Timothy Pauketat - Future Prospects

Future Prospects

Recently, Pauketat has been working with Danielle Benden (University of Wisconsin, Madison) and Robert Boszhardt (independent) as part of "The Mississippian Initiative" (funded by the National Science Foundation). Their work takes place in western Wisconsin at sites such as Trempealeau, where they now argue for the existence of a short-term Cahokian mission or colony. Presumably, the effects of Cahokians missionizing the ancient north country led to profound long-term change in the ancient American Indian world. Their work in Wisconsin, and future work at and around Cahokia, will attempt to ascertain the relationship of religion to ancient politics more generally. Like most pre-modern religions, those of pre-Columbian America were not simply believed in the minds of people, but were performed, and Pauketat is looking to understand the larger historical implications of this kind of religion. Some of this is reviewed in his 2009 book with Viking-Penguin Press, "Cahokia: Ancient America's Great City on the Mississippi." More of it is part of his soon-to-be completed "An Archaeology of the Cosmos: Rethinking Agency and Religion in Ancient America." He has also published an edited volume entitled "The Oxford Handbook of North American Archaeology" (2012).