palettes were bundled ritual gear should cause us to rethink common assumptions that such objects moved from site to site by means of "trade," or that they functioned as "prestige goods" in the sense of Frankenstein and Rowlands (1978).

Resumen

Resumen

De acuerdo con pruebas geológicas y estilísticas, sostenemos que las paletas de piedra encontradas en Etowah fueron hechas localmente a partir de materias primas del área. También demostramos que estas eran envueltas en materias textiles y mantenida en bultos, es decir, que eran objetos utilizados en rituales. Las paletas de Etowah se utilizaban como altares portátiles, quizás en ceremonias que implicaban ungir otros objetos con sustancias coloridas (espiritualmente poderosas). Considerando que Ias paletas constituían envoltórios rituales, debe hacernos repensar suposiciones comunes de que tales objetos se movían de un sitio a otro por medio del "comercio," o que funcionaban como "bienes de prestigio" en el sentido de Frankenstein y Rowlands (1978).

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 76 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 81 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2011

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