Dr. Charles Cobb explains how early Native Americans organized their warfare. Dr. Charles R. Cobb spoke to the Greater Piedmont Chapter of The Explorers Club June 13 on the relationship of warfare and disease among the people who lived in North America before 1500. He earned his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 1988 and became director of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology in 2007. His research has focused on the late prehistoric and colonial Southeast, more recently on health and warfare among the Native American populations in what is now the Nashville, Tennessee, area.

Prior to AD 1000, the people of North America lived in small villages and were subsistence hunters and gatherers. Then, according to Cobb, a dramatic change took place. They began to farm maize (corn) as a major staple and to cluster in urban communities with walls, plazas, and ceremonial mounds.

The largest such community is Cahokia (across the Mississippi River from present St. Louis). The central mound was 100 feet high and had a base larger than the Great Pyramid of Egypt. The plaza covered 40 acres and was surrounded by a two- by- two- mile long stockade. The population probably reached 40,000.

Based on the reports of DeSoto (1539- 1542), Cobb believes these early Americans were quite proficient in warfare. They lived in well- fortified palisades with bastions every 30 meters. Their weapons were effective against the invading Spanish especially their long bows, spears, and maces. Scalping had been used for centuries as a ceremonial way of proving their prowess in battle.

The decision to go to war with another tribe was very serious and was left up to the council of elders who weighed war's possible effect on the social order. Bravery on the battlefield was considered a rite of passage for young men, but loss of the young men would upset social balance in the tribe.

Of great interest to Cobb is how warfare affected disease and social life. He examined skeletons discovered before 1988 (agreement with Indian tribes in 1988 enforces reinterment of any bones) in stone box graves in the Nashville area. From this data, he believes people crowded into the walled cities and that diseases such as TB spread among the crowded people possibly leading to the abandonment of the large cities.

The Explorers Club meets monthly for lunch and a talk on exploration. Adventurous field trips are taken regularly. For information, contact Nena Powell Rice at 803-777-

8170 or nrice@sc.edu.