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The Archaeology of Awe: Monumental Architecture, Communal Ritual, and Community Formation at Poverty Point, USA

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Abstract

Archaeologists are increasingly interested in studying the role emotions have played in past human decision making. This paper demonstrates how awe is under-appreciated within archaeology despite it being uniquely available to archaeological research given its connection to monumental architecture and communal rituals. Archaeological engagement with awe is particularly important as psychological research has demonstrated that it is a prosocial emotion that leads to the creation of more extensive and stronger social bonds between individuals. A novel interpretation of Poverty Point (USA) is provided to illustrate the importance of studying awe, as this massive earthwork site was built more than 3000 years ago through large-scale gatherings. Reconsidered as a place of awe, Poverty Point is recast as an emotional locale where larger social and cultural identities and relationships were formed.

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Acknowledgements

This article benefitted from fieldwork that I conducted at Poverty Point alongside Carl Lipo and facilitated by Diana Greenlee. I also acknowledge and appreciate the decades of work conducted at Poverty Point, including by Jon Gibson, T. R. Kidder, and others. Edits and comments by two anonymous reviewers strengthened the paper, yet all errors, mistakes, and other issues are my responsibility.

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  1. National Museum of Natural History, 10th & Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC, 20560, USA

    Matthew C. Sanger

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M.S. wrote the manuscript and prepared all figures.

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Sanger, M.C. The Archaeology of Awe: Monumental Architecture, Communal Ritual, and Community Formation at Poverty Point, USA. J Archaeol Method Theory (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-024-09645-w

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