HAWKS, SERPENTS, AND BIRD-MEN: EMERGENCE OF THE ONEOTA MODE OF

PRODUCTION
Author(s): David W. Benn
Source: Plains Anthropologist , August 1989, Vol. 34, No. 125 (August 1989), pp. 233-260
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Plains Anthropological Society

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25668891

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 HAWKS, SERPENTS,
AND BIRD-MEN:
EMERGENCE OF THE ONEOTA MODE OF PRODUCTION
by

David W. Benn

ABSTRACT

The late prehistoric Oneota society of the midwestern United States is analyzed for its politico
economic structure. Oneota cultural organization is compared with Mississippian chiefdoms to the south
for evidence of complexity. This approach does not extend the critique to a deep enough level, and the
methods of dialectical materialism are introduced to analyze how value was created from social labor
in the Oneota system. Oneota society is modeled as a tribal organization in which specific forms of so
cial structures existed to justify production and differential distribution of a social-surplus. The organiza
tion of the Oneota production system engendered it to expand; therefore, the model is expanded to explain
how symbolic motifs (hawks) developed as a standard of cultural hegemony for the Oneota. The trans
formation from Woodland to Oneota systems is analyzed as an historical process involving the reor
ganization of productive relations and the development of pan-ethnic symbols of dominance.

[T]he world of humankind constitutes a
manifold, a totality of interconnected proces
ses, and inquiries that disassemble this totality
into bits and then fail to reassemble it falsify
reality. Concepts like "nation," "society," and
"culture" name bits and threaten to turn names
into things. Only by understanding these names
as bundles of relationships, and by placing them
back into the field from which they were
abstracted, can we hope to avoid misleading in
ferences and increase our share of under
standing (Wolf 1982:3).
Oneota culture (A.D. 900-1650) has been
the subject of much attention in Iowa (e.g.,
Keyes 1927; Wedel 1959; Henning 1961, 1970;
Straffin 1971; Glenn 1974; Gradwohl 1967,
1974:95; Harvey 1979; Osborn 1982) and else
where in the Midwest (e.g., Griffin 1937; Hall
1962; Gibbon 1966,1969,1970,1983). The rapid,
widespread florescence of Oneota culture (Fig.
1) and its sharp contrast with preceding Wood
land cultures have made this culture an enigma
in terms of culture process. Since the time of
Mildred Mott Wedel's (1959) analysis of the Orr
manifestation, researchers have tended toward
a consensus of what traits are typical of
Oneota?shell tempered pottery, triangular
arrow points, small end scrapers, large villages
with storage pits, trade materials such as cat
linite and copper and cemeteries with extended
burials. The taxonomic classification (Willey
and Phillips 1958; Harvey 1979:231) and socio
political analysis (Gibbon 1982) of the Oneota
system remain areas of controversy.
COMPLEXITY
A case has been made for an increase in so
cial complexity (i.e., increased societal size,
scale and organization; Price and Brown 1985:8)
and economic intensification in the eastern
United States six millennia before the time of the

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David W. Benn

^"^^ \ Fig- 1. Oneota distribu

\ tions on the Prairie
_\ ->_-_-^?^^^^^^^H^H^^ Peninsula (stippling) of
^--^^^^^ the American Midwest.

o j ksmoJ
ipo j ^^-^"^\
y/ j
milt* ^.. ? ? \j y

Oneota (Brown 1977; Phillips and

by "closure" B
of th
Braun and Plog movement is co
1982; Price and B
Bender 1979,1985a). Brown (1985)
demographic factor
(1985:104) reason that definitions
mulate social pack
hunters and ticipation
gatherers and
to "broaden nic
production?the
troducing technical ini
and organizatio
like permanent structures, storage
human society (Ma
elaborated inter-group
technology rela
and new f
changes indicate reciprocal exchang
a gradual trend to
tism and circumscribed territories
and the creation of
sification process continued
Reciprocal throu
exchang
Woodland period, when there was
ments in which so
evidence for localized
paid withexploitation
surplus p
tensive resourcesis controlled
(e.g., by th
seed foods),
packing along rivers,
changes and asnutrition
they re
Bender 1977:168).
cies in humans (Brown (1985a:58) a
Barbara of subsistence
Bender int
(1979, 1985
were from
proaches complexity encouraged
a Marxiby
tive. Rather thanstatus in alliance
visualizing socialan
empiricist's terms ?size,
erting scale, org
influence ove
she perceives complexity as a conditio
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 Oneota Mode of Production

The problem of explaining the transforma
tion to Mississippian societies is thornier when
viewed from a structural perspective. If only
production for subsistence is considered, it is
clear the Mississippian farmers and Archaic
hunters and gatherers possessed the resources,
technology, knowledge, and household or
ganization to subsist without the imposition of
higher authority structures. In short, those who
labored and consumed their own products con
trolled the means and organization of produc
tion. Peebles and Kus (1977:426-427) noticed
this kind of organizational structure among
Hawaiian chiefs, who imposed their authority on
economically autonomous populations through
ritual acts and shrines. This is politics, domina
tion which transcends local decision-making
units so there is differentiation (ranking) within
the system (Peebles and Kus 1977). Peebles and
Kus applied the model of Hawaiian chiefdoms
to the Mississippian societies of eastern North
America and found evidence for similar or
ganizational structures, such as ascribed ranking
in mortuary contexts, monumental construction,
craft specialization and a hierarchy of settle
ment types at the same time there was village
self-sufficiency (1977:431-433).
Burial data from Oneota sites (Wedel 1959;
Hall 1962; Gradwohl 1974:96; Glenn 1974) lack
the criteria for ascribed ranking by age groups
(see Hodder 1984), and there are no special
structures (charnel houses) commonly as
sociated with the burial program. The
preponderance of adults, particularly males, in
cemeteries suggests that status was delineated
by age and gender. Grave goods seem to suggest
that the symbolic distinctions of hierarchy were
levels of "achieved" status: e.g., domestic ar
tifacts, personal adornment and personal
ownership of ritual paraphernalia.
The Oneota settlement pattern is charac
ner in which the economic base (i.e., raw
terized by widely spaced clusters of large vil
lages, seasonal camps and bivouacs on the materials, tools, subsistence strategies) was in
Prairies Peninsula (Henning 1970; Gradwohl tegrated into a mode of production (i.e., rela
1974; Tiffany 1979; Gibbon 1983:9; Benn tions between producers, products and
1984:94; Wedel 1986). Many large village sites,
which were reoccupied often over several
hundred years, functioned as year-round habita
tions from which hunting and collecting forays
were launched. Settlements were positioned to
take advantage of a wide range of prairie, wood
land and riparian resources as well as to provide
access to arable soils (Harvey 1979; Brown 1982;
Gallagher and Stevenson 1982; Michalik 1982;
Tiffany 1982). There is no evidence of settlement
ranking within the clusters of large villages.
Evidence for production on a scale larger
than the household (craft specialization) is not
found in the Oneota. The Oneota certainly were
recipients of exotic materials such as copper,
marine shell, Marginella beads, Knife River
flint, bison scapulae and finished artifacts like
Ramey pottery (Wedel 1959; Hall 1962; Hen
ning 1970; Harvey 1979; Overstreet 1981). They
also exploited the catlinite quarries in south
western Minnesota. Exotic materials moved
through inter-group alliances, but their final
crafting and utilization occurred within the
household as the archaeological evidence indi
cates that finished and discarded objects and
waste materials are scattered in village middens
and cemeteries. There is no evidence for spe
cialized craft production in precincts of villages.
The scale of extra-household production of
crafts, including catlinite, is not significantly dif
ferent from that of preceding Woodland cul
tures.
The Oneota lacked the complex organiza
tional characteristics of Mississippian chief
doms; yet, the Oneota employed many of the
symbols and artifacts of Mississippian culture,
particularly some of the Southern Cult sym
bolism. Such symbolism seems enigmatic within
the Oneota social structure. Explaining this con
tradiction between social structure and its sym
bols can be accomplished by moving to a deeper
analysis of how symbols justify systems of social
production. Four aspects of Oneota society will
be examined in the following pages: (1) the man
distribution), and how the mode of production
was transformed by the shift from a hunting and
gathering base to horticulture (Gibbon 1982:2);

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David W. Benn
(2) the nature of competition between emergent
Oneota and indigenous Woodland peoples
(Gibbon 1972; Hurley 1974); (3) the spread of
the Oneota mode of production across the Mid
west (Tiffany 1979; Dobbs 1982; Brown 1982);
and (4) the ideologic meaning and context of
the introduction of various traits peculiar to
Oneota and Mississippian cultures.
METHODS OF INQUIRY
Until recently, Oneota studies have been
characterized by indulgence in empiricism and
avoidance of historical process. Explanations
for the origin and development of Oneota
society have dissolved one after another as new
finds of empirical evidence or the inductive logic
of other researchers has been published, e.g.,
migration (Griffin 1960), diffusion of Mississip
pian traits and influence (Hall 1962), develop
ment of unspecified ancestors (Henning 1970),
development from resident Woodland cultures
(Gibbon 1974; Hurley 1974). Some ar
chaeologists have realized that classification of
traits, which composes the bulk of knowledge
about Oneota, will never produce explanations
about Oneota development, because ideology
and history of a people cannot be epistemologi
cally ignored for "facts" (Saitta 1983a:300). So
cial process is emerging in some considerations
of Oneota (e.g., Gibbon 1972, 1982; Brown
1982), but an historical perspective and an
economic method of inquiry have yet to be ap
plied to the Oneota question and to American
archaeology in general (cf. Price 1982).
The method of my inquiry was exemplified
first by Karl Marx, whose methods have been
modernized for anthropological research by
many scholars (e.g., Althusser 1969; Bender
1981,1985a, b; Block, ed. 1975; Friedman 1974;
Godelier 1972; Marquardt 1985; Sahlins 1976;
Terray 1972; Wolf 1982). The fundamental basis
of the neo-Marxist methodology is the recogni
tion of the essential determinancy of the
economic element in social formation, and the
reciprocal interactions of that economic ele
ment with all other aspects of society (Har
rington 1976:192-200). The malleable form of
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the economic element is the mode of production
(MOP), which is composed of the forces of
production (tools and labor), relations between
producers (relations of production), and an
ideological component related to the specific
form of the productive system. The MOP may
encompass many labor processes (e.g., fishing,
hunting, cultivating) which are embedded in the
relations of production. In the kin-based MOP
of pre-state societies (see Wolf 1982) there are
no purely economic institutions that dominate
(Godelier 1978a), for in such societies the means
of reproducing the social group (kinship) is the
same as the relations of production (the
economic element). In other words, people who
are related by descent and marriage produce
everything they need to live and reproduce (Sah
lins 1972; Hindness and Hirst 1975).
That cultural conceptions, such as kinship
relations and ideology, appear to dominate
practical action is part of what makes Oneota
and other kin-based social formations appear
inscrutable for scientific inquiry. This is an il
lusion, an up-side-down relation of the old
anthropological problem of "ideal" vs. "real."
The relations of production must ultimately
determine human consciousness because value,
the measuring stick of human existence, is so
cially constituted (Marx 1906:11-12). In kin
based social formations, kinship is the "way of
committing social labor to the transformation of
nature through appeals to filiation and mar
riage, and to consanguinity and affinity" (Wolf
1982:91). Although members of a kinship group
often labor separately, the value of their labor is
"socialized" among the kindred's membership
because their products are shared (Hindness
and Hirst 1975; Barnett and Silvermen 1979). In
this way, kinship is the governing structure in the
allocation of authority over the control of
everyone's labor.
Ideology is an intellectual account with
which people explain their behavior and inter
pret reality. Ideology is expressed as myth (sym
bolic expression) and religious rites (symbolic
actions) which validate the structure and social
relations of the MOP and thereby ensure the
continuation of production and reproduction of

the social formation. Ideological thought and
practice are the products of specific forms of so
cial production and can change with the trans
formation of relations between producers
(Godelier 1978b:4). Ideology also has an ahis
torical aspect passed from generation to genera
tion as a means of insuring the reproduction of
society.
In the following pages, this body of theory is
applied in an investigation of the development
and structure of the Oneota society. First, the
tribalization process is modeled and analyzed,
then a new formulation about Oneota sym
bolism and the process of expansion is
developed.
TRIBALIZATION
"Tribe" is a term designating a social forma
tion without fixed ranks in which production is
promoted and shared by extended kin groups
and by pan-residential structures (Sahlins
1968:14-27; Service 1975:109-132; Keesing
1981:183-189; Braun and Plog 1982:504). The
notion of a tribal formation is used here as a con
venience because it fits with the absence of
ascribed status in Oneota society; yet, a kin
based MOP can be modeled to include the ele
ment of politics.
Modeling
Karl Marx declared that value arises from
the productive labor of humans and, therefore,
is produced as man reproduces himself and his
society. Value can be construed in different ways
because it is constituted in various labor contexts
and is transformed through social exchange.
Value in the form of material products and in
the form of people (e.g., labor, biological
reproduction) is exchanged in reciprocal ar
rangements. When products are exchanged, the
product's simple use-value is supplemented by
the social relationship between exchangers,
creating exchange-value which is a social
surplus. When people are exchanged, their labor
is put to use (e.g., as indentured servants, slaves,
domestic help), but in the case of women then
biological potential is far more important to kin
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Oneota Mode of Production
based societies. Levi- Strauss (1949) pointed out
that bride exchange is a transaction of female
labor and reproductive potential. This makes
kinship part of the economy because kinship is
the primary mechanism for reproducing labor
(Godelier 1977; Gregory 1984). As with the ex
change of products, the exchange of women also
creates a social-surplus, variously expressed as
brideprice and other forms of prestige.
Regarding tribal organizations, the preced
ing theoretical perspective leads Sahlins (1972),
Friedman and Rowlands (1978), Keesing
(1981), Wolf (1982,1984), Saitta (1983b) and
Bender (1979,1985a) to focus on the production
and distribution of social-surpluses as a means
of explaining the history and development of
complex social formations. Accumulations of
value in social-surpluses is one indicator of
human inequality and a means by which in
dividuals acquire wealth and status and contrive
to dominate the processes of reproduction?
biological, social and economic. Social
surpluses are created because domestic units,
even in the simplest form, cannot be totally
autonomous. Units must exchange mates and
support one another during times of stress;
therefore, relations between units generate
surpluses to facilitate reciprocity and con
solidate alliances through exchange of surplus
(Sahlins 1972; Wilmsen 1973; Godelier 1975;
Weissner 1982). Exchange networks become
arenas for the creation of social differences in
the form of accumulated reciprocity, or debt
(Hindness and Hirst 1975:55; Bender 1979:210,
1985a:55).
Reciprocity depends on the principle of
delay-return (Mauss 1967). This is obvious in the
case of bride exchange and the norm for product
surpluses which takes time to accumulate. In
delay-return systems, leaders insure access to
resources by exploiting the labor of kin to con
vert raw materials into products and by
propagating alliances for the exchange of
surpluses that guarantee future access (Bender
1979:212). Control of surplus production and
labor reproduction forms the basis for a source
of power in systems where status is achieved.
Meillassoux (1972), Godelier (1977), Friedman
David W. Benn
and Rowlands (1978), Bender (1979:212) and
Clammer (1985:101) have, therefore, identified
one kind of authority as the maintenance of so
cial knowledge?alliance rules, genealogies, his
tory, marriage regulations, customs, magic and
divination. As this type of authority is promoted
through kinship, those with power will act to
reproduce their influence across generations, so
the aspects of authority become embedded in
the descent system. Social complexity stems
from the gradual institution of inequality within
the kinship and descent structures such that all
members accept relations of dominance and
compliance as the inevitable condition. When
dominant relations extend beyond the kinship
network to encompass other autonomous units,
they are said to be linked by politics (Service
1975:49).
The immediate problem for this paper is
utilizing the preceding model to investigate the
structure of Oneota society. I will focus on some
critical aspects; notably, how labor-value was
produced and distributed and what types of
authority structures existed. It is hypothesized
that a social-surplus was produced by specific
forms of social structures that also justified
production and differential distribution of the
surplus among kin groups ?the tenets of tribal
organization. Manifestations of social structures
which controlled and manipulated the social
surplus would include, first and foremost, a dif
ferentiated membership (cf. Cohen
1985:109-112). The social formation should be
differentiated into parallel subdivisions, some
holding priority over others, particularly in
ceremonial activities. The differences between
subdivisions should be solidified by tradition
(descent rules) and stereotyped in ways that
would be advertised for all to know and ap
preciate. The subdivisions should have assigned
rights and privileges with ideological justifica
tions which determine access to resources and
reproductive advantages.
The Oneota Evidence
Oneota subsistence is generally charac
terized by a seasonal round of aquatic harvest
ing, maize and native seed farming, wild seed
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harvesting, and large game hunting in the wood
lands and prairies (Mason 1966:193; Henning
1970:144; Gibbon 1972:175; Savage 1978; Tatum
1979; Tiffany 1982:10; Brown 1982:111-112;
Wedel 1986:51-55). Recently, Gallagher and
others (Gallagher, et al. 1985) have presented
evidence from the Upper Mississippi River val
ley showing the Oneota developed an intensive
agricultural system with improved strains of
maize grown in ridged fields. Evidence for inten
sive agriculture postdates A.D. 1200, while
maize horticulture dates back to the Late Wood
land period in the same region (Benn 1980; Ar
zigian 1987). Even if it can be shown that
improvements in maize growing contributed to
the economic success of Oneota, maize produc
tion cannot be cited as the explanation for the
emergence of the Oneota way of life. Brown
(1982:111-112) is probably correct in his asser
tion that the non-intensive nature of early
Oneota maize cultivation was adequate to supp
ly needs because this crop was productive, even
in the northern limits of the Midwest, and be
cause Oneota populations did not have a high
population that threatened carrying capacity of
the environment.
The analysis of the Oneota economic base
is better viewed in terms of the total labor invest
ment in all labor processes. Swidden horticul
ture required large groups of kin to clear fields,
plant crops, hoe weeds, defend plants from
predators, harvest, and protect granaries and
seed corn from scavengers and raids (cf. Bloch
1975:212). Gathering activities demanded
sporadic episodes of cooperative labor or
seasonal efforts by individuals at specific loca
tions. Cooperative labor was essential for hunt
ing large game animals, as in the case of the
Oneota's propensity for extended bison hunting
expeditions on the prairies (Wedel 1986:51-52).
For extended hunts, a group of hunters and bur
den-bearers was necessary, while some in
dividuals remained in the village to protect
storehouses of resources. In short, any subsis
tence formula for pursuing bison and elk on the
prairies and maintaining a major investment in
crops required a division of labor among many
personnel. I surmise that the critical factor in the
 Oneota Mode of Production

emerging Oneota MOP was not access to raw a basis for complementary participation in ritual
materials but obtaining adequate amounts of activities. Moieties cross-cut villages, while clans
labor and utilizing resources in a strategic may have been residential aggregates (Radin
fashion. 1923). In all three tribes, patrilineages belonged
Attracting, organizing and retaining sup
plies of labor as kin groupings must be the prin
cipal role of family authorities. As theorized
above, authorities in kin-based systems control
labor through manipulation of the labor-value in
commodities and in human reproduction
(women). To find evidence for these processes
in the Oneota, the evidence for social and politi
cal structure, available in bits and pieces in the
ethnographies of tribes with historic connec
tions to the prehistoric Oneota, must be ex
amined. Accounts of the Winnebago (Radin
1923) are the most thorough and insightful, and
there are less detailed studies of the Ioway
(Skinner 1926; Wedel 1986) and Oto (Whitman
1937). Little information exists for the Missouri
Indians.
People of the Winnebago, Ioway, Oto and
Missouri tribes are described as having lived in
large villages and having moved frequently. Be
cause the tribes were badly decimated by war
and disease, actual human numbers are debated
with estimates ranging up to 10,000 Winnebago
(Hall 1962:154); at least 1000 or more for each
of the Ioway (Mott 1938:235), Oto and Missouri
(Henning 1961:24-25). The real numbers are not
as significant as their relative densities. The
Winnebago are said to have lost 500 warriors
from a single war party caught in a storm on
Lake Michigan (Hall 1962:152), and the entire
tribe of Ioway, Missouri and Oto are said to have
resided in only one or two villages (Whitman
1937; Mott 1938; Henning 1961). Additionally,
the archaeological evidence, in the form of
clusters of large Oneota villages, is consistent
with historic period observations that the
population was concentrated.
The social organizations of the Winnebago,
Ioway and Oto villages consisted of moieties and
clans (gens; Radin 1923; Skinner 1926; Whitman
1937). The Winnebago moieties were sky
("those from above") and earth ("those from
below"), and their function was the familiar type
of dualism?to regulate marriages and provide
to the clans, each of which functioned in several
ways for the communal production and
reproduction (e.g., to control agricultural fields
and produce, initiate novitiates, allocate mar
riages, conduct mortuary ceremonies, par
ticipate in tribal councils, conduct public
ceremonies and feasts, practice raiding and
war). Cross-cutting the clan and lineage struc
tures were religious societies (Winnebago) and
sodalities (Ioway, Oto) whose members func
tioned as officers for rituals and feasts and as
leaders of war parties. Overseeing village life
was a tribal council of clan elders and among the
Winnebago a principal elder, or "chief."
Radin's (1923) account of the Winnebago is
sufficiently detailed to show the subdivisions
(clans) or society were differentiated and
prioritized. Skinner (1926:190, 251) and Whit
man (1937:32,46,85-86) use more general terms
like "class" and "caste" to indicate similar kinds
of privilege among the Ioway and Oto. In all
three societies, men could move upward in the
leadership network by passing through a series
of offices, but the top positions of war and peace
chiefs came only from certain clans. The moiety
burial practices differed (inhumation for "earth
people," scaffold burial for "sky people"), and
clans were assigned specific ceremonial func
tions because they kept village bundles. The
mechanism of stereotyping group membership
was inherent in the clan structure and expressed
as clan names, face painting, modes of dress,
council seating and as reciprocal clan obliga
tions.
The degree to which clan priorities of Win
nebago society were solidified is not clear in
every instance, but here are some examples. The
sky moiety contained the Thunderbird clan, the
pre-eminent clan from which the village "peace"
chief was chosen. The Warrior clan, which was
paired with the Thunderbird clan, also belonged
to the upper division and conducted wars for the
tribe. War was one of the most important ele
ments of Winnebago and Ioway tribal existence

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David W. Benn
(Radin 1923:156; Skinner 1926:205-7), and it will
be shown later how significant the
"thunderbird" motif was. The Bear clan of the
lower division had important responsibilities as
sociated with policing the village. Other clans
also had responsibilities, some of which are now
vague or forgotten. The major communal feasts
and ceremonies, particularly those associated
with war and life-renewal, could not be con
ducted without specific bundles and the par
ticipation of the bundle holders (i.e., clan
heads). Male members, and by association, their
families achieved social and political standing
through feats of bravery in war.
Clans were assigned rights and privileges in
community feasts and rituals, with many rights
and privileges being expressed through recipro
cal actions between permanently paired clans
(e.g., burial activities, functionaries in religious
societies). The hierarchy of privilege in Win
nebago society was manifested most strongly in
the Thunderbird clan and its office of village
chief (Radin 1923:207-211), the dominant
leader. This office was filled from the member
ship of "a few families" (Radin 1923:209) with
the clan, indicating, it is assumed, socio
economic priority for a few families (called
"aristocratic lineages" by Godelier 1978b:8).
Furthermore, the bonding between paired clans
obligated members to fulfill "every possible
privilege" (Radin 1923:201), thereby creating
the opportunity for the advantages of reciprocity
to flow upward in the tribal hierarchy. The
dominance of one chief within the bilateral clan
structure is an indication of asymmetrical politi
cal dualism in complex societies (Friedman
1982:184).
Bundles are the key element for under
standing the connections among supernatural
power, prioritized offices of authority and the
control of labor in the historic tribes. The tribe
maintained relations with supernatural spirits
through totemic symbols in bundles. Bundles
were the indispensable centerpieces of com
munal ceremonies, which periodically cleansed
tribal and spiritual relations. Bundles were as
sembled by clan leaders through directives
received in supernatural visions, and the village
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bundles were inherited within specific clans.
Thus, descent within the clan gave priority status
to the clan bundle keeper. Clammer (1985;104)
terms this structural relation the "ideology" of
social organization, because authority is vested
in kinship and descent through communal ad
herence to supernatural precendence.
The bundles represented authority and
stood for fetishized production (in the Marxian
sense; see Friedman 1974). Supernatural
authority was employed by clan leaders to justify
and reinforce their control of the daily labor
processes in the lineage, making it possible to
amass the social-surplus for the benefit of the
lineage and clan, the ultimate source of power
in the Chiwere Siouxan tribes. The surplus con
sisted of symbolic items: e.g., elaborate clothing,
utensils, deer robes, trade materials and
foodstuffs for feasts. Clan heads controlled
preparations for feasts and ceremonies, the
primary outlets for consumption of surplus
production and maintained the necessary
bundles for these occasions.
SYMBOLISM AND HEGEMONY
The preceding scenario shows how tribal
leaders could accumulate and reproduce status,
wealth and prestige by manipulating the labor
value of kin. Bundles representing supernatural
power and fetishized social-surplus could have
been the device used by the Oneota leadership
to embed their authority in the kinship hierar
chy. It is appropriate now to explore how the
emerging Oneota system was expressed exter
nally, because this will explain their expansion
ary tendency. My perspective will extend beyond
Oneota society to encompass fields of ideologi
cal meaning (cf. Wolf 1984) common to many
tribal societies in the eastern United States (Hall
1980).
Modeling
Ideology is defined as a "mode of interven
tion in social relations, carried on through prac
tice, which secures the reproduction... of the
social formation..." when there are contradic
tions in the structure of society and its in

dividuals or groups (Shanks and Tilley
1982:131). The central elements in the
ideologies of hunters and gatherers and hor
ticulturalists are taken from nature. The mind of
pre- capitalist people thinks about nature by
analogy; everything about nature is
anthropomorphized in metaphor (Fernandez
1974). The realities and invisible force in nature
are invested as beings with souls, consciousness
and power so that they may communicate with
people and other imagined beings. Out of na
ture, human thought creates a double of itself,
an ideal representation of nature as a world of
people-beings which is an illusory expression of
objective existence (Godelier 1977:178). The il
lusion of continuity between spirit-beings and
humans is a powerful, all-encompassing ideol
ogy represented to participants as the only
natural, organic system of life.
The consequence of illusory thinking about
nature is the creation of a cosmology which func
tions to link control of social labor with the
power to influence the forces of nature. By this
mechanism, authority in the kinship network is
linked with symbolic expression (myth) and ac
tion (ritual) (Godelier 1982; Bender 1985b:25).
This linkage is realized in three forms: (1) cos
mology represents a means of knowing and ex
plaining what is presumed to be reality, in short,
of accounting for the order of things in the
world; (2) cosmology is a means for influencing
(coercing) ideal characters and forces of nature
through the application of ritual, admonition
and prayer; (3) as bundle keepers, leaders util
ize access to cosmological powers to validate
and enhance their social status and control so
cial production (Friedman 1975:172). In the
hands of leaders, ideological categories in cos
mology are used to deny or mystify structural
contradictions in society, represent sectional in
terests as universal and reify the past and
present (Shanks and Tilley 1982:132). This
means that the control of social labor is inherent
in the ideology of a kin-based MOP and is mo
nopolized by some members with the consensus
of the whole of society (Godelier 1982:240).
The monopolizing of authority is ac
complished by metaphorical activity (Fernan
241
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Oneota Mode of Production
dez 1974) which conceals (fetishizes) the ex
change of labor-value behind cosmic ideology.
In non-state societies, any form of domination
by one segment must be maintained by repeated
actions (e.g., feasts, ritual and obligations) and
recurrent symbolism, because there are no over
arching social institutions to assume this func
tion (Shanks and Tilley 1982:133). Metaphorical
activity involves the rejuvenation of the ideal so
cial consciousness by acting out the dialectic be
tween social action and the "ideal" way to
reproduce the social formation. In midwestern
Indian societies, rituals most strongly expressing
this dialectic were mortuary ceremonies and
"first fruit" celebrations. The Oneota are ex
pected to have had these types of ideational ex
pressions, stated by the following hypotheses.
(1) Symbolic motifs taken from nature
should express a hierarchy of power. Domina
tion by a social group should be manifested
through the monopolization of the symbols of
descent from cosmic beings. Motifs should have
a limited range of variation because they express
specific activities. Motifs should be abstracted
representations of cosmic themes.
In social organizations where prestige and
labor control are monopolized, the inheritance
of status by primogeniture develops as a nearly
universal pattern (Service 1975:74). Headmen
(e.g., lineage heads, elders and political
leaders), who can afford to provide feasts for vil
lage functions, obviously are successful because
of their good relations with the cosmos (their so
cial-surplus is the "work of the gods") and be
cause of their close genealogical relationship
with spirits (they have more "influence;" Fried
man 1975:173). By this logic, political develop
ment replicates the form of the appropriation of
labor-value and of the religious ideology that
justifies access to social-surpluses. According to
this reasoning, the internal politics of the
Oneota should take this form:
(2) Manifestations of hierarchical structure
and a dominant group should be evident in so
cial relations and should be expressed as sym
bol. Social and symbolic dualism should reflect
the symmetry of the socio-economic system.
David W. Benn
The late Woodland period (ca. A.D. 350-)
in the Midwest apparently encompassed a brief
cessation of inter-regional exchange following
the disappearance of the Hopewell pattern
(Brown 1977:173; Braun and Plog 1982) and a
concurrent increase in the signs of conflict (e.g.,
fortifications, mortuary evidence of violent
death and warrior symbolism). Thereafter,
inter-regional exchange resumed with the emer
gence of Mississippian and Oneota societies
(Brown 1977:174). Chert hoes, marine and
freshwater shell, copper, other exotics and
perishables like salt, meat, skins and feathers
moved through the Mississippian exchange net
work. The Oneota were interested in catlinite,
shell, bison parts (robes, tongues, scapulae) and
cult objects. Some authors have expressed the
relationship between exchange and war in a suc
cinct manner: warfare is the absence of ex
change (Service 1975:61; Friedman 1982:179). A
model must consider both institutions of ex
change and endemic warfare as serving to
promote the reproduction of the social forma
tion (unless devolution of the social formation is
occurring due to internal contradictions).
The bridging concept between the proces
ses of exchange and warfare is that both ac
tivities reinforce dominant relations in social
production. When accomplished on a societal
scale, the expressions of dominance coalesce as
cultural hegemony?hegemony in the sense of
Wolfs "ideology-making" (Adams cited in Wolf
1984:396), i.e., power wielded to structure and
limit the activities of groups of people. I will
employ the concept of hegemony in two forms
(Gramsci 1971p Adamson 1980:170-1711): as
control achieved through social consensus and
as a common awareness of cultural interests.
The demise of the Hopewell Interaction
Sphere (ca. 100 B.C.- A.D. 200) did not signal
the dissolution of Woodland society nor wasting
away of leadership roles, but rather, the reor
ganization of the processes of surplus produc
tion. The corporate hierarchy of Hopewell
society fragmented into disseminated social
groups (see Braun and Plog 1982), with each
group inheriting the competitive social environ
ment of the past without the old over-arching
242
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belief system (i.e., Hopewell) to reify dominant
roles. Woodland leaders would have had to re
establish control over sources of production to
generate a social-surplus for inter-regional ex
change. This was when food production in the
form of maize horticulture began to proliferate
in the Midwest during the Late Woodland
period (Hall 1980; Keegan 1987). Food produc
tion made it possible for autonomous social
units to be self-supporting and produce a
surplus, but it transformed the system of labor
value. As more labor was put into food produc
tion, more labor-value was committed to the
delay-return system, thereby increasing the
number of opportunities for obligating debts
based on the value of social labor.
Emerent Oneota leaders headed delay
return economies, drawing a mutually recog
nized form of power from the social-surplus they
controlled. This power was an incipient form of
hegemony?awareness of a common conscious
ness which fostered alliances and pitted leaders
in contention for sources of labor-value.
Hegemonic actions solved two problems for the
dominant authorities: they achieved control
over raw materials like bison, lithic sources, cop
per and catlinite; and they obtained more labor
through the absorption of other groups. New op
portunities for status were realized through acts
of war and raiding. The hegemonic state of tribal
organization, termed "predatory expansion"
(Sahlins 1961), has been analyzed by other
authors (see references in Service 1975:64-70).
Hegemony in the Oneota system should take this
form:
(3) Ideological symbolism should express
aggressive themes which relate the cosmos to the
leaders and the social system. Symbols of con
sensual hegemony should be utilized inside and
outside Oneota society to reinforce loyalties and
extend themes of dominance to other ethnic
groups.
The Oneota Evidence
My investigation of hegemonic symbols
begins with Oneota ceramics. The usual vessel is
a globular olla with flamboyant decorations
trailed in the soft paste of vessel shoulders and
 Oneota Mode of Production

sometimes lips and interior rim surfaces. Near
ly all Oneota motifs span one-quarter to one
half the circumference of the shoulder, so motifs
cannot be interpreted from sherds. A considera
tion of complete motifs not only leads to the con
clusion that decorative motifs were shared by
Oneota groups (Tiffany 1979:100), but also that
a majority of the motifs represent less than a
half-dozen subjects rendered in many design
variations. This analysis will focus on the prin
cipal design in all prairie Oneota iconography,
the chevron.
The chevron element is represented in
many forms: nested lines and/or dots, pendant
triangles, chevrons crammed at oblique angles,
and sometimes fields of vertical or oblique lines
substituted for the chevron. In these variations,
the common motif in its least abstracted form is
a central, often vertically larger design, flanked
by nearly identical nested chevrons (Figs. 2a-c).
Other motifs are variants of the same theme
often repeated around the vessel (Figs. 2d, e).
Balance is an important consideration in Oneota
ceramic design. The vessel is partitioned into
halves or quadrants, and handles and design ele
ments are positioned to reflect the subdivisions.
The chevron grouping dominates Oneota
motifs throughout the Prairie Peninsula (Table
1). The clearest examples are in Moingona
phase ceramics from the Central Des Moines
river valley (Osborn 1982) and related Bur
lington phase ceramics from southeast Iowa
(Straffin 1971; Tiffany 1979) (Figs. 3f, g, h), in
the Correctionville phase in northwestern Iowa
(Henning 1961; Harvey 1979) (Fig. 3d) and in
the Blue Earth Oneota material in Minnesota
(Wilford 1955; Gibbon 1983) (Fig. 3e).
Ceramics from the Utz site in north-central Mis
souri (Henning 1970; Chapman 1980) are more
stylized and abstracted (Fig. 3i). The Orr Phase
motifs from northeastern Iowa (Wedel 1959)
have fields of dots and lines (Fig. 3b). The most
stylized use of chevrons is found in Wisconsin
Oneota materials, particularly the Diamond
Bluff and Carcajou Point variations (Hall 1962; nesota sites (Figs. 4b,c, g, h; Winchell 1911;
McKern 1945) (Fig. 3a). This appears to be a Lothson 1976). Stone tablets from Iowa also
water motif (Marshack 1985), a less common depict "bird-men." The New Albin tablet (Bray
243
division in Oneota iconography which will be
discussed later.
The concept conventionalized into chev
rons in most Oneota pottery is vividly illustrated
on a vessel shoulder from the Bryan site, a Sil
vernale phase village near Red Wing, Minnesota
(Link 1975). The Bryan motif (Fig. 4a) includes
birds with spotted breasts, pendant triangle tails
and nested chevron wings. Link (1975) relates
the bird motif to Mississippian eagle and hawk
symbolism and to the thunderbird cosmology of
northern, Historic Siouxan tribes, although he
does not connect the Bryan bird motif with
Oneota chevron designs. Similarity between the
Bryan bird and the least stylized Oneota motifs
is self-evident (Fig. 2), while the most abstract
motifs in the Orr phase material can be accepted
as parts of the bird (Fig. 3b; Table 1).
The notion that the nested chevron is a styl
ized representation of the thunderbird's wing
has been noted by Lothson (1976:39), who
passed this idea in his interpretation of "bird
men" petroglyphs of northeast Iowa and
southern Minnesota. The wings of some "bird
men" have the same form as the nested chevron
(Fig. 4b). I would note that the bodies of many
"bird-men" have a pendant triangle element
also in the tail of the Bryan birds and in the
central design of Oneota ceramic motifs (Figs.
4b, g, h). Hall (1983) also has noted the thunder
bird tail and chevron motif in Oneota iconog
raphy and related it to Mississippian
iconography.
The notion of "bird-men" relates to another
aspect of Oneota iconography? repre
sentational depictions probably done in ritual
contexts. Some of these depictions consist of
petroglyphs not positively attributed to Oneota
authorship, although most scholars accept the
connection (Lothson 1976). The two most
famous "bird-men" (Fig. 4d) were carved on a
rock cliff overlooking the Mississippi River in
northeastern Iowa (Orr 1949). "Thunderbirds"
and "bird-men" are abundant in southern Min
1963) from northeast Iowa portrays a human

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David W. Benn

vessel I

> * /hum iimiimtiii i " VVV/V'* * ' i i i i i i i t 11 ?_lip

in
inter rim

vessel 9
. I'P
rim

vessel 6 v^v!'p inter, rim

11, >'
vessel 2

vessel 3
rim^

o body

Fig. 2. Reconstructed ceramic motifs from the Christenson Oneota site, Des Moines, Iowa (Benn 1984).

244

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 Oneota Mode of Production

Table 1. Hawk motifs on Oneota ceramics

Site/Phase Notable design elements Figure

Christenson site Hawk motifs with bodies/tails wings, abstract hawk

Des Moines, Iowa wings or tails 2 a-e
(Benn 1984)

Moingona phase Hawk motifs with bodies/tails and wings 3h

central Iowa
(Osborn 1982)

Burlington phase Portions of hawk motifs including tails and wings 3f, g
Southeast Iowa
(Tiffany 1979; Straffin 1971)

Correctionville phase Portions of hawk motifs including tails,

northwest Iowa bodies and wings 3f, g
(Harvey 1979; Henning 1961)

Utz site Complex nested chevrons and hawk parts on vessels 3i

central Missouri
(Chapman 1980)

Blue Earth phase Abstracted hawk motifs including bodies

Southern Minnesota tails and wings 3c
(Biggon 1983)

Orr phase Fields of dots and nested chevrons represent

northeastern Iowa wings, breaast and tail of hawks 3b
(Wedel 1959)

Grand River Abstracted hawks motifs and fields of lines 3c

western Wisconsin
(McKern 1945; Hall 1962)

Carajou & L. Winnebago Fields of lines and dots, some hawk-like,

eastern Wisconsin but many curvilinear "water motifs 3a
(Hall 1962; McKern 1945)

figure with a kilt-like skirt and belt, and a forked
eye element (Fig. 4f). Other "bird-men" come
from the Bastian site in Iowa (Fig. 4e; Bray 1963)
and from Missouri (Figs. 5f, g; Bray 1963).
Figures of birds on stone tablets, especially cat
linite, are fantastic creatures composed of ele
ments from different species. From the Basian
site (Bray 1963) there are two heads that com
bine bird and serpent characteristics (Figs. 5a,
b). The Irvine tablet from Missouri (Bray 1963)
also depicts a raptorial bird with crest, and the
head rests on stylized feathers (Fig. 5e). Two
245
birds from the Utz site (Figs. 5c, d) have forked
eyes and crests, but one has a long beak like a
kingfisher (Bray 1963).
Oneota representational art of birds and
men depicts a blend of cosmological and human
themes. Attributes of birds are the common ele
ments in all depictions, with wings, crests, beaks,
eyes, claws and tail feathers appearing as the
primary attributes. Birds are anthropomor
phized by rendering the wings as arms and by ad
ding legs, belts or kilts, and speech symbols.
Serpent elements occasionally appear in the

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David W. Benn

a Diamond Bluff b not t0 SCale

Jfyfli ^ffllllllk #N
Caracjou Point

Wisconsin (Hall 1962)

11 i n iw? wwmw
L Winnebago JJJ^' ,L,X NE IOWA (Wedel 1959)_

~'W0>^ "" \Harvey 1979

Grand River ^^f^^^^fe
Wisconsin (McKern 1945) NW IOWA Henning 1961

Southern Minnesota (Gibbon 1983)

Southeast lowo (Stroffin 1971)_

Tiffgny 1979 --"/^^^^V^^^^^^

Missouri (Chapman 1980) Central Iowa (Osborn 1982)

Fig. 3. Selected Oneota ceramic motifs from published site reports in Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

246
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 Oneota Mode of Production

*\ //J ?v*V (Lothson 1976)

Bryan Site(MN)(Link 1975) %^<R>

^^^^^^^^^ Ren0 C0Ve (LOthSOn l976^

Lansing Crevices(IA)(Orr 1934) Bray 1963

~ r i?^
^^K^/^ Jeffers Petroglyphs (MN)(Lothson 1976)

New Albin Tablet (IA) (Bray 1963) , ^

___1 Harvey Rock Shelter (MN) (Lothson 1976)

Fig. 4. Birds and bird-men trailed on Oneota pottery and engraved on rock cliffs and stone tablets.

247

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David W. Benn

Bastion Site (IA) (Bray 1963) not to scale

Utz Site (MOKBray 1963)

"^^V^.^^ Irvine Catlinite Pipe

Irvine Tablet (MOKBray 1963) Futaba P.pe

Fig. 5. Birds and bird-men engraved on stone artifacts from Oneota sites.

248

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 Oneota Mode of Production

form of teeth and other subtle ways, such as in
the curvilinear rendering of some body forms.
(Copper serpent figures have been found in
Oneota sites [e.g., Wedel 1959:72; Harvey
1979:91], and a snake is trailed on the shoulder
of an Oneota vessel now residing the the collec
tion of the Historical Society in Iowa City.)
Identification of birds in the iconography of
Eastern Woodland Indians has been a quiet
issue for decades. One group of birds, the wood
peckers (ivory-billed Campephilus principalis,
and pileated Hylatomus pileatus), have red
crests or breasts associated metaphorically with
war (Howard 1968:45) (Fig. 7a). Often, only the
woodpecker crest and long beak are added to
figures of other creatures or humans. The other
major bird motif is identified as a raptorial bird
because of its hooked beak. In works on Missis
sippian symbols published before circa 1968, the
raptorial bird is identified as an eagle, usually
the "spotted eagle." Howard (1968:43) reasons
that the eagle identification is so pervasive be
cause many accounts of historic Indian tribes
emphasize the eagle as the primary bird in cos
mology. However, the eagle is not spotted but
dark brown in color. Many authors (e.g., Waring
and Holder 1945:4; Byers 1962:213; Brown and
Hamilton 1965:44; Howard 1968:37; Brown
1975:22) have identified the bird as a falcon,
specifically the peregrine falcon or duck hawk
(Falcon peregrinus). Falcons have spotted
breasts and speckled and barred underwings,
and a dark band beneath (auricular) and above
(eye line) the eye presents a "forked-eye" design
to the viewer (Fig. 6).
Another bird theme is prevalent among
prairie cultures?the thunderbird. Thunder
birds were important cosmic figures in myths
among Algonkian Indians of the boreal and
northern hardwood forests. The form of
thunderbird depictions usually has a triangular
body, open legs and extended wings/arms
(Steinbring 1985). Although there seems to have
been a conjunction between hawk likenesses
and northern thunderbirds (e.g., in Minnesota
petroglyphs; Lothson 1976), hawks are embel

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H&-. Fig. 6. The peregrine falcon

^^^^^^^^^^Hr" or duck hawk showing its
^^^^^^^^^^^^^HK;. barred breast and forked
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^HHkL eye patch.

249
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David W. Benn
lished with forked eyes, headdresses and other
regalia to distinguish their aggressive
anthropomorphic functions. Other creatures in
the cosmic world of Woodland peoples (cf. Hall
1979,1980) include those in the Effigy Mounds
tradition, which preceded Oneota in the same
area, where birds, serpents, bears, "turtles" and
"panthers" functioned as archetypes of social
integration (Mallam 1976).
Hawk likenesses in Oneota iconography
have obvious affinities with southeastern Missis
sippian material (e.g., Hall 1962; Henning 1970;
Gibbon 1972, 1974; Strong 1979, 1980a, b),
broadly termed Southern Cult (Waring and
Holder 1945). The Mississippian iconography is
more diverse, with elements not being present in
Oneota. Examples of Southern Cult art with
close correspondences in Oneota iconography
include Spiro site depictions of conventional
ized woodpeckers, hawks and falcon-imper
sonators on shell and copper (Hamilton, Griffin
and Willoughby 1952) replete with wing spots,
banded tails, forked eyes and belts/kilts (Figs.
7a-d). Copper bird figures were widely traded,
some having appeared in the Oneota areas of
Wisconsin (Hall 1962 Vol. 11:112) and in Mis
souri (Chapman 1980:188). Another version of
the falcon-impersonator (Fig. 7e) was recovered
beneath the east lobe of Monks Mound at the
Cahokia site, and the elite person buried in
mound 72 at Cahokia was resting on a raptorial
bird-shaped bed (cape?) of shell beads (Fowler
and Hall 1975:8).
Much of the Mississippian symbolism has
been deciphered, which will assist in interpret
ing Oneota symbolism. Brown's statement on
ideological subjects in the Spiro mortuary?its
art, symbolism, and implications for
economics?is germane to the Oneota.
There should be little surprise in finding the
falcon occupying such an important role in
Spiro symbolism, since the falcon is famous for
its spectacular aerial attacks that literally knock
ducks and smaller birds out of the air....The fal
con emerges as a major symbol of aggressive
warfare, and is indeed appropriate to employ
as a symbol of fierceness and boldness. The
stance of the falcon-impersonator is cor
respondingly aggressive, since he is often shown
brandishing a macelike club in one hand and a
250
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human head, or a head-rattle substitute, in the
other (Brown 1975:22).
For the Mississippians, iconography was a
representation of the major cosmic powers in
their world and a depiction of how humans acted
to manipulate cosmic forces to control their own
destinies (Knight 1981). The myths of
southeastern tribes are filled with references to
giant, man-eating birds variously described as a
big crow, giant eagle and giant sharp-breasted
hawk or Tlanuwal (Howard 1968:43-44; Hudson
1976:129,136). The giant hawk of the sky may
have been associated with thunder (Howard
1968:43-44), and the hawk was the cosmic spirit
that made success possible in warfare. In myth
and real life the Mississippians usurped the
power of the bird by dressing in its regalia, ad
ding elements of other creatures to enhance the
theme of powerful warrior. We know that
humans acted the parts of falcon-impersonators
from the remains of kilt skirts and feather robes
from the Spiro Mound.
The Mississippian cosmos was balanced be
tween the Upper world of sun, moon and larger
than-life beings, a world of order and
predictability, and a Lower world of ghosts and
spirits, a world of disorder, chaos and change
(Hudson 1976:122-141). Snakes (serpents) and
other creatures like the water panther inhabited
the Lower World (Howard 1968:49). In many
myths, snakes were captured by hawks and/or
men to take the serpent's powers for human ap
plication. The most horrible of all monsters was
called Uktena by the Cherokee and consisted of
attributes of the serpent (Under World crea
ture), deer (This World creature) and birds
(Upper World creatures) (Hudson 1976:131
168). Uktena represented jealousy and social
destruction for men, and, therefore, its conquest
meant success and an ideally balanced world for
humans. This metaphorical tension extended
into the political structure as expressed by the
duality of Mississippian offices, village war
chiefs and priests (Knight 1981:136).
For purposes of the Oneota analysis, it is
significant that, in their iconography, the Missis
sippian elite took for themselves the role of
renewing the world balance as falcon-imper
 Oneota Mode of Production

. ^,0 SC?le

| ^^^^^^^^^^^ (Hamilton eVol. 1952)

^^^^ | "eagle doncer (Cohokio^ Fowler 19751

"eogle beings' y^./^Z^^^^
(Missouri^ a^^n^5) ^ g

Hadfields Cave (Benn 1980) ^^^^^^^^^

_Fairfield Mounff~gTwood 1961)_

Fig. 7. Selected hawks and hawk-impersonators from Mississippian sites (a-e); shell gorgets from Dite Woodland sites in
Iowa (f) and Missouri (g).

251

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David W. Benn

sonators. Leaders became personifications of life, the hawk motif was made into a pan-ethnic
cosmic power and equilibrium by assuming the symbol in ceramic paste.
role of cosmic giant to compel the populace to Hypothesis 2 predicts the Oneota hierarchy
conform to idealized modes of behavior. should have one pre-eminent unit in social prac
Similarities in Mississippian bird symbolism tice and symbolism, and expressions of dualism
and the presence of underworld motifs in should reflect an asymmetrical character.
Oneota are too apparent to ignore, especially Among Historic tribes this is evident, in part, in
since these societies were contemporaneous and the dominance of the upper moiety and its
shared exchange of materials like catlinite, cop Thunderbird clan, which was paired with the
per and shell. The hawk symbolism is so per Warrior clan. The iconographic symbolism also
vasive in Oneota representations that it must be strongly favors sky elements. Dualism existed in
assumed the warrior theme is being expressed. the social structure?the clans, their earth and
The Oneota falcon-impersonator was in ideal sky totems and their ritual obligations?and it is
ized human being; a model for warriors who in evident in the iconography of underworld crea
herited social advantages through descent and tures and in the fetishes of water and earth crea
had achieved a position of leadership through tures contained in bundles. Radin (1945:54-55)
exploits in war and hunting. (Animals, especial stated a consistent theme in Winnebago society
ly bison, are engraved on many catlinite pieces was the struggle against chaos and the renewal
also used to depict hawk-beings.) The skycrea of order through ritual and a balance of leader
ture/warrior theme was the dominant expres ship in the Thunderbird and Bear clans. In chief
sion in the social and ritual structure of historic doms and emerging states the leader typically
tribes as well. For instance, among the Win usurps both religious and secular leadership
nebago the paired Thunderbird and Warrior roles (Becker, cited in Hall 1983:6; Peebles and
(formerly called Hawk) clans in the Upper Kus 1977). Historic Mississippian societies were
moiety controlled the major political functions characterized by an exaggeration of dual roles
of the village (Radin 1923:207-219). Powerful to express the social and cosmic tensions which
shamans and warriors often claimed they were the leader was obliged to quash to renew society
reincarnated thunderbirds, the possessors of all for another year (Knight 1981). In the prehis
important human powers (Radin 1923:439). The toric Oneota system, hawk symbolism seems to
thunderbirds or related likenesses (e.g., Great be combined with earth-water motifs, implying
Black Hawk, Pigeon Hawk, Black Hawk, Eagle; that birds captured serpents. For instance,
Radin 1923:440-441) played central roles in hawk-men and birds with antler headdresses
creation myths and in beliefs ensuring success in (Figs. 4d, 5f) and serpent teeth (Figs. 5a, b) are
warfare and life. The cosmic associations were examples of combined elements, but the clearest
bolstered by fetishes representing the sky expression of dominance is on the Lansing tablet
powers in sacred bundles, e.g., hawk skins, (Fig. 4f). This hawk-man has an upside-down
woodpecker crests, weapons (Skinner 1926; four-legged creature on his torso. The creature
Radin 1923, 1945; Callender 1962; Blaine is like Ne-gjig, the Great Otter, an underworld
1979:107). creature of Algonkin mythology (Cleland, et al.
These lines of evidence support hypothesis 1984). A similar creature is on the forehead of
1 concerning the nature of Oneota symbolic ex Figure 5f.
pression. The range of variation of dominant Hypothesis 3 states that aggressive symbolic
symbols is limited to hawk/warrior themes, themes will be part of the social structure.
which pervaded the everyday life of historic Hegemonic symbols should be applied inside
tribes. For the Oneota, nature themes (birds, and outside the society to express dominance
etc.) stood for a hierarchy of spirits in creation and loyalty. Consensual hegemony can be visual
myths (Radin 1923; Skinner 1926) and a parallel ized in activities which leave artifactual
hierarchy of descent through clans. In material evidence and in institutional expressions of a

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 Oneota Mode of Production

cultural system. The artifactual evidence is
presented first.
Oneota cemeteries often contain rocks in
piles, lenses of fill or capstones with burials.
These are common features of the preceding
Woodland periods. Whole vessels or a few shell
tempered sherds often are positioned next to the
body (Harvey 1979:141; Wedel 1959:45). Other
features of Oneota cemeteries include many in
would add that a Winnebago relationship with
stances of Oneota burials and pots intruded into
Woodland mounds or Oneota burials as primary Mississippians, via Cahokia, would conform to
features within mounds in Wisconsin and Iowa this pattern: e.g., Winnebago as lower division,
(Wedel 1959; Hall 1962; Harvey 1979). One
"empty" mound excavated by the writer on the
Upper Iowa River contained two cupped
Oneota sherds placed on a central earthen
pedestal (Benn and Bettis 1977). The Blood Run
Oneota site (13L01; Harvey 1979:135) in
northwestern Iowa contained over 150 mounds
and numerous boulder outlines. The current
view about Oneota using "Woodland" traits is
that these were cases of cultural syncretism. In
deed, this is so, but from the viewpoint of con
temporaneous Woodland peoples, the Oneota
expropriation of "their" burial rituals must have
seemed like a form of subjugation. For the
emerging Oneota, winning the minds of poten
tial new members from other cultures probably
was the most critical part of the process of
syncretizing different belief systems into the
Oneota "way." Oneota politics had to be aggres
sively geared toward deracinization of com
petitors. This is why Oneota iconography and
artifacts are so uniform across the Midwest; tri
angular arrow points, shell tempered pottery,
elbow pipes, end scrapers and other tool forms
are recognized as Oneota items on any site.
Uniform symbols express power; uniformity is a
metaphor for the recognition of the primacy of
the Oneota relations of production.
Robert Hall (1983) has happened on an ex
ample of consensual hegemony in his cognitive
approach to the Oneota-Mississippian problem.
Through linguistic relationships, he notes that
the Winnebago were referenced as the Puants
(Stinkards) by the French and as the lower cos
mological division by other Indian tribes. At the
same time, Menominee myths tell of a relation
ship between the Bears (Menominee civil
leaders who collected wild rice) and Thunderers
(war chiefs who lived on Lake Winnebago and
had corn). The Menominee had just such a
relationship of exchange (rice-corn) with the
Winnebago tribe, and Hall wonders if the Win
nebago did not once have a similar dual relation
ship with the Chiwere Sioux (the Thunderers),
who became the Ioway, Missouri and Oto. I
Mississippians as upper division. The water
motifs on Oneota pots from eastern Wisconsin
would seem to fit the pattern. This is a case of
institutionalized politics extending over all the
tribes in the Midwest. Notice how dual roles of
tribes can be reversed situationally, e.g., the
Winnebago as Thunderers for the Menominee
and as the lower division for the Mississippians.
Likewise, Chiwere Oneota tribes on the prairies
probably were "Thunderers" to their contem
porary Woodland residents.
THE WOODLAND-ONEOTA
TRANSITION
I contend it was not a substantial shift in the
subsistence base that fostered Oneota culture.
Rather, an internal reorganization of productive
relations necessitated by historical process
(socio-political interaction) redefined the roles
of Late Woodland producers within descent
groups. In this scenario, leadership roles were
emphasized through associations with cosmic
archetypes in order to organize labor to extract
natural and horticultural resources and trans
form them into social-surplus. The symbols of
aggressive leadership became embedded in
bundle ceremonialism which carried the
reproductive ideology of descent groups. Labor
value was attracted to and concentrated in the
descent groups, bolstering their corporate
awareness?a manifestation of hegemony. In
short, the definitions of "social distance" be
tween interlinked descent groups and "other
bands" were changed by a pan-regional aware
ness of dominant productive relations.

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David W. Benn

This was an uneven process on the Prairies tallow from bones influenced many Eastern
Peninsula. Some Late Woodland systems Woodland cultures to shift to shell tempered
resisted change by retreating into the isolation pottery (Braun 1983; Brown 1982:108; Bronitsky
of kin-based bands, while other systems under and Hammer 1986). A similar case can be made
went alteration as leadership roles were exag for the universalism of "Mississippian" symbols
gerated in the daily competition for economic as expressed in commodities (e.g., Ramey pot
influence. The transformation from the Wood tery, gorgets, copper plates, Mill Creek chert
land to Oneota mode of production was relative hoes, long-nosed god masks, catlinite, etc.). For
ly rapid, perhaps in a few generations. hierarchical authorities, commodity exchanges
Concentrated labor was able to better defend its are managerial devices which provide the basis
products, and the loose aggregate-band of for communications between potential com
Woodland derivation became the Oneota vil petitors and for opportunities to express poten
lage of archaeological parlance. From its tial "rights" to exploit certain resources.
"heardand" of permanent village locales, the Examples of symbolic commodities abound, and
tribe could range over the former territories of one that also illustrates my earlier point about
Woodland bands, because the village member labor-value is Winters' (1981) examination of
ship was large enough to undertake extended Middle Woodland copper tools and Mississip
hunts and protect the base camp. Thus, the his pian chert hoes. In this instance,the occasional
toric Ioway tribe is recorded as ranging over all copper tool in a Woodland mound represented
of Iowa with only colonially-induced competi access to an exchange network, but the produc
tion for space (Mott 1938). tion and distribution of masses of Mississippian
Archetypes, like the hawk-impersonator, chert hoes demonstrated control of exchange
held sway over the consciousness of humans so networks and of organized labor used to
that the politization process entered into all manufacture the objects (see Marcucci 1987).
forms of existence. The tribe became a political Groups participating in commodity exchan
and territorial entity with a hierarchical network ges tend to adopt outwardly the behavior, trap
of leaders, sodalities, lineages and totems. As pings and symbolism of dominant groups
the community membership grew and leader (Flannery 1968:105; Brown 1975:27-28). This
ship positions multiplied and conflicted, seg may explain material incongruities in Late
ments of the community inevitably fissioned. Woodland period sites, such as the "jaguar"
The leaders of new segments had to produce shell gorget (Fig. 7g) from the Fairfield mound
their own social-surplus to attract adequate sup in the Missouri Ozarks (Wood 1961: Fig. 8),
plies of labor, so the Oneota MOP was com Ramey ceramics in the Mouse Hollow rock shel
pelled to expand as each segment reproduced. ter in east-central Iowa (Logan 1976:78), and the
The Oneota displaced competitors and incor deer head/coiled rattlesnake gorget (Fig. 7f)
porated new supplies of labor by capturing from the Hadfields Cave site also in east-central
women and adopting children to clan affilia Iowa (Benn 1980). Other symbols of dominance
tions. This is attested by rapid Oneota expan are waiting to be recognized by archaeologists.
sion, the dissolution of Woodland cultures on What the Oneota and Mississippian
the central Prairies Peninsula by A.D. 1200, and societies did not have in common is informative
by the multi-ethnic character of the Oneota (see about their modes of production. Missing from
Glenn 1974; Springer and Witkowski 1982). Oneota iconography and practice are pervasive
Much has been written about why the images of death in an elaborate mortuary struc
material assemblage of Oneota is so different ture. James Brown has analyzed the Spiro sym
from that of Woodland and so similar to other bolism in this manner:
Mississippian assemblages. The requirement
The premier mortuary is simultaneously a
for strong, thermally efficient ceramic con treasury for the managers of exchange and a
tainers for simmering seed foods and extracting repository for the remains of the individuals im

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portant in acquiring the critical managerial
status. The mortuary amounts to a cult head
quarters from which the politically significant
descendants of the honored dead draw their
ideological power.... [R]epeated iconographic
reference to the ancestors is not a morbid fas
cination but is more credible as a means of as
serting the legitimacy of the rulers and
revalidating their social control over such im
portant resources as agricultural land (1975:15,
17).
I would amend Brown's valid reasoning to
say that elite managers controlled the social
surplus by managing the sources and organiza
tion of laborers who produced things of value.
Structurally, the Spiro elite were performing the
same management functions as the Oneota war
rior-elders. Some Mississippian social systems
had been transformed into petty classes with the
top lineage having ascribed status with the literal
power of life and death over their subjects'
labor-value. In contrast, the Oneota system
developed in a context of less social packing
(Brown 1982:111), so there is no evidence for so
cial intensification in the form of classes.
CONCLUSIONS
The Oneota were a unique transformation
of culture that does not slot into the rigid empiri
cal categories like "Woodland" and "Mississip
pian." While it is true that the Oneota were
formed from varied sets of concrete circumstan
ces among which were population density, en
vironmental setting, economic base and
historical necessity, they were unique in that
their social formation included certain social
and ecological contradictions as a result of
syncretism between their past and the socio
economic structure of their Late Woodland and
Mississippian contemporaries. That Oneota
culture has been an enigma for archaeological
analysis exposes two sources of conceptual
problems: the lack of application of methodol
ogy which inquires into the structure and com
position of political economies, and a paradigm
which employs a dialectical perspective of his
torical process. If explanations are not pursued
for social formations beneath the veneer of ar
tifact assemblages and comparmentalized
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Oneota Mode of Production
relationships into the deeper structure of
producer relations, historical contradictions
and dialectical processes, then the need to con
nect economy with ideology, the Woodland past
with their successor Mississippian chiefdoms,
aboriginal cultures with the ethnographic
present, and human prehistory with present day
societies will never be satisfied.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Support for collecting the data in this paper came from
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District,
who funded the mitigation of impacts at the Christenson
site, Des Moines, Iowa (contract no. DACW25-82-C-0049).
Corps archaeologist, Charles Smith, was especially helpful
in conducting this field project. Adolph Link made available
the Bryan site bird design. Margie Van der Heide, Eilene
Wagner and Janice Chester assisted with preparation of the
manuscript. I appreciate the comments of readers, includ
ing Barbara Bender, James Gallagher, Guy Gibbon, Robert
Hall, Dale Henning, the late Clark Mallam, Kerry McGrath,
David Overstreet, Burton Purrington, Robert Salzer and
anonymous reviewers. These people provided a wealth of
helpful comments; of course, I am responsible for the
opinions expressed in the paper.
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