Disproportionate Clan Growth in Crow-Omaha Societies: A Kinship-Demographic Model for Explaining Settlement Hierarchies and Fissioning in the Prehistoric U.S. Southeast
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online October, 2002
Disproportionate Clan Growth in Crow-Omaha Societies: A Kinship-Demographic Model for Explaining Settlement Hierarchies and Fissioning in the Prehistoric U.S. Southeast
Ethnohistoric data on the Omaha tribe of Nebraska indicate that marriage practices favored the disproportionate demographic growth of ceremonially prominent clans while other clans remained small or decreased in population. Ultimately, this process may lead to a “crisis in exogamy” for the larger, more ceremonially active clans, which can lead to fissioning or social transformations. As a model, the disproportionate demographic growth among ceremonially prominent clans is suggested to account for the formation of large multi-mound sites and ranked settlement hierarchies in the prehistoric U.S. Southeast. The model may also explain subsequent fissioning to establish new settlements and the formation of large sites comprised of multiple kin groups.
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