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Diasporic Longings? Cahokia, Common Field, and Nostalgic Orientations

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Abstract

As Cahokia experienced its prolonged abandonment and violence spread throughout the Midwest and Southeast, thousands of people left the American Bottom region and either established new communities or integrated into others. Tracing where Cahokians went has been difficult to discern archaeologically, begging the questions: How do we distinguish between diasporic and other kinds of population movements? And what might a diasporic community born of thirteenth and fourteenth century violence look like? This article discusses the Common Field site in southeast Missouri and explores the possibility and utility of considering Common Field a diasporic community by highlighting the role of nostalgia in diasporic movements.

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Acknowledgments

Excavations at the Common Field site were funded by a Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Field Work Grant (Gr. 8366), an Indiana University Department of Anthropology David Skomp Research Feasibility Grant, and a Foundation for the Restoration of Ste. Genevieve Research Grant. The Roth Family has been gracious in allowing me access to the Common Field site and the time to analyze artifacts from the site. Susan Alt and Timothy Pauketat provided feedback on early stages of this article—their critical and helpful comments are much appreciated. Thank you to the three anonymous reviewers who provided valuable comments and helpful feedback. All mistakes and errors within are mine alone.

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  1. Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Auburn University, 7030 Haley Center, Auburn, AL, 36849, USA

    Meghan E. Buchanan

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Buchanan, M.E. Diasporic Longings? Cahokia, Common Field, and Nostalgic Orientations. J Archaeol Method Theory 27, 72–89 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-019-09431-z

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