Visualizing the Sacred: Cosmic Visions, Regionalism, and the Art of the Mississippian World (Linda Schele Series in Maya and Pre-Columbian Studies)

by George E. Lankford

Elsewhere the crested bird has been identified as a manifestation of “weather powers” that played an important role in Native stories throughout the Eastern Woodlands (Lankford 2007d:24–29); the same may be true of the Moundville images as well.