Trade Networks and the Development of Local Status and Rank in Dallas Society

Hatch's (1974) recent analysis of Dallas mortuary patterning, based principally on the distribution of exotic artifacts in Dallas mound burials, has identified and defined a Dallas status and rank system. Hatch and Willey (1974) suggest that this status and rank system linked Dallas sites to one another. This sociopolitical integration was based on kinship affiliations between individuals in the various ramages at Dallas sites.

Hatch and Willey (1974), however, ignore the importance of independently-operating local processes in the development of status and rank in Dallas society. An alternative approach to the study of Dallas culture and social organization is presented here. A Dallas trade network is identified and its implications for the development of localized rank in Dallas society is analyzed.

Based on ethnographic data, a model of prehistoric Southeast trade is developed which indicates that individual traders or groups of traders, rather than chiefly elites, controlled the distribution of nonlocal materials found on Dallas sites. It is further suggested that local transactions and exchanges were conducted at specialized trading facilities which participated in the acquisition and distribution of these materials. It is suggested that these trading facilities contain distinctive behavioral and material elements which structurally differentiate them from other settlements. These elements include strategic geographic location in a regional setting, concentrations of nonlocal materials, little local embedded wealth, and a cultural flexibility of established norms and customs pertaining to status and rank.

Three local trade centers are identified in the Dallas area. These include the Citico (40HA65), Toqua (40MR6), and DeArmond (3RE12) sites. It is proposed that Citico was a local center for the acquisition and exchange of marine shell entering the eastern Tennessee Valley; Toqua was a local trading facility involved in mica exchanges; and the DeArmond site was the location of local flint exchanges.

However, the mortuary patterning at these sites indicate that Citico and Toqua were multifunctional sites, commanding both sociopolitical and economic importance. DeArmond is seen as a unifunctional site involved in the trade and exchange of nonlocal materials. Finally, the differences in the mortuary patterning at these sites indicate that no single homogeneous mechanism or symbolizing process was responsible for the development of status and rank positions in Dallas society.