The Gayanashagowa
a mythic epic detailing the foundation of the League of Five Nations (the Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Mohawk)
Graeber / Wengrow 483: "What is most remarkable about this epic [...] is the degree to which it represents political institutions as self-conscious human creations"
its central drama is "a social problem with a social solution: a breakdown of relationships in which the country is plunged into chaos and revenge, spiralling to a point where social order has dissolved away"
the heroes "set about winning over the people of each nation to agree on creating a formal structure for heading off disputes and creating peace," including "a system of titles, nested councils, consensus-finding, condolence rituals, and the prominent role of female elders in formulating policy"
resulting ultimately in "a complex apparatus of subordinate councils, male and female, all with carefully designated powers -- but none with actual powers of compulsion"