Shell beads from Mississippian sites in the northern Yazoo Basin,Mississippi

ABSTRACT

In this paper, which focuses on the Mississippian period in the northern Yazoo Basin, Mississippi, I present some interesting findings from research done over the past century. In this area, most shell beads come from surface collections, or from excavated burials in cemeteries or ossuaries. Burial styles include extended, flexed, semi-flexed, and bundles, with very few cremations having been encountered. Bead burials also seem to reflect both common and elite people, and there are some interesting discoveries concerning association of shell beads. I will use 33 archaeologically investigated major sites as examples to illustrate an unexpected paucity of shell beads and other shell ornaments at some of the most heavily populated Mississippian sites in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Two other sites with shell beads in the uplands will be used for comparison.     

BAYESIAN MODELING OF THE OCCUPATION SPAN OF THE AVERBUCH SITE IN THE MIDDLE CUMBERLAND DRAINAGE,TENNESSEE

Abstract

The application of Bayesian models to suites of radiocarbon dates can provide important refinements over standard approaches toward calibration and seriation of dated feature contexts. We have modeled a number of older radiocarbon dates submitted in the 1980s along with a recent set of accelerator mass spectrometry dates from the Averbuch site (40DV60), a Mississippian village in the Middle Cumberland Region of Tennessee occupied in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries A.D. The results of these analyses demonstrate that even within its short lifespan of ca. 200 years, the village underwent fundamental organizational changes. These shifts appear to be responses to climatic deterioration and an upsurge in regional violence.     

Prehistoric Molluscan Faunas of the Yazoo River,Mississippi, USA: Archaeological Perspectives for Modern Conservation

Archaeological faunal assemblages can provide data valuable to modern conservation ecology. For example, while freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae, Margaritiferidae) are common constituents in the archaeological record of North America, today they are one of the world’s most imperiled faunal groups. Efforts to aid habitat restoration, population growth, and species reintroduction can be informed by studies of prehistoric mussel assemblages. These data can provide a historical perspective, cataloging communities as they existed prior to extensive modern impacts, thus representing an ecological baseline to be compared with modern populations. This study focuses on two late prehistoric (ca. 300–600 AD) sites on the Yazoo River, where nearly 24,000 freshwater mussel valves were recovered. Though modern data are extremely limited for the river, analysis revealed it once supported a diverse mussel community containing numerous species currently considered rare, endangered, or extinct in Mississippi. In total, the combined shell assemblages yielded 23 new river records for the Yazoo River. One species in particular, Quadrula fragosa, represents the second such occurrence in Mississippi, and bolsters its candidate status as a new state record, as argued in a recent report from a neighbouring river in the Yazoo Basin.     

NEW PERSPECTIVES ON MISSISSIPPIAN OCCUPATIONS IN WESTERN TENNESSEE AND NORTHWESTERN MISSISSIPPI: RECENT CHRONOLOGICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT CHUCALISSA (40SY1), SHELBY COUNTY,TENNESSEE

Abstract

Investigations at Chucalissa (40SY1) in Shelby County, Tennessee, have been instrumental in establishing Mississippian period chronology for southwestern Tennessee and much of the surrounding region. Excavations conducted in 2003 produced a suite of new radiocarbon dates that has provided a refined developmental lineage of occupations in West Tennessee and northwestern Mississippi, while geophysical investigations in 2011 have clarified our understanding of the late prehistoric occupation of the site and validated suggestions of distinctive mound architecture in a region extending over a large portion of the Southeast.     

Foodways and community at the Late Mississippian site of Parchman Place

ABSTRACT

Communal eating events or feasts were important activities associated with the founding and maintenance of Mississippian communities in the southeastern United States. More often than not, however, archaeological deposits of food refuse are interpreted along a spectrum, with household-level consumption at one end and community-wide feasting at the other. Here, we draw attention to the important ways that domestic food practices contributed to social events and processes at the community level. We examine ceramic, botanical, and faunal assemblages from two fourteenth-century contexts at Parchman Place (22CO511), a Late Mississippi period site in the northern Yazoo Basin. For the earlier deposit, everyday ceramics and plant foods combined with high-utility deer portions and exotic birds suggest potluck-style feasting meant to bring people together in the context of establishing a community in place. We interpret the later deposit, with its pure ash matrix, focus on serving wares, and purposeful disposal of edible maize and animal remains, as the result of activities related to maize harvest ceremonialism. Both practices suggest that household contributions in general and disposal of domestic food refuse in particular are critical yet underappreciated venues for creating and maintaining community ties in the Mississippian Southeast.     

BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF SUBSISTENCE AND HEALTH AT THE LAKE GEORGE SITE,MISSISSIPPI (22YZ557)

Abstract

Bioarchaeological investigations of subsistence and health were conducted on a skeletal population from the Lake George site (22YZ557), a large prehistoric settlement in the lower Yazoo basin of west-central Mississippi. Subsistence is inferred from oral health indicators (including dental caries, calculus, periodontal disease, abscesses, antemortem tooth loss, and macrowear) and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios from bone collagen and apatite. Health is inferred from nonspecific indicators (including cranial porous lesions, enamel hypoplasias, and Harris lines). The sample includes 25 adults and 25 subadults, all of which date to the Coles Creek period (A.D. 700–1200). Frequencies of all pathological conditions are reported for the entire sample and divided by sex and age for adults. Results indicate a heavy pathology load at Lake George, but one that is not dissimilar to other Coles Creek populations. Isotope values indicate a diet that included primarily C3 plants (δ¹³C_Col = ?21.03‰, δ¹³C_Ap-Diet = ?22.06) and terrestrial protein (δ¹⁵N = 9.72‰). The sources of nonspecific pathologies are attributed to stressors associated with increasing population density and cultural complexity that occurred during the Coles Creek period.     

THE PROBLEMS WITH VISUAL IDENTIFICATION OF DOVER AND FORT PAYNE CHERT

Abstract

Similar characteristics including color, luster, texture, and mineral inclusions of both Dover and Fort Payne chert types coupled with the wide geologic and geographic distribution of these deposits compound interobserver errors associated with visual identification methods. Samples were obtained from outcrops of Dover from Kentucky and Tennessee and Fort Payne chert from Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee demonstrating their extensive geologic distribution as well as the great similarity in macroscopic traits. A logistic regression analysis upon the sample database demonstrates successful differentiation of the chert types. However, the Dover/Fort Payne case study provides a cautionary example of the potential pitfalls with sourcing studies solely reliant upon visual attributes to assign artifact provenance. In general, the use of visual chert identification should be a “first approximation” and it is argued here that large type databases systematically sampled from both primary and secondary sources highlight the possible wide range of macroscopic variation present.     

HELLENISTIC ARCHITECTURE IN JAFFA: THE 2009 EXCAVATIONS OF THE JAFFA CULTURAL HERITAGE PROJECT IN THE VISITOR'S CENTRE

Abstract

In 2009 the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project undertook a pilot-project excavation within the soon-to-be-renovated visitor's centre in Qedumim Square. These excavations were intended to clarify stratigraphic questions within area C of Jacob Kaplan's excavations (1961, 1965) and to lay the groundwork for future excavations by the project which was founded in 2007 as a partnership between UCLA and the Israel Antiquities Authority. Along with achieving these goals, the excavations exposed one of the best preserved examples of Hellenistic architecture in the southern Levant and confirmed the employment of a Hippodamian-style town plan from as early as the late Persian period.     

EARLY WOODLAND SETTLEMENT AND MOUND BUILDING IN THE UPPER TENSAS BASIN,NORTHEAST LOUISIANA

Abstract

Traditionally overlooked because it lacks hallmarks of material and cultural complexity, Early Woodland in the Southeast is an interval of significant transformation in material culture, settlement, and social organization. Investigations at four sites in northeast Louisiana provide insights into changes taking place at this time. These sites are situated on a crevasse splay created by flooding at the end of the Archaic. This flooding is associated with an occupation hiatus ca. 3000–2500 cal B.P. Evidence suggests a rapid colonization of the crevasse splay by people using Tchefuncte pottery, and there is no evidence at these sites of stratigraphic or cultural continuity from Poverty Point. The Early Woodland occupation in the study area dates ca. 2400–2100 cal B.P., which is later than dates associated with Early Woodland in the Pontchartrain Basin and contemporary with Lake Cormorant culture sites farther north. Early Woodland in northeast Louisiana is marked by a diagnostic Tchefuncte ceramic assemblage and the presence of a settlement system composed of small villages or hamlets nucleated around a conical mound that presumably served as a ceremonial/ritual center. This mound was erected very rapidly; radiocarbon dates suggest it was constructed in no more than 10 years. Although mound building has been suspected, this is the first conclusive evidence it was an aspect of Tchefuncte settlement and ceremonial practices. Data from these sites bear on the question of cultural and demographic continuity and change at the Archaic to Woodland transition. Previous models emphasize continuity of populations with ceramic technology and styles diffusing into the lower Mississippi Valley. In contrast, our data support a model of Early Woodland repopulation of the lower Mississippi Valley from the south and east following a prolonged period of regional abandonment.     

Lagunillas: A New Archeological Phase for the Lake Maracaibo Basin,Venezuela

Abstract

This paper describes and compares the newly established archeological Lagunillas phase for the Lake Maracaibo Basin in northwestern Venezuela. Lagunillas is characterized by subsistence based on corn, by pile dwellings, and by complex pottery emphasizing plastic decorative techniques. A set of radiocarbon dates places Lagunillas into Period II (1000 B.C.-300 A.C.) of the regional chronology. Although it shares some traits with other western Venezuelan pottery traditions, Lagunillas also shows northern Colombian, Ecuadorian, and, indirectly, Amazonian influences.     

GEORGE A. LIDBERG JR. AND DEPRESSION-ERA ARCHAEOLOGY IN TENNESSEE

Abstract

The 1930s were a time of ferment for American archaeology that expanded through its inclusion in New Deal–era federal relief programs. The passage of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Act in 1933 and establishment of a salvage archaeology program in response to proposed impoundments made the TVA a major locus of archaeological activity in the eastern United States. One of those participants was George A. Lidberg Jr., a somewhat typical Works Progress Administration (WPA) supervisor, who like many TVA archaeologists was trained in the Midwest. Lidberg’s career was effectively ended by World War II. This paper presents biographical information on Lidberg and reviews the sites at which he worked. Such biographies are important in that they provide insights into the unprecedented challenges that faced the men and women responsible for implementing massive-scale federal work relief salvage programs in the Southeast.     

INTERACTION BETWEEN THE COAL-ENERGY-CHEMICALS AND IRON-STEEL CYCLES IN THE DONETS BASIN

An economic-geographic model of two technologically related industry groups in the Donets Basin (coal-energy-chemicals and iron-steel) reveals bottlenecks that reduce the cost-effectiveness of industrial performance. They include cross hauls of coal, amounting to about 5 million tons a year within the Donets Basin; in-shipments of up to 3 million tons of coal from outside the Donbas, and the waste of 3 billion m³ of blast-furnace gas. Remedies that would insure more rational utilization of fuel and energy resources are proposed.     

PAPERS ON GEOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF WOODLAND AND CADDO SITES IN THE CADDO AREA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

Abstract

Geophysical investigations on archaeological sites in the Caddo area of the Southeastern United States have become in recent years a critical part of the investigation of prehistoric and early historic Caddo sites, from small farmsteads and hamlets to large mound centers. The various articles gathered here provide substantive examples of the range of geophysical research that has been undertaken on Woodland and Caddo sites in southwestern Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, and East Texas, and how that research has led to a better understanding of the spatial structure and internal organization of habitation sites and mound centers.     

THE FERTILE DESERT: AGRICULTURE AND COPPER INDUSTRY IN EARLY ISLAMIC ARAVA (ARABAH)

Abstract

The Arava is an arid region in the Southern Levant. Archaeological excavations and surveys in the area revealed dense settlement and sophisticated technologies from the eighth to ninth centuries—qanat water technology and copper production. Differences between the data of the middle and southern Arava suggest two separated economic systems. While the Southern Arava seems to be primarily an industrial area of copper that delivered the raw material to Ayla, the middle Arava was mainly agricultural and may be connected to trade routes. Studying the farming conditions of this arid area points to date palms as the main crop of the agricultural settlement. However, it is not yet clear where the Arava's produce was exported.     

THE USE OF SHELL-TEMPERED POTTERY IN THE CADDO AREA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

Abstract

Freshwater mussel shell was used as a temper in the manufacture of ceramic vessels by potters in the Caddo area of the southeastern United States after ca. A.D. 1300. This was at least one or two centuries after it became the dominant temper used by aboriginal groups in much of the Eastern Woodlands but generally contemporaneous with shelltempered usage in parts of the Southern Plains. The introduction of shell temper was variable across the Caddo area, and in certain regions its use was negligible in ceramic vessel assemblages until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries but then was rapidly adopted as the dominant temper employed in vessel manufacture, particularly for utility wares. In the traditional territory of the historic Hasinai Caddo in East Texas, shell temper did not appear in vessels until the early eighteenth century, and then only in minor amounts on presumed trade vessels.     

CONTINUING THE RESEARCH: ARCHAEOGEOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE BATTLE MOUND SITE (3LA1) IN LAFAYETTE COUNTY,ARKANSAS

Abstract

The continuing use of archaeogeophysical methods at the Battle Mound site (3LA1) exemplifies the power of geophysics as a non-invasive, preservation-oriented, and economically feasible way to pursue the exploration of settlement patterning at the Middle and Late Caddo (ca. A.D. 1200–1680) mound site. Using these methods, a 1-ha (2.47 acres) area directly east of the large mound was surveyed using magnetic gradiometry and concatenated to the existing survey area. Results from the 1-ha survey provide further elucidation of the spatial structure and internal organization of the Caddo Indian occupation at the Battle Mound site.     

A REASSESSMENT OF THE CHRONOLOGY OF MOUND A AT TOQUA

Abstract

The Toqua site (40MR6) is one of the most thoroughly excavated Late Mississippian mound sites in East Tennessee. The site has been a focal point of research on late prehistory in southern Appalachia, but there are issues surrounding its chronological placement. The radiometric dates obtained for the site in the 1970s and the archaeomagnetic dates reported in 1999 have large standard deviations. These dates are too imprecise to be useful for a temporal placement of the site that is clear enough for current discussions of the development of Mississippian culture. A newly obtained Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) date from the large platform mound (Mound A) allows a reevaluation of the occupation sequence of the Toqua site. This date provides an anchor for a refined chronology for Mound A. In addition to the new AMS date, this refined chronology is based on complementary lines of evidence, including architectural evidence, mortuary practices, pottery traditions, and shell gorget styles.     

Food production in the Early Woodland: macrobotanical remains as evidence for farming along the riverbank in eastern Tennessee

ABSTRACT

Open riverbanks and disturbed floodplains are targeted by archaeologists as optimal habitats for the growth of many of the weedy indigenous seed crops in eastern North America, but there is still little evidence for garden locations in the archaeological record. This article combines macrobotanical and geoarchaeological analyses from the Birdwell site (40GN228), located on the Nolichucky River, to give insight into where cultigens were planted and how they were managed in eastern Tennessee during the Early Woodland period. The recovery of uncharacteristic amounts of edible seeds and wood charcoal from the lower terrace of this site suggests that inhabitants were actively managing cultigens along the floodplain of this settlement. The presence of these remains in a non-midden context is evidence that precontact farmers in the Tennessee foothills took advantage of the newly created floodplains of the Early Woodland by implementing a burning regime, an early agricultural strategy aimed at increasing soil productivity and encouraging the growth of weedy annuals on the riverbank. In absence of lines of evidence such as preserved paleosols that can be examined for soil micromorphology, pollen, and phytoliths, integrated paleoethnobotanical and geomorphological analyses can be used to reconstruct land use and archaeologically identify prehistoric cultivated fields.     

MACROBOTANICAL ANALYSIS OF TWO HOPEWELL MOUND SAMPLES FROM THE MANN SITE (12PO2) IN INDIANA

Abstract

The Mann site (12PO2), most noted for its large Hopewellian mound complex, is a little studied but significant archaeological site in southwestern Indiana. Non-mound habitation areas at both the Mann and nearby Mann phase Grabert site were the sole source of archaeobotanical information for these sites prior to the current macrobotanical analysis of two newly available and fairly large (55–60 g of charred material each) samples collected from Mann site mound pit features. Analysis of the macrobotanical material from these pits, in the context of what is already known from both the Mann and Grabert sites, provides additional evidence that plant resources were being used in the Mann phase subsistence system consistent with interregional Hopewellian influences. Data indicate that the inhabitants were using some form of seed storage and may have been participating in non-burial-related ceremonial feasting.     

THE BILTMORE MOUND AND HOPEWELLIAN MOUND USE IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS

Abstract

Biltmore Mound, located on the Swannanoa River in Asheville, North Carolina, was constructed over a Connestee phase habitation, the earliest evidence dating to about A.D. 300. Mound construction began sometime between A.D. 400 and 550, with the second to last mound stage constructed about A.D. 580–600. Because of the diverse contexts and the excellent preservation of faunal remains, we are able to provide some insights into Connestee ritualism at Biltmore Mound. The Biltmore Mound was a platform used to support large public structures for ritual and ceremonial activities. It was constructed of varying colored and textured soils from a variety of source areas that arguably had symbolic importance. The mound was primarily built out (rather than up) with several mantles that may have comprised a complete ritual cycle of mound construction.