Perhaps I should explain something, that few people seem to understand. Many pre-European contact Muskogean towns were communal. Evidently, the Oconee's were not communal, since they primarily lived on isolated farmsteads. The closest thing we have in our era to a Muskogean town of 1500 is as Israeli kibutz or a Cuban communal farm. When people caught fish, the fish were either given only to the elite, or equally distributed among everyone in an extended family, clan or town. Orataw (those who make things happen) distributed the food. Such prestige foods as venison and bear meat, might only go to warriors, with the scraps and less desirable pieces being distributed to others. The height varied with altitude and latitude. The Spanish did not say much about the peoples in Florida, so perhaps they were about the same height as the Spanish and Mexican Indians. However, de Soto's men were astounded by the size of the ancestors of the Creek men living in Middle Georgia, South Carolina and the Southern Highlands. They averaged a foot taller than the Spanish. Elite leaders might reach 7 feet tall. Mikko Taski Loosa (Black Warrior) of the Alabama's was seven feet tall. Was he actually a man from one of the taller ethnic groups in Africa? Good question. There was a Creek mikko in Georgia during the Revolution, who was 7 feet tall. The Spanish mentioned that Muskogean women in the Coastal Plain were much shorter than the men. The women farther north and higher up tended to be taller. Skeletons have been found in other parts of the South which appeared to be of men 7 feet tall. George Washington found an Indian cemetery filled with 7 feet tall skeletons when he was supervising the construction of Fort Loudon in Winchester, VA. It could be that the original elite of the Creek's ancestors were actually another ethnic group, which came to dominate the indigenous peoples. The Choctaws have a legend of wars in the ancient past between the Choctaws and a race of giants, who invaded from the north. The difference in height between geographical regions and gender may also be reflective of a difference in diet - the elite and warriors may have enjoyed high protein diets, while the commoners, especially women, got very little meat. Also, intestinal parasites, may have been much more severe in coastal areas where it rarely went below freezing in the winter. There are a lot of unanswered questions in this area. Richard T. **************Looking for a car that's sporty, fun and fits in your budget? Read reviews on AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/cars-BMW-128-2008/expert-review?ncid=aolaut00050000000017 )