### q3 Mississippian hereditary chiefs had vassals > Chiefdoms varied in size throughout the Southeast, from smaller mound complexes, to larger paramount chiefdoms, where the chief of chiefs held sway. Chiefs held the power to extract tribute, usually food or labor, from comonomers and lesser chiefs, and the office appears to be hereditary. Elites demanded extreme deference in the presence of commoners, and enslaved captives from other nations. Isotopic analysis of skeletal remains show elites consumed more protein than commoners, indicating increased access to limited resources, and their burials contain far more trade goods. It's not clear to me how this stacks up against the social hierarchy in places like Mesopotamia or Egypt, but this sounds pretty standard just "yes this is actually a civilization." - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fgy1fgfbk9wfnc6h39ktvqgx) - [[Mississippian Culture#q3 Mississippian hereditary chiefs had vassals|View in Vault]]