PASTE CHARACTERIZATION OF WEEDEN ISLAND POTTERY FROM KOLOMOKI AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR SPECIALIZED PRODUCTION

Abstract

We report the results of a petrographic analysis of pottery from Kolomoki, a Middle and Late Woodland period mound and village complex in southwestern Georgia. Thin sections of 65 sherds representing several prestige and utilitarian Weeden Island pottery types, from both domestic (midden) and ceremonial (mound) contexts, were obtained. For comparison, we also analyzed samples from a few potential clay sources. We characterize the range of variability in paste/resource groupings present in the Kolomoki assemblage and use these data to address patterns of manufacture and exchange of Weeden Island pottery through comparisons to thin sections of comparable types from the McKeithen site and other Weeden Island sites in the region.     

Archaeological Site or Natural Marine Community? Excavation of a Submerged Shell Mound in Ninigret Pond,Rhode Island

ABSTRACT

Submerged shell midden sites and natural shell deposits can have similar characteristics and can be difficult to distinguish archaeologically. We excavated two test units from a large (at least 35 m×70 m) submerged shell mound in Fort Neck Cove in southern Rhode Island to assess whether it was natural or cultural in origin. This mound had been recognized as a potential archaeological feature as early as the 1970s. Excavation, radiocarbon dating, and subsequent laboratory analysis of excavated materials suggest that the mound was a natural oyster reef rather than a submerged archaeological site. No artifacts were found; there was no clear evidence for human modification of any shells; small species that would not have been targeted as food were present; and δ¹³C values of oyster shells from the mound were consistent with freshwater input into their growth environment, suggesting that they grew in an estuarine environment that did not exist prior to the inundation of the ponds. The stratigraphically oldest radiocarbon date we could obtain (430–190 cal BP, 2σ range), from 70 cm below the pond floor, placed deposition of shells at least 3,000 years after the inundation of the pond. The excavation methods that we used and the process of testing, irrespective of whether the feature is cultural, are valuable contributions to the methodological literature on submerged site archaeology and help provide insight for other researchers working to discern natural from cultural shell midden sites.     

Evaluating the Reliability of Fluoride Dating at Two Prehistoric Mound Sites in Mississippi

Abstract

Ion-selective electrode fluoride dating is used to address chronological problems at two mound sites located in Mississippi. At the Mississippian period (A.D. 900–1520) Lyon's Bluff site, 220K520, the fluoride content of deer and human bone is compared with radiocarbon dates and stratigraphic levels to evaluate the reliability of the fluoride dating method for understanding relative burial chronology. At a second site, Pocahontas Mound A (22HI500), fluoride content of deer bone is used to corroborate radiocarbon dates and to establish the proper chronology of levels associated with two distinct occupations (Archaic and Coles Creek/Plaquemine) identified in a large midden area. Fluoride analysis also is used to date a second midden area at this site. For Lyon's Bluff; fluoride dates did not correspond with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)-dated burials and midden strata. In contrast, fluoride dating proved very useful in determining chronological placement of midden levels and dating other areas at Pocahontas Mound A. Sample age, site location, soil, and bone preservation are considered as possible causes for the negative results at Lyon's Bluff.     

OYSTER DEMOGRAPHICS AND THE CREATION OF COASTAL MONUMENTS AT ROBERTS ISLAND MOUND COMPLEX,FLORIDA

Abstract

Anthropogenic coastal landscapes often incorporate shell, a durable remnant of subsistence activity. Collection, consumption, and even feasting can thus contribute to histories of site formation and mound construction. This research assesses how oyster consumption related to the creation of Mound A, a shell mound at the Roberts Island Shell Mound Complex in Citrus County, Florida, is differentiated from the instances of oyster consumption that resulted in the midden constituting the rest of the island. I compare the size of shell remains from mound and off-mound midden contexts to assess variation in the sizes represented across the samples, stratigraphic variation within each context, and evidence for directional change indicative of over-exploitation. I identify a relationship of dependence between shell size and stratigraphic depth in off-mound samples that does not appear in mound samples, suggesting a relatively short period of time for the accumulation of mound deposit oyster shells. The findings of this study point to mound construction at Roberts Island Shell Mound Complex as a distinct and deliberate activity, with the construction event likely sharing importance with the community aggregation and consumption that facilitated it.     

CONFIRMATION OF AN ARCHAIC PERIOD MOUND IN SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI

Abstract

Site 22LI504 is a predominantly Archaic period site in Lincoln County, Mississippi. One of its primary elements of interest is a single conical mound from which small-diameter cores revealed evidence of advanced pedogenesis. A radiocarbon sample from one soil core produced a date suggesting that the mound was Archaic in age (Fulmer 2001); however, it was unclear whether the sample came from within the mound or an underlying midden. In the spring of 2006, we excavated a 1-x-1-m unit in the mound to investigate this question. Diagnostic lithic artifacts, an advanced state of soil horizonation, and a lack of ceramics indicate that the mound is of Archaic period construction, with as many as five construction stages and artifact-rich features. We describe the soil profiles, features, and artifacts recovered from the mound, with comparisons to excavation units in an adjacent Archaic midden to show that there is no clear evidence for the mound being a functionally specific locus. We also present radiocarbon dates that indicate the earthwork is over 5,000 years old. These results are evaluated within the broader context of Archaic mound building, focusing in particular on environmental parameters underlying bet-hedging behavior.     

Exploring Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) Habitat Collection via Oxygen Isotope Geochemistry and its Implications for Ritual and Mound Construction at Crystal River and Roberts Island,Florida

Research at Crystal River and Roberts Island Shell Mound Complex, on the western coast of Florida, USA, offers a quantitative assessment of the temporality of shell deposit construction, Native subsistence practices, and mobility patterns through stable oxygen isotope data from eastern oyster (C. virginica). The δ¹⁸O_water values of oysters vary synchronously with salinity, assuming relatively constant δ¹⁸O_water/salinity gradients since the time of occupation, allowing for an examination of shifts in oyster habitat exploitation over time. Our previous (Thompson et al. 2015) study indicated that midden accumulation occurred throughout the year, while oysters from mound deposits were collected in colder months. New data indicate that in addition to differential season of collection, habitat exploitation also varied. During early occupation at the site, oysters were collected primarily from lower saline habitats, while in later phases oysters were obtained from higher salinity waters; we relate this to a lower sea level and concomitant settlement shift seaward. Additionally, oyster from later mound contexts was collected from higher saline habitats relative to those in midden contexts; Native people may have targeted specific bioherms at certain times for the year for feasting-related mound construction.     

Histories of deposition: creating chronologies for the Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age transition in Southern Britain

The Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age midden sites of Southern Britain are amongst the richest archaeological sites in the country. The organic accumulations contain substantial quantities of animal bone, decorated ceramics, metalwork and other objects; the often deep stratigraphy allows for changes in material culture and depositional practices, food production and consumption, and shifts in social identities, to be traced through time. The well-stratified assemblages also provide useful materials for dating the deposits. This has been problematic, however, as the majority of samples produce unhelpfully broad calibrated radiocarbon dates, due to the effects of the earlier Iron Age plateau in the calibration curve, which spans c. 800–400 BC. Interpretation has relied on current understandings of the associated pottery and metalwork, which placed most midden sites somewhere between the tenth and the seventh/mid-sixth centuries cal BC (c. 1000–600/550 cal BC), but the end-date of these traditions is particularly uncertain. This article addresses this issue by presenting the results of a new dating programme for East Chisenbury in Wiltshire, southern England. Twenty-eight radiocarbon determinations were obtained and combined with the site stratigraphy in a Bayesian chronological model. The results have transformed the chronology of the site, with the end of the occupation sequence being pulled forward some one-hundred years, to the mid-to-late fifth century cal BC. These new chronologies have significant implications for our understanding of the Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age transition and require a revision of the currently accepted chronology of post-Deverel Rimbury decorated wares in south-central England.     

Sourcing galena from a Middle Woodland habitation site in northeast Mississippi

Galena has been recovered mostly in mortuary contexts – burial mounds, burial caves, and associated mortuary facilities – from Middle Woodland sites in the Southeast. Three small pieces of galena from the Cork site (22OK746) in northeast Mississippi came from midden deposits at a site with no mound or burials. Lead isotope analysis was used to source the samples to the Central Missouri-Tri-State-North Arkansas region. Isotopes provide an excellent sourcing method because their ratios are stable and large comparative source datasets are available. Recovery bias may have led to underestimation of galena presence in Middle Woodland habitation sites.     

The spatial dimension of the woodland period

ABSTRACT

State archaeological site files are a critical component of cultural resource management and information management toolkits. Yet, engagement with these datasets for research purposes can be difficult, at best. We address some of the challenges to a synthesis of spatial data from state site files by examining the Woodland period components of Deptford/Cartersville, Swift Creek, and Weeden Island. We also examine time slices of a large set of radiocarbon dates from contexts reported to be associated with Deptford and Swift Creek. Dates are plotted on a map at the same spatial scale as our site files dataset to evaluate time and space simultaneously. This study reveals important gaps in the radiocarbon dataset that can be rectified with strategic sampling. It also supports some long-held ideas about the spatial distribution of Deptford, Swift Creek, and Weeden Island. For example, Weeden Island is demonstrated to be strongly centered on the Alabama and Florida Gulf Coast, whereas Deptford is concentrated on both the Gulf and the Atlantic Coastal Plains.     

The Potential for Dating the Old Scatness Site,Shetland, By Optically Stimulated Luminescence

A series of deposits from the agricultural infield of the multiperiod settlement mound, Old Scatness, were investigated for their potential to yield optically stimulated luminescence dates. Luminescence properties of quartz grains were found to vary through the sequence, but dates were successfully obtained from five deposits, including anthropogenic soils, windblown sands and sands within midden deposits. Single‐aliquot equivalent dose measurement was found to be the most appropriate method for dating the deposits. The OSL dates obtained accorded well with the dates provided by archaeological evidence and included the post‐medieval, Iron Age, Bronze Age and Neolithic periods of Shetland, while a substantial midden was dated to the Bronze/Iron Age transition.     

Cohabitants,Captives, or Trade: The Early Late Woodland Non-Weaver Ceramic Assemblage at the Marseton #2 Weaver Village in Mercer County,Illinois

The Marseton #2 site is a Weaver ring midden in the Mississippi Valley of Mercer County, Illinois, that was buried by a catastrophic flood event a few centuries after the site had been abandoned. Analysis of the more than 740,000 ceramic items from the village provides insights as to Weaver interactions with other non-Weaver early Late Woodland groups of the region. While the presence of non-Weaver ceramics at the village might represent trade items, or vessels manufactured by potters peacefully or forcibly brought to the site, it is suggested that a non-Weaver household producing Levsen-like ceramics was coexisting at Marseton #2 alongside multiple Weaver households.     

Oxygen isotope analysis of California mussel shells: seasonality and human sedentism at an 8,200-year-old shell midden on Santa Rosa Island,California

To evaluate coastal settlement and land use strategies among maritime hunter-gatherers, we analyzed oxygen isotope (δ¹⁸O) data from 131 marine carbonate samples from 21 California mussel (Mytilus californianus) shells obtained from a large ～8,200-year-old shell midden (CA-SRI-666) on California’s Santa Rosa Island. Seasonal distributions of the isotopic data were assigned using a paleo-sea surface temperature model created by comparing modern sea surface temperatures (SST) to a fully profiled ～8,200-year-old shell. For 20 additional shells, we used two sampling strategies to compare season-of-harvest inferences and explore whether the Early Holocene site occupants were sedentary. Estimated season-of-harvest differed by 35 % between the two sampling methods, corroborating recent isotope analysis of an 8,800-year-old shell midden on San Miguel Island. Shellfish appear to have been collected year-round at CA-SRI-666 from intertidal or subtidal water temperatures similar to modern SST in the vicinity of eastern Santa Rosa Island. The isotope results are consistent with other evidence from CA-SRI-666 that suggest that the site served as a residential base for relatively sedentary maritime people.     

Late Prehistoric High-Altitude Hunter-Gatherer Residential Occupations in the Argentine Southern Andes

Test excavations were conducted at Risco de los Indios (RDLI), a site at 2480 masl with 29 residential features and a well-developed midden containing abundant floral, faunal, lithic, and ceramic materials. Analyses indicate the site was intensively used ca. 500 cal b.p. as a residential base for groups focused on hunting guanaco, supplemented by locally-available wild flora and fauna as well as domestic beans transported from the lowlands. Ceramic and obsidian artifacts indicate these groups were highly mobile and in contact with groups on the eastern and western margins of the Andes. These patterns compare favorably to those seen in the region’s other high altitude villages. It appears that the development of these patterns began with population increase and economic intensification in the lowlands ca. 2000 cal b.p. and that the move to slightly lower elevation settings like RDLI may have been conditioned by the onset of the Little Ice Age.     

THE BEAD MAKER’S MIDDEN: EVIDENCE OF LATE PREHISTORIC SHELL BEAD PRODUCTION ON OSSABAW ISLAND,GEORGIA

Abstract

In 2005, archaeological excavations were undertaken in a single shell midden at a late prehistoric Irene phase (circa A.D. 1380) site on Ossabaw Island, Georgia. The excavations were designed specifically to collect information on the fabrication of shell beads and other shell ornaments. A considerable amount of stone was recovered, almost all of which is petrified wood used specifically in the production of “microdrills” for perforating shell beads. Also recovered were large quantities of fragmented knobbed whelk (Busycon carica), the principal raw material used for shell beads, as well as examples of shell beads in all stages of manufacture. The excavations of this midden, designated the Bead Maker’s Midden, produced abundant information bearing on shellworking technology, including the full range of tools and raw materials used and the sequences involved in the production of shell beads. Replication experiments were conducted to validate the archaeological findings. The collected data provide direct evidence of the process of shell bead production during the Late Mississippi 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.     

Pre-Columbian Amerindian Lifeways at the Sabazan Site,Carriacou, West Indies

Recent excavations at the Ceramic Age village site of Sabazan on Carriacou, Grenada, indicate long-term occupation spanning AD 400 to 1400. One of the earliest settlements in the Grenadines Archipelago, Sabazan's chronology corroborates late Saladoid colonization of the region with the timing of major developments at this location supported by a robust chronology of 26 radiocarbon assays. Investigation of deep, stratified midden deposits yielded abundant ceramic, shell, and stone artifacts, faunal remains, and burial and domestic features. Zooarchaeological evidence indicates a heavy reliance on marine resources and a well-developed tuna (Scombridae, Thunnini) fishery. While data point to sustainable resource exploitation over a millennium, shifts in foraging strategies are evident, including declines in the fish catch and increasing reliance on large or easily acquired mollusks, particularly queen conch (Lobatus gigas) and nerites (Nerita spp.). These trends may be driven by the greater aridity and warmer sea surface temperatures of the Medieval Warm Period (ca AD 900–1300). Exotic artifacts and the remains of introduced mammals at Sabazan provide evidence for inter-island and continental interactions. Here, I synthesize these findings and their significance for reconstructing West Indian colonization, tracing exchange and interaction networks, and understanding human ecodynamics and long-term adaptation to small island ecosystems.     

Nineteenth-century ceramics and consumer behavior among the “mountain folk” of the Upper Cumberland Plateau,Tennessee

The Massengale site near Rugby, Tennessee was the nineteenth-century residence of one of the earliest white settler families to the Upper Cumberland Plateau of north central Tennessee, the Massengales. Archaeological excavations at their home site and historical document research into the family provided an opportunity to study their lifeways in this remote region. Initially, the Massengale ceramic assemblage appeared unusual, as a vast majority of their ceramics were undecorated. This study includes a comparison of the Massengale’s ceramic assemblage with those from four nearby, contemporary sites. Results indicate that the Massengale’s ceramic assemblage was not as unique as originally believed, and is representative of Appalachian farming families in this part of the Cumberland Plateau. Rather than attributing the lack of decorated ceramics simply to socioeconomic status, this paper examines a number of other factors that likely influenced their choice of ceramics.     

Returning to the Kamp Mound Group (11C12): Results from Geomagnetic Survey and High-Density Topographic Mapping in Calhoun County,Illinois

This article addresses the use of high-density topographic mapping and geomagnetic fieldwork as part of an ongoing research program focused on evaluating the role of monumental architecture in the construction and maintenance of differing scales of community during Middle (ca. 50 cal B.C.–cal A.D. 400) and Late (ca. cal A.D. 400–1000) Woodland periods in the Lower Illinois River Valley. At the 2013 Center for American Archeology and Arizona State University field school, a 2.46-ha area at the Kamp Mound Group (11C12) containing Mounds 1, 6, 7, 8, and 9 was surveyed using magnetic fluxgate gradiometry and mapped using a high-density robotic total station. Our survey results demonstrate that highly disturbed mounds have significant interpretable structure that can be used as primary data to better understand spatial attributes related to evaluating site organization, distribution of activity areas in nonmounded space, and internal mound structure and composition.     

DATING THE CONSTRUCTION OF EARLY LATE WOODLAND EARTHEN MONUMENTS AT THE JACKSON LANDING SITE IN COASTAL MISSISSIPPI

Abstract

Middle Woodland and early Late Woodland monuments generally have been interpreted as ceremonial spaces that integrated communities both within and among regions. This article presents information on the early Late Woodland component at the Jackson Landing site, a large site with a platform mound and semicircular earthwork, located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Earlier research is synthesized with more recent investigations of the mound to argue that the site’s monuments were built during the early Late Woodland period between approximately A.D. 400 to 700. Determining when Jackson Landing’s monuments were built is important because their construction provides a temporal baseline for regional and, perhaps, interregional social integration along the central Gulf Coast.     

Application of electron microprobe analysis to identify the origin of ancient pottery production from the Castillo de Huarmey,Peru

A vast amount of ceramics (among other grave goods) were recovered from Castillo de Huarmey, a Wari culture (650–1050 ce ) archaeological site on the north coast of Peru. In order to assess ceramic production area(s) and possible trade, political or cultural interactions with other regions, and to complement earlier petrographic analysis, electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) was conducted following a rarely used methodology in archaeology. The chemical composition of individual minerals in ceramics and sediments samples from the Huarmey Valley was obtained, focusing mainly on amphiboles, feldspars and pyroxenes. The results of the analyses clearly indicate that the majority of the ceramic analysed was made of raw material of local origin.