IMPORTED CERAMIC VESSELS AND STATUS LEVELS IN THE ARKANSAS RIVER VALLEY

Discernment of a third socio-political status level in burials of
the Arkansas River valley is the subject of this thesis. In a
hierarchy, such as the Spiro Focus chiefdom of the Arkansas River
valley, effort expended for burial of a socio-political high status
person is proportional to previous importance in the society. Two
higher levels of socio-political status groups, buried with conch
shell and copper artifacts, have previously been reported in the
archaeological literature. It is proposed that there was a third
socio-political high status group buried with imported pottery.