AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY OF SWEAT LODGES IN THE
SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES
Jayur Madhusudan Mehta
(Paper submitted for publication to the Journal of Southeastern Archaeology)
Jayur Madhusudan Mehta, Mississippi Department of Archives and History
PO Box 571, Jackson, MS 39211 (jmehta@mdah.state.ms.us)
Abstract
Archaeological accounts of sweat lodges have inadequately relied upon idiosyncratic notions of
sweat lodge architecture to classify their subsequent remains. As a solution, this study uses
ethnohistoric data on sweat lodge morphology to define a classification system for the structure.
Moving away from simplistic typological systems, efforts were directed at creating an
architectural grammar of sweat lodges that not only captured the rules of construction, but also
emic meanings of the structure’s form and utilization. It was discovered that while structural
linguistics can provide an enlightening heuristic for studying sweat lodges, the ethnohistoric data
proved to be too limiting to devise a complete grammar. Therefore a proprietary typology and
nomenclature are proposed that are more etic than emic; nevertheless, without approaching the
data from a structuralist perspective, it would not have been possible to make deductions on their
ritual functions. It is also proposed that the southeastern sweat lodge was a religious institution
that reified notions of ritual purity, the cosmological structure of the universe, and the reverence
for water.
2
This paper is an exercise in the epistemology of archaeological structure classification. It
examines how archaeologists use feature and artifact data to interpret and classify a particular
type of structure used in the Southeast during the historic, protohistoric, and most likely,
prehistoric periods. Commonly known as “sweat lodge”1, this small structure was used for
medicinal and religious purification, as well for ritual initiation. The remains of these structures
are commonly assumed to take the form of a small circle of single-set post molds, or of a circular
wall-trench in the ground, both with an internal burned area. They are generally thought to have
been located anywhere, but are most often classified by archaeologists in intracommunity
settings (see Davis et al 2003 and Peebles 1971:83 for some examples). It is based on this finite
and generalized data that archaeologists commonly classify sweat lodges, and it is in this
idiosyncrasy that this paper takes exception.
Previous Investigations
I begin this discussion in sweat lodge identification with the excavation of the Poplar
Cove site (22AD1040)2. The site is located on a small ridge knoll in the Natchez Bluffs, a steeply
dissected and hilly environment located along the western margin of the Mississippi river south
of Vicksburg. An oblong feature (Figure 1) was discovered below the ground surface of a ridge
knoll as a result of construction-related activities (see Mehta 2007:70-87 for a full discussion).
The soil feature was bisected (Figure 2); the first half was initially excavated in arbitrary levels
1
To clarify a terminological consideration, although Native American Indian groups frequently and habitually made
use of sweating, some did so without constructing specialized, single-purpose structures. Instead, they utilized extant
structures within the community, such as hot-houses or winter-houses. These structures will not be considered
because their form is not primarily dictated by the principles of sweating.
2
My sincerest gratitude goes to Elizabeth Boggess and her son Doug, as well as to Lieutenant Tom McGehee for
their hard work and in excavating this site, and for also making this data available for analysis.
3
and the remaining using the natural stratigraphy. In the bottom of this pit, four large thermally
altered stones in a matrix of charcoal and scorched earth were discovered (Figure 3). In addition
to a mixed assemblage of pottery consisting of Marksville to historic period sherds, burned
wood, daub, and charcoal were also present in the material assemblage. Approximately 1048.9 g
of daub were recovered in the excavation, with more than a few pieces presenting thatch and
reed impressions, suggesting the presence of a structure in the absence of any post holes. Based
on the presence of thermally altered stones, charcoal in matrix, the remains of a small circular
feature, and an anecdotal understanding of sweat lodges, the archaeologists who excavated the
site classified the Poplar Cove site as supporting the remains of a sweat lodge.
This paper reexamines common assumptions about the archaeological remains of sweat
lodges; a small pit or depression in conjunction with a fired area and/or thermally altered stones
do not necessarily indicate for the remains of a sweat lodge. Rather, it is proposed that linguistic
modeling of sweat lodge forms should be conducted in order to discover underlying symbolic,
thematic and/or functional commonalities that can be utilized in defining the morphology of the
structure (building upon notions of classification outlined by Deetz 1972 and Krieger 1945, and
studies in architecture by Glassie 1975) and its meaning within various social groups of the
Southeast (Gilman 1987:538). Until my research, only anecdotal knowledge has existed on sweat
lodge architecture and their archaeological remains. Thus, archaeologists did not have good data
available from which to make their characterizations. A few well thought out examples are
presented below.
Studies by Emerson, Milner, and Pauketat in the American Bottom have emphasized the
role of the sweat lodge during the Stirling phase (A.D. 1100-1200). Two structures were
identified as sweat lodges at the Labras Lake site (11-S-299) by Richard Yerkes (1987).
4
Structure 400 was constructed through a wall trench design with an opening to the east, a feature
thought to be common in sweat lodges (Bruchac 1993). It has an interior area of 2.06 m2 with a
shallow hearth in the center (Emerson 1997:105). Structure 39 has an interior area of 2.35 m2 and
was built using single-set posts (ibid). Both structures contained minimal cultural material. It
appears that the lack of cultural material, a small circle of posts, and an interior hearth were the
data used to classify these structures as sweat lodges. The spatial layout of these two sweat
lodges in relation to the other domestic buildings is thought to represent a nodal site, or
centralized habitation area, with ritual or ceremonially demarcated spaces (ibid:106).
Structure 113 at the Julien Site is also thought to represent a sweat lodge (Milner 1984:
Fig 4). It was constructed of a single row of 11 posts and had an internal area of 6.38 m2 with a
series of superimposed off-center hearths (ibid:31). The postmolds were shallow in depth and
width, approximately 12-19 cm and 10-14 cm respectively, suggesting they were constructed
using small, pliable poles capable of being shaped to form a dome-shaped structure. The
presence of interior hearths makes the classification of sweat lodge questionable, as will be
shown later, but nevertheless Emerson’s (1997) discussion on the role of the sweat lodge in
Cahokia’s hinterland is notable as it considers the dynamic social meaning of the structure.
In his chapter for Architectural Variability in the Southeast, Lafferty (2007) describes the
excavation of a structure at the East site (3Po610) that was approximately 3 m in diameter. The
site was discovered during a cultural resource survey for the location of an enlarged highway and
access ramp. Excavation of the site was conducted using surface collection, test unit excavation,
and backhoe stripping. Three middens were excavated; in midden 1, a structure (Feature 410
complex) was discovered that would have been located only a few meters from the banks of
Dead Timber Lake. The structure is defined by 13 small post molds around the north, west, and
5
east sides that were about 15 cm deep. In the southeast corner of the 410 complex, six ceramic
cones were recovered in a matrix of what appeared to be homogenous clay. According to
Lafferty, the ceramic cones could have been used as sources of heat. Lafferty documents
significant amounts of heat retention in a ceramic cone he manufactured, and fired until it
appeared red-hot. He then submerged it in water and noted large amounts of steam (2007:164).
While Lafferty states that these kinds of cones have been discovered at several different types of
sites (2007:157), neither of us found any examples of ceramic cones being used in sweat lodges
in the ethnohistoric literature; therefore, his experimental archaeology exists independently of
any supporting middle-range theory.
It should be apparent in the preceding examples that there is a significant amount of
variability in the characteristics ascribed to sweat lodges. While there is merit in the innovative
discussions these studies have produced, their characterizations remain contentious and their
propositions unclear until good systematic data on sweat lodges can be presented. Thus, there is
a significant need for a methodical analysis of the ethnohistoric literature on Native American
sweat lodges. These sources allow us to make analogies to the past and correct poorly conceived
notions of how sweat lodges were made and used. Several scholars have questioned the methods
used by archaeologists to classify structures (Mehta 2007, Wilson 2007:65), and others have
stated that women’s menstrual huts are commonly misclassified as sweat lodges (Galloway 1997
and Schohn 2001). In order to avoid this dilemma in the future, this study aimed to create an
architectural grammar that modeled the form and function of Native American sweat lodges in
the Southeast.
In the remainder of this paper I will present the case for ethnohistoric study and linguistic
modeling, and then give data on how sweat lodge was practiced by the various protohistoric and
6
historic groups of the Southeast. Subsequently I will define a classificatory system for sweat
lodges, and then compare it against the archaeology of the Poplar Cove site and other previously
characterized structures.
Ethnohistoric Analogy and Structural Linguistics
Ethnohistoric Analogy
In archaeology, analogy is “the use of information derived from one context, in this case
the present, to explain data found in another context, in this case the past” (Johnson 1999:48).
Early 19th-century archaeologists used their understanding of present-day cultures to determine
the function and use of artifacts from prehistory. They incorrectly made analogy to the past using
then-present models of form, assuming that the relationship between their cultural models and
prehistoric ones to be consistent (see Ford’s Gamma-gamma hatchet example, 1954:45). This
changed during the era of the “New Archaeology” as archaeologists sought to test assumptions
of the past using the principles of the scientific method. Ethnoarchaeology and ethnohistoric
analogy developed out of this science-centered paradigm. It was thought that through rigorous,
methodically sound testing, comparative ethnological data could be useful in making deductive
assertions on prehistory. Ethnohistoric analogy in particular was found to be useful in New
World studies as the groups that ethnologists documented during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries
were the direct descendents of prehistoric indigenous groups. This permits, through the direct
historic approach, an analysis of ethnohistoric sweat lodges that can be applied, through analogy,
to prehistory. But it is not enough to simply classify form, since as social scientists, we are
studying people and society, not just buildings. Therefore, methods should be utilized that allow
7
us to gain a greater understanding of prehistoric practices and meaning. These methods are
described below.
Linguistic Modeling
Henry Glassie’s 1975 study of 18th-century house form in middle Virginia was used as a
model for developing this study. His use of linguistic methods of analysis to discover grammars
of design prompted me to look for patterns in sweat lodge construction that would not only allow
me to predict and define their form, but might also allow a greater understanding of what the
structure and ritual meant to Indians in prehistory. This bears advantage over type-variety
systematics, in that not only is linguistic modeling classificatory, it is also meaning-centered. The
linguistic approach attempts to get into the mind of the maker and uncover the greater
significance of the grammars that structure manufacturing and design.
Linguistic modeling seeks to understand the process by which the mental becomes the
real. It negotiates between the idealized competence and the manufactured artifact. Structures,
like all artifacts, exist in two places - in the mind of the maker, and in reality. Making a sweat
lodge requires the builder to draw on collective understandings of what sweat lodges ought to
looks like; therefore, they exist first as schema. Sweat lodge schemas are then built in existential
space, where reality and the psyche intersect (Norberg-Schulz 1971:15-16), and where meaning
is negotiated. This structure is then recreated from mind to reality, or from the symbolic to the
real. Often this transition results in imperfect expressions that reflect the entropy of reality and
the objectivity of gravity, thermodynamics, and wood grain. As Glassie states,
Just as the rules used to generate language relate sound and meaning, so the rules used to
generate artifacts relate form and use. The product of the employment of the rules should
be a comprehensible statement or a usable artifact. In performance, the statement may go
8
awry and the artifact may turn out to be useless… But these are an individual’s mistakes,
not the result of mistakes in the idealized competence [1975:21].
In practice, building a sweat lodge is more difficult than imagining it in one’s mind. Cultural
models existed of what a sweat lodge should look like, but the real world often dictates the
outcome of an object regardless of mental formulae of design. Defining an architectural grammar
is effective for this particular reason, because it models the cognitive templates the builder has of
the structure he wants to build (Deetz 1977:8; Glassie 1975), not what is actually built. Ideas
about what buildings should look like, and what functions they should serve, are formed out of
daily psychological, social, and cultural interactions with individuals and other groups (see
Mehta 2007 for a more complete discussion of linguistic relation and artifact form). Of course,
designing a grammar is contingent upon having adequate workable data. While Glassie’s
research made use of primarily complete structures still extant on the landscape, my study
worked with limited written information on buildings that are themselves ephemeral by nature.
Given the fragmentary nature of the ethnohistoric record, it was not possible to collect
enough complete sample cases of how sweat lodges were constructed to realize a full
architectural grammar. Rather, it was decided to rely upon a more straightforward method of
classifying structures, type-variety systematics, which allow for etic categories of classification.
This does not disprove the efficacy of linguistic modeling, only that more complete data sets
with intact artifact forms are necessary to use these methods correctly. Although many
perspectives exist on typological classification (see Deetz 1972; Ford 1954; Fritz 1972; Hester et
al 1975; Krieger 1944: 489; Rouse 1972), this study engages with the proposition that types are
useful in the chronological and spatial control of data (Ford 1954:52) and that they not
9
necessarily be relevant to the makers themselves. I will explain the details of my type-variety
system later, but first let’s explore sweat lodes in the Southeast.
Sweat lodges in the Southeast
The Creeks used the sweat lodge to initiate Louis le Clerc Milford, an 18th-century
explorer, into the position of war chief. In addition, they, as well as the Seminole, used them
during their Green Corn ceremony, which was a time of spiritual and personal renewal. The old
had to be replaced with the new and bodies had to be cleansed, inside and out. It should come as
no surprise, then, that a ritual involving fasting, purging and sweating was used during this time
of renewal (Bartram 1791; Capron 1963:179,207; Driver 1961; Paper 1988:41). In another
instance of sweating acting as a cleansing agent, Reverend Daniel S. Buttrick (1989 [1838])
reported seeing the Cherokees use the sweat lodge during their forced removal out west on the
“Trail of Tears”. Many other examples exist and will be discussed later on, but what should be
noted here is that although the various groups of the Southeast descend from linguistically
variant groups of Siouan, Iroquoian, Caddo, and Muskogean speaking peoples, they all exhibited
a fairly uniform method of ritual purification3. Finding evidence for these types of structures
might possibly denote the existence of an institutional practice, what I call “the ritual of the
sweat”, that was embedded within the social and religious structures of southeastern tribal
groups.
For the Chickasaws, Adair notes that ritual purification was essential to removing
internal, bodily pollution, and if not conducted, could have seriously deleterious side effects. He
3
Only archaeology can shed light on whether or not the sweat lodge and its rituals developed as a result of
independent invention or diffusion; this surely would be an interesting topic to tackle in the future.
10
writes “They first obliged them [priests and prophets] to sweat themselves for the space of three
days and nights, in a small green hut, made on purpose, at a considerable distance from any
dwelling” (Adair 2005[1775]:162). I have interpreted ‘Small green hut made on purpose’ to
mean a small structure, built specifically for the purpose of sweating, one most likely using bentpole architecture4. Additionally, one should not forget the importance of placement on the
landscape. Both Turner (1995) and von Gennep (1960) have demonstrated the importance of
liminal isolation in the stages of ritual progression; thus, building this type of structure outside of
preliminary settlements indicates the importance placed on isolation and separation in the ritual
of the sweat. Liminality was an important aspect of the stages of purification; isolation was
necessary to become appropriately pure. Adair illustrates this best when he writes “they oblige
him [the impure one] to walk and encamp separately by himself, as an impure dangerous animal,
till the leader hath purified him according to their usual time and method” (Adair
2005[1775]:193).
Jean-Bernard Bossu, a French military captain during mid 18th century, wrote that the
Choctaws used sweat lodges for many reasons, such as when they were tired after a hunt, or
when returning from war. He writes that they used “sweat cabinets… the vapor filled with the
essence of these herbs enters the patient’s body through his pores and his nose and restores his
strength” (Bossu 1962:168, 219). His footnotes indicate that the sweat cabinets were circular
and shaped like a stove, and found in the center of the village. Given that H.B. Cushman
claimed that the Choctaw called their sweat lodge anuka, or hot-house and that it was generally
constructed of logs and mortar (Cushman 1962:199), and that Bossu stated they were in the
village center, it is possible they were describing council huts or mens’ lodges. Cushman also
4
Bent-pole architecture is known by a variety of names such as flexed roof, flexed pole or wig-wam; they are made
by inserting small, flexible poles into the ground directly, either into small post-holes or a trench dug into the
ground, and then joining the flexed poles together in the middle (see Lacquement 2004, 2007 for a full discussion).
11
stated that after emerging from the sweat, they ran directly to the closest river, in which they
plunged head first (ibid).
Milford’s initiation into the role of war chief among the Creeks details the use of a sweat
lodge. He describes being sent to a circular cabin in which hot stones had been placed. The
stones were heated in a fire outside of the sweat lodge. He doesn’t explicitly state where the
structure was built, but his description implies that it was not built within the vicinity of the
sacred square ground5 (McDermott 1956:146,158). After sweating profusely, they immediately
ran to the river, which was close by, and plunged in. It was through this initiation ritual that the
warriors and regional chiefs of the Creek nation inculcated Milford as their leader during times
of war; he entered their sweat lodge as a foreigner, but emerged native born.
The Creek sweat lodge has been described as a “dome-shaped hut, covered with hides or
mats, built especially for the purpose and into this were rolled hot stones…” (Driver 1961:503).
Jordan Paper, a contemporary sweat lodge scholar, believes that the Creek sweat lodge was
“constructed from poles emphasizing the number four and its multiples, oriented toward the
cardinal directions, with a low entrance facing east” (Paper 1988: 41). The entrance to the east
symbolizes rebirth and purity, and the dome of the hut acts as a recreation of the sky where the
supreme deity resides, and the hot rocks in the middle are the means by which man
communicates with him. Just as the sacred fire of the Creek public square was located in the
center, the heated stones of the sweat lodge are at the center of the sweat lodge. Thus, the
cosmogram of the Creek square ground (see Paper 1988, Hall 1997, and Nabokov and Easton
1989:110 for an explanation) is repeated in the architecture of the sweat lodge.
5
Bartram (1853:52-58) notes that the Grand Cabin, the structure which men used for council meetings and male
social events, was located across from the public square and was not a place for women and children.
12
Evidence for sweat lodge use among the Cherokees is tenuous at best; while there is
significant information on their built structures within village life, descriptions of their
extracommunity structures remains sparse. The naturalist William Bartram wrote that for the
Cherokees “each house or habitation has besides [it] a little conical house covered with dirt,
which is called the winter, or hot house: this stands a few yards distant from the mansion house
opposite the front door” (1791: 365). Also known as an asi, or osi, the structure shares much in
common structurally with the anuka of the Choctaw and the Creek chokofa. From this
description, it appears that the structure would have been small, circular, and semi-subterranean
with an internal hearth, generally used for food preparation, sleeping, men’s rituals and possibly
sweating (Bartram 1791:395; Fogelson 2004:341; Mooney 1932:61; Gilbert 1943:316;
Timberlake 1948:61), but not as an actual ritual sweat lodge. Mooney learned from the medicine
man A`yûn'inï that the asi was often prescribed for symptoms of indigestion and biliousness;
herbal decoctions were often poured over the hot stones to activate their curative nature (Mooney
1932:297).
Reverend Daniel S. Buttrick, who accompanied the Cherokees during the Trail of Tears,
writes that “the priest prepared a place for sweating his pupils by bending sticks and putting both
ends in the ground and covering them with skins or blankets, making the tent so to resemble an
umbrella” (Buttrick 1989[1838]:41-42, 45; Schroedl 1986:226). According to Buttrick, this
structure was built near water and was also called osi. Given the proceeding descriptions, I think
the Cherokees used their hot houses for a variety of purposes, one of those being to sweat in
(contra Hally 2002:105). They also built specific structures known as sweat lodges, which were
used for the initiation of priests and medicine men. The former structures were not specifically
ritual structures used as such, but rather general use buildings. The latter structures would have
13
had an architecture that relied upon notions of purity, rebirth and renewal; these are the structures
that have symbolic and cosmological referents that are governed by a discernable sweat lodge
rule-set. Discovering the rules for sweat lodge construction is the primary objective of this study.
An impressive description on the tendency for sweat lodges to be located close to water
comes from John Fontaine’s notes on the Saponi Indians of Virginia during the first quarter of
the 18th century. He writes,
between the town and the river, upon the river side, there are several small little huts built
with wattles, in the form of an oven, with a small door in one end of it… they are big
enough to hold a man, and are called sweating houses. They get 10-12 pebble stones
which they heat in the fire, and when they are red hot, they carry them into these little
huts [Bushnell 1940:135]
I find it interesting that these structures are covered with wattle and daub and not just skins,
thereby lending the structures a durable rather than fleeting structural support system. One
possible reason for making the structure more durable would have been because using the
structure was so commonly proscribed that a sturdy reusable structure would have been more
reasonable than an ephemeral, expeditious structure. The location of this structure reiterates the
idea that isolation and proximity to water were necessary for the sweat to be successful. While it
would have been easier for them to sweat in asis or winter homes that were right next door to
their houses, or within their nucleated community, the Saponi decided to build durable sweat
lodges outside of their town on the banks of the Mehirrin River. This should be understood as
demonstrating for the importance of isolation and water in the ritual of the sweat.
The medicinal role of the sweat lodge is often emphasized in the ethnohistoric record
(recall Mooney’s education in Cherokee medicine from A`yûn'inï). Robert Beverly, an English
planter from 18th-century Virginia, writes that “…they take great delight in sweating, and
therefore in every town they have a sweating house, and a doctor is paid by the publick [sic] to
14
attend it” (Vogel 1970:39). Dumont du Montigny believed that the Natchez didn’t use sweat
lodges, but instead, when a person was sick, the medicine man would surround a person lying in
their bed with Spanish moss and then place hot smoking coals under them (Swanton 1911:85).
On the other hand, their neighbors, the Chitimacha, were said to have built sweat lodges about
five to six feet long, with a cavity in the center into which hot stones were placed (Swanton
1911:350). Of the Catawba, a Siouan speaking group inhabiting the Carolina piedmont, John
Lawson writes that when they are ill, they “use sweating very much. If any pain seizes their
limbs or body, immediately they take reeds, or small wands, and bend them umbrella fashion,
covering them with skins and matchcoats” (Lawson 1967:48).
The ethnohistoric record has thus repetitively emphasized several key characteristics of
sweat lodges; 1) water needed to be close by, 2) they most often were ephemeral, although some
were more durable, 3) they were dome shaped and circular, and 4) they most often had external
fires in which stones were heated for use inside the sweat lodge. While these generalities were
useful in gaining a basic understanding of sweat lodge form and function, there is still much to
be understood from this data.
Theory and Methods for Devising Sweat Lodge Architectural Grammars
Features of Sweat Lodges
The study sample consisted of twenty nine sweat lodges from the ethnohistoric record6.
Sixteen variables relevant to developing an architectural grammar were identified, and they are:
6
Only 13 of these samples were from the Southeast. The remainder were from the mid-continent; although part and
parcel of the prehistoric Mississippian cultural expansion, they are not presented here for the sake of brevity.
15
shape, multi-use or single-use, diameter (span), cultural group, number of people accommodated
in the structure, location, proximity to water, depression in ground, orientation of door,
construction materials, number of poles, location of the fire, method of heating the lodge, the
number of stones (if used), and any medicinal herbs utilized (if any). Archeologically, it would
be useful to know if bent-pole sweat lodges had a foundation made with post-holes or with
construction trenches, but unfortunately none of the writers provided such detail. Some specified
that poles were jammed into the ground (Mooney 1896; Pond 1986), which might leave the
remains of post-holes behind, but as a whole, architectural data was sparse. As a general trend
among all of my samples, not a single case sample had all of the data that I had coded into
variables.
The Type Variety System
Rather than forming explicit grammars for the construction of sweat lodges, a generalized
rule-set was designed that allowed the designation of types and varieties. The rule-set was
created by pile sorting index cards that contained the details of how sweat lodges were built.
Each card had all the key features of sweat lodge construction and use on them (listed above),
and a card was made for each case sample collected. Sorting was done repetitively, varying the
sorting criteria for the index cards until regular patterns became apparent in how they were made.
For example, when forming groups of bent-pole structures, it was found that hearths were almost
always located outside the structure. While interior hearths were present in some discussions of
sweat lodges, they were only mentioned in association with multi-purpose structures used as
sweat lodges, which were located within settlements. Thus, an exterior hearth was made
characteristic of specialized sweat lodges. In order for an exterior hearth to be useful, one must
have a way of bringing the heat from the hearth into the sweat lodge; this was done by heating
16
stones in the fire outside and then rolling them in. Therefore, stones as a source of heat were also
made a characteristic feature of sweat lodges. The types and varieties defined by these rules give
a proprietary nomenclature for sweat lodges not elsewhere defined and are a practical
classificatory tool for archaeologists to use when characterizing structures they may discover and
think to be sweat lodges.
Rule-set for Sweat Lodge Construction
Rule 1. Specialized structures are built because of ritual or medical proscriptions, and are
characterized by the necessary feature list below:
1a. Bent pole architecture formed an amorphous or circular ring of
post-holes.
- Multiples of four should be expected.
- Structure generally covered with skins.
1b. Fire located outside.
- Large hearth with fired soils present within 1 meter of the structure.
1c. Stones used as a heat source inside the structure.
- Thermally altered stones would have been sufficiently large, 3-5 lbs.
1d. Door faced east, or toward a sacred landscape feature.
Rule 1 defines the necessary characteristics that constitute a sweat lodge. These conditions must
be satisfied by the builder when a specialized structure for sweating was desired. Features 1a -1d
were chosen as necessary features of sweat lodges because they tended to co-occur the most.
Sub rule I – Type intracommunity
Structure located in village or square ground area
- No examples were seen of a permanent building used exclusively as a sweat
lodge in the village area.
- Temporary structures were built as part of a larger ritual, i.e. the Green Corn
ceremony.
Location separates the two types of sweat lodges, intra- and extracommunity. Type
intracommunity structures are constrained by ritual proscriptions related to Green Corn
17
ceremonialism, the purification of sacred fires, or possibly for other reasons requiring a local
structure.
Sub rule II – Type extracommunity
Structure located in peripheral areas.
- Indian groups often built sweat lodges in the periphery, generally near water
sources such as river banks or lake shores.
Type extracommunity structures are made near streams and rivers because of social rules
requiring for ritual isolation, such as for medicine man initiations, hunting party rituals, or warchief initiation.
Transformation rule I – Variety, depression
The floor area of the lodge can be excavated below ground surface.
- If a small rise is present outside the structure, a sunken depression should be
present inside the structure.
The presence or absence of a depression does not appear to have a functional modification of the
structure (recall Deetz’ alloformemes) and can range anywhere from a low basin to a deep semisubterranean feature. The only southeastern example of such was from Swanton (1911); the
Chitimacha are said to have built such structures. Structures with excavated interiors were seen
with greater frequency outside of the Southeast, such as among the Sioux, Ojibwa, Klamath,
Modoc, and Chimariko (not discussed here but presented in full in Mehta 2007).
Transformation rule II – Variety, permanent
The exterior of the structure is not sealed with skins, but plaster.
- Wattle and daub, or another form of plaster was used to seal the structure.
This variety designation characterizes a durable structure made amenable to repetitive use;
examples of such were not frequently present in the ethnohistoric data. Bushnell (1940) provides
an example of sweat lodges built away from settlements that were daubed over with a mortar
18
made from mud and fibrous materials. These structures most likely had an intrinsic role within
Saponi medicinal and religious culture and were the material expression of such. Among
northern Plains groups, the Mandan (Catlin 1975:153) made permanent sweat lodges in the style
of tipis with internal stone walls. Based on what we know of the importance of fasting, purging,
and sweating, it is probable that the sweat lodge was an institution among Indian societies in the
Southeast.
Discussion
The rules discussed above form combinations that define sweat lodge types and varieties.
Features a-d are always present in specialized, single-purpose sweat lodges, and sub-rules I and
II split sweat lodges into two types, those located in villages (type intracommunity) and those
away from villages (type extracommunity). Through transformation rule I, these structures are
modified by the presence of a depression in the ground (variety, Depression). Transformational
rule II alters the inherent, ephemeral nature of the sweat lodge into one that is durable and used
repetitively only for sweating (variety, Permanent).
Table 1 presents counts of the various types of sweat lodges encountered in this study
arranged according to types and sub rules. Only possibilities that were present in the study
sample are listed below. Multi-purpose structures that were used as sweat lodges are listed, just
to give an idea of their prevalence, but they were not considered as part of the rule set that guided
the form of specialized, single-purpose sweat lodges.
19
TYPES AND SUB RULES
TOTAL
Type 1 a-d Sub rule I (type Intracommunity, see Seminole)
1
Type 1 a-d Sub rule II (type Extracommunity, see Creeks)
6
Type 1 a-d Sub rule II transformation rule I ( type
1
Extracommunity, variety Depression, see Chitimacha)
Type 1 a-d Sub rule II transformation rule II (type
2
Extracommunity, variety Permanent, see Saponi)
Multi-purpose structures
3
Table 1. Types and counts of Sweat lodges in the Southeast.
As can be seen in Table 1, ephemeral structures built away from settlements are the most
prevalent type of sweat lodge in the Southeast. Because of the near-ubiquity of the sweating
practice, sweats often took place in multi-purpose structures, although their architecture was not
guided by an ideology or religion related to sweating, purification and renewal. Extracommunity
type sweat lodges, var. unspecified were the most common because they were easily made, and
did not have to be durable or permanent in construction. If a sweat needed to be conducted in an
isolated location, an extracommunity type sweat lodge was built near a water source. In fact,
almost every mention of single-purpose sweat lodges involved running to a nearby river or
stream and/or bathing in it. What is remarkable is that the semi-permanent structures that were
built with wattle and daub and used as sweat lodges were also made near rivers (type
extracommunity, var. permanent), thus emphasizing the importance of having water nearby.
Therefore, it is posited that structures that functioned as single-purpose specialized sweat lodges,
20
whether they were ephemeral or permanent, were usually located close to streams or rivers,
possibly directly within several meters of the banks because of ritual proscriptions of not letting
the sweat dry on ones body. I interpolate based on this data, that the Indians of the Southeast had
a kind of wasserluxus, which is a reference for the splendor of water. Gregory Poessehl has used
this word to describe the obsession that the Indus valley peoples had with ritual purity through
immersion bathing (2003). In order to ritually bath in their native desert environment, they had to
build intricate cistern and water retention systems in their Bronze Age cities; the Essenes at
Qumran were no different (Magness 2002). I see this desire for purity, by fasting, purging,
sweating and then total immersion in water, to be indicative of a wasserluxus. The domed
structure, with its rocks and location proximal to running water, acted in it’s totality as a semiotic
representation for the belief in the purity of the body through which wasserluxous was embodied.
Application of the Model
No good model is complete without field-testing; therefore it was decided that two
archaeological sites previously thought to be sweat lodges should be assessed using the new
sweat lodge type-variety classification system. It has generally been observed that most
archaeologists do not actively look for sweat lodges, but rather discover aberrant or unique
structures which they then classify as sweat lodges. As this paper primarily discusses sweat
lodge epistemologies, we propose to reexamine conventional understandings of sweat lodge
classification using the proprietary mode developed herein. It is hoped that we can thereby gain a
better understanding of what archeological features can be used to classify sweat lodges.
21
Returning to the Poplar Cove site (22Ad1040)
The Poplar Cove site allowed some novel insights into structure classification. There was
a significant amount of charcoal in the pit fill, probably from some burning event and the
presence of a fire. Daub was present in noteworthy amounts, some with cane impressions,
indicating a structure would have been present. The large stones would have been ideal for use in
a sweat lodge, so it is possible that Poplar Cove could have supported such a structure. The lack
of any architectural remains, such as postholes, could simply be due to the fact that small bent
saplings would not leave large postholes behind. The sites distance from water was the most
contradictory evidence against its classification as sweat lodge. As shown in my descriptions of
sweat lodge use, ritual ablutions immediately after using the sweat lodge were considered almost
a necessity. Therefore, a structure located proximal to a water source would be more likely to
have been a sweat lodge. This structure is over 300 meters from water. This does not preclude
the possibility that water would have been stored in large jars at the site, or in skins, but no such
rims of greater magnitude were recovered. Additionally, evidence for Indians using large jars or
skins for storing water to use in ritual bathing has not been observed ethnographically, nor read
in the ethnohistoric literature, thus not making it a possibility that the Indians of the Southeast
were building ritual-use sweat lodges far away from water sources. Not only is the site too far
from Fairchilds Creek to have allowed ritual bathing to occur easily but it also doesn’t satisfy all
of the requirements for sweat lodges (only rule 1c and transformation rules I and II are met).
Additionally, we have no settlement or population related data for the area, which makes it
difficult to assign function to the structure, as location was so critical to the functionality of the
sweat lodge. It is impossible to know if the Poplar Cove site was in a liminal or sacred location,
as settlement data for the area is unknown. Thus, as the model tells us, we cannot call this pit
22
feature the remains of a sweat lodge. It might have been possible to lean more towards sweat
lodge if we knew the settlement distribution data, or if the structure was close to running water,
but without the supporting information we cannot accurately classify this structure. Therefore I
posit that without large scale excavation data for the Poplar Cove site that is spatially referenced,
and without settlement data for the Natchez Bluffs, one cannot accurately predict the nature of
this site/feature, particularly in regards to the classification of sweat lodge.
Returning to the East site (3Po610)
The feature 410 complex at the East site was characterized as a sweat lodge. A small
three meter circle of 13 single-set posts was discovered in a midden. In the south-east corner, six
ceramic cones were discovered in a matrix of homogenous clay. Using this data, the
archaeologist arrived at the conclusion of sweat lodge. According to the type-variety system
defined here, features 1a, sub-rule II, and transformation rules I and II are satisfied. The circular
layout of the small, narrow and shallow post molds and the dearth of artifacts along the eastern
edge of the structure satisfy feature 1a. There appear to be fired clay areas inside of the structure
and in feature 427 (which could have resulted from the post-utilization burning of the structure
and subsequent capping with soil). The burned clay in feature 427 could have resulted from the
placement of hot ceramic cones interacting with the surrounding soil matrix, but could also result
from an internal hearth. Since no hearth was documented, we cannot assign rule 1b. Rule 1c
cannot be applied since no thermally altered stone was recovered, and rule Id cannot be applied
since no probable door location was discovered. Sub rule II is assigned since Lafferty designates
the structure remains as being located on the edges of the East site and on the banks of Dead
Timber Lake (although running water appears to have been more important than stagnant water).
Both transformation rules are assigned since a small basin shape to the structure was assigned, as
23
well as a small internal pit (see Mooney 1892:822 for an ethnohistoric example), and because
fired daub with thatch impressions were recovered. Ultimately I believe the evidence is
contentious for characterizing a sweat lodge type extracommunity var. permanent, depression,
although several rules of the sweat lodge type-variety system are met. The presence of ceramic
cones versus thermally altered rock is problematic, as are the large quantity of bird bones
recovered in feature 427. Sweat lodges were not places of consumption but rather expectoration;
Lafferty’s assertion that the bones could have been from fans is certainly plausible, but given that
this has never been documented ethnohistorically, I question the interpretation. As is the case
with the ceramic cones; why go to the trouble of making your own heating elements when lithic
elements are not hard to come by. Indeed, in their own experimental recreation of a sweat lodge,
they used twenty kg of stone instead of manufacturing ceramic cones.
Ritual and Cosmology in the Sweat Lodge
By means of my observations, I have found that sweat lodge was an institution with an
important role in cosmology, religion and in defining social structure/space. Now that a precise
definition exists of their form, we can more accurately discuss their role in society. These kinds
of topics have generally been avoided in the archaeological literature where sweat lodges have
been discussed.
I think it is best to think of the specialized single-purpose sweat lodge as a religious
artifact for the removal of bodily pollution. Other structures may have been used for sweating,
but they were not artifacts that directly reflect the concepts (such as wasserluxous) represented
24
by specialized, single-purpose sweat lodges (Type 1 a-d sub rules I or II, transformational rules I
and/or II). James Brown has argued for pursuing research in the archaeology of religion
(1997:480-481) and for conducting studies on specialized architectural forms that are indicative
of religious and ritual practices. This study proposes that sweat lodges were a religious
institution that functioned to structure the importance of ritual purification.
Removing impurities was an essential part of Native American religion – fasting,
purging, and sweating flushed the body of its toxins, and the proximity of running or clean water
was necessary afterwards for ritual ablutions. Running water was required for Medicine man
initiations, ceremonial initiations, medicinal purposes, and removal of bodily pollution. The
water was necessary to wash contaminants off the body that had accumulated as a result of the
sweat. Just as the Indians of the Southeast often drank emetics to purge their insides, sweating
was another method for taking things out of the body. It was essential practice in order to remain
pure and healthy. Adair writes of the Chickasaws that “The Indian priests and prophets are
initiated by unction… they are such strict observers of the law of purification and think it is so
essential to obtaining health and success in war as not to allow the best beloved trader that lived
among them even to enter the beloved ground” (Adair 2005:162, 193). The square grounds of the
Creeks were bounded, sanctified plazas, the centrally-located sacred fire being the earthly
representation of the Supreme deity (Driver 1961:499). This deity also resided in sweat lodge
fires, transferring heat to stones that then released impurities from the observers of the sweat
lodge ritual. It was by being in the presence of heated stones, which had absorbed power from
the Supreme deity, that one was capable of having an encounter with the sacred (Hall 1997:149).
Emerging from the eastward facing door, the participant began anew facing the direction in
which the sun rises, symbolic of new beginnings and purity (Nabokov and Easton 1989:110;
25
Paper 1988:4). It was through the combination of semiotic elements, the symbolism of the four,
the eastward facing door, the rocks representing grandfathers, and the proximity of running water
that the constituent parts of the sweat lodge combined to form an artifact that was reflective of an
Indian religion and cosmology.
Conclusion
The primary objectives of this study were to model sweat lodge form and to discover
their meaning relative to the people using them. The model for the structural form of sweat
lodges was developed by finding examples of sweat lodges in the ethnohistoric record for the
Southeast, breaking down their construction-related information into analyzable parts, and then
forming rules that guided their construction. Structural linguistics was used as a heuristic for the
analysis of the structural composition of sweat lodges based on the theory that while we don’t
need to always be consciously aware of our English grammar, it does constantly guide us in
every sentence, paragraph and paper we write (we hope). Similarly, the construction of the sweat
lodge is also thought to be guided by an underlying grammar. Using structural linguistics, which
studies the syntagmatic relations between parts and wholes (Chomsky 1957:87, 92), an
architectural grammar for Southeastern sweat lodges would have been useful to archeologists in
the identification of sweat lodges based on the presence of just a few key features. While a
syntax-based grammar on how sweat lodges were constructed was not achieved, rule sets
defining the prototypical features of sweat lodges were created, and a type-variety classification
system of sweat lodges was devised.
26
It was found that several different kinds of sweat lodges existed, and that there were
ritual, ideological, and medicinal reasons for their use. Isolation and proximity to running water
were found to be to necessary conditions for the construction of specialized single-purpose
structures. These are structures that were guided by concepts related to Native American religion
and the ideology of the sweat lodge. Sweating can take place in other multi-purpose structures,
but their construction form is not related to the ideology of sweating nor a reverence for water
(Possehl 2003). If ritual, medicinal, and/or religious reasons called for isolation and ritual
ablutions, specialized structures were then built.
Structural linguistics, structuralism, ethnohistoric, and traditional archaeological analyses
all came together in this study. Following James Brown (1997) and Hall (1997), this thesis is part
of a field of studies known as the archaeology of religion. While characterizing an architectural
form was one of the primary goals of this study, understanding the meaning and use of this
architectural form was also very important. The sweat lodge was a religiously meaningful
structure that reified Native American ideological and cosmological principles. Ritual,
ceremony, and initiation all required the use of the sweat lodge, therefore characterizing this
elusive structure allows us to recognize materialized aspects of Indian religiosity wherever they
are discovered.
27
Acknowledgements
This paper would not have been possible with the guidance and support of Dr. Ian Brown and the
students of the Gulf Coast Survey at the University of Alabama. Indeed, Dr. Brown’s insightful
comments and patience were greatly appreciated Thanks also to Pratik Shah, whose advice
helped immensely with this manuscript.
28
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Figures
Figure 1. Principle soil feature at the Poplar Cove site, discovered while digging
the foundation trench for a house.
35
Figure 2. Bisected feature. Shown above is the oval-shaped soil feature mid-way through
excavation. The orientation of north is not known, but the string at left is thought to indicate the
bisection line. Large charcoal inclusions are present in the bottom level, possibly the remains of
the fire.
36
Figure 3
Figure 3. Feature fully excavated. Notice the large thermally-altered stones. The soil matrix was
thick with charcoal inclusions.
37