Vehik, Susan C.,Lee, Aubra L.2013-08-162013-08-162003http://hdl.handle.net/11244/664The Native American group we know as the Choctaw has previously been interpreted as a fairly recent social construct and the result of interaction that began after sustained contact with European colonists. This research suggests that earlier interpretations of Choctaw sociopolitical development reflect Euroamerican perspectives at the expense of a Native American viewpoint. Ethnohistorical data were used to reevaluate eighteenth century Choctaw mortuary customs, settlement pattern, male social ranking, and leadership categories. These data support the position that the historic Choctaw were organized as a complex chiefdom rather than several simple chiefdoms organized as a confederacy and that unequal relations were present among the Choctaw. Furthermore, ethnohistorical data also clearly demonstrated that most traditional Choctaw leadership categories did not collapse during the late eighteenth century, but continued after the Choctaw were removed to Oklahoma. Information derived from the historic Mississippi Choctaw was compared to material cultural assemblages from four post-removal Oklahoma Choctaw sites in an attempt to document unequal relations. The material culture assemblages from the four Oklahoma Choctaw sites were quantified and the various depositional contexts described and categorized to allow intra- and intersite comparisons. These comparisons did not discover much material culture evidence of unequal relations among the post-removal Oklahoma Choctaw.ix, 315 leaves :Anthropology, Archaeology.Bryan County (Okla.) Antiquities.Choctaw Indians Oklahoma Social conditions 19th century.McCurtain County (Okla.) Antiquities.Equality Oklahoma History 19th century.Choctaw Indians Oklahoma Antiquities.Income distribution Oklahoma History 19th century.Choctaw Indians Oklahoma Economic conditions 19th century.Thesis