ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the manner in which power over surplus labor and material resources may have been controlled in a Mississippian polity. The layout of Moundville is believed to represent a sociogram, a physical design that inscribes the ranking of corporate segments within the community permanently upon the landscape. To create an energetic assessment of the Moundville landscape, three factors had to be considered. First, the volume of all culturally positioned soils are accurately accounted for including the soil needed to create the mounds as well as any soil that may have been used to level or flatten the plaza. Second, the distance from mound and plaza fills to their probable extraction locations is estimated based on a comparison of soil samples taken from around the site. Third, in order to calculate the energy needed for mound construction, the mass and density of each earthwork are estimated in addition to its volume.
