Browsing by Author "Larsen, Clark Spencer."
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Item The anthropology of St. Catherines Island. 1, Natural and cultural history. Anthropological papers of the AMNH ; v. 55, pt. 2([New York] : American Museum of Natural History, 1978) Thomas, David Hurst.; Jones, Grant D.; Durham, Roger S.; Larsen, Clark Spencer.; Moore, Clarence B. (Clarence Bloomfield), 1852-1936."This volume, the first in a series, considers the natural and cultural background to anthropological research being conducted on St. Catherines Island, Georgia. The island is one of a complex series of barrier islands, of various orgins. The extant vegetation is an interesting mixture of natural succession, periodically disrupted by recent historical processes. Archaeologists have worked on St. Catherines Island discontinuously since 1896, when C.B. Moore conducted excavations in several prehistoric burial mounds. The University of Georgia then conducted a program of burial mound and midden excavations in 1969-1970, and the American Museum of Natural History began intensive archaeological investigations on St. Catherines Island in 1974. The ethnohistory of the Guale Indians is discussed in detail, suggesting that they were essentially a riverine people with strong internal trade contacts. Guale political organization was that of the classic Creek chiefdom. Each chiefdom maintained two principal towns, and may have been organized according to dual political organization. This interpretation contrasts sharply with the traditional view of the Guale, who are often characterized as isolated, scattered, shifting cultivators. The volume concludes with a historical outline of St. Catherines Island from the early Spanish mission period up to present times"--P. 159.Item The anthropology of St. Catherines Island. 2, The Refuge-Deptford mortuary complex. Anthropological papers of the AMNH ; v. 56, pt. 1(New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1978) Thomas, David Hurst.; Larsen, Clark Spencer.; Clark, George R.; DePratter, Chester B.; Lunsford, Ann Marie."Data and implications from nine burial mounds excavated by crews of the American Museum of Natural History on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, are given in this monograph. As a group, these nine sites define a surprisingly homogeneous pattern and these data comprise virtually all that is known regarding the mortuary customs practiced along the Georgia and Florida coast between ca. 1500 B.C. to A.D. 600. The sites are rather unspectacular sand mounds, which exhibit a remarkably consistent stratigraphic patterning. The skeletal materials recovered are poorly preserved, except in the rare case when shell was added to the interment. The radiocarbon evidence, consisting of 29 determinations from the nine mounds, strongly suggests a marked periodicity in the use of these sites. In all cases, the areas seem to have been visited for centuries - in some cases millenia - prior to the actual construction of the mortuary mound. Several graves were placed into this pre-mound surface, and mound-building activities occurred at all sites sometime during the first 600 years A.D. A number of intrusive burials were added shortly thereafter, and then ceremonial activities virtually ceased at all sites. Most cultural materials found inside the mounds were accidental inclusions which resulted from pre-mound sacred (and probably secular) activities. Very few deliberate grave offerings were found. The biocultural evidence suggests that the Refuge-Deptford population enjoyed good health, although they suffered from an extreme rate of dental attrition. Although the data are limited, these sites seem to reflect an egalitarian sociopolitical organization operative during Refuge-Deptford times. The relatively high proportion of bundle burials seems to suggest that the annual round of these peoples exploited both island and mainland resources. We offer a number of cautious speculations regarding the nature of ritual and symbolism during the Refuge and Deptford phases. These suggestions are a variety of hypotheses that require testing with data from both mortuary and habitation sites of this period"--P. 5.Item The anthropology of St. Catherines Island. 3, Prehistoric human biological adaptation. Anthropological papers of the AMNH ; v. 57, pt. 3(New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1982) Larsen, Clark Spencer.; Thomas, David Hurst."Skeletal remains from the prehistoric coast of Georgia are the basis for this study. The effects of agriculture on the human skeleton are examined and explained in the present paper. The region was chosen because (1) there is a large skeletal series representative of both an early preagricultural adapatation (2200 B.C.-A.D. 1150) and a later mixed agricultural and hunting-gathering adaptation (A.D. 1150-A.D. 1550); (2) the Georgia coast represents continuous in situ cultural development from at least 2200 B.C. to A.D. 1550, implying human biological continuity for at least 3500 years prior to European contact; and (3) the economic regime for the Georgia coast has been documented by a large body of archaeological and ethnohistoric data. A series of skeletal and dental changes are viewed in light of an adaptational model encompassing disease and size of the hard tissues - skeletal and dental - and their respective responses to the behavioral shift from a hunting and gathering lifeway to one that incorporated corn agriculture after A.D. 1150. The model consists of two parts. First, with the introduction of an agriculture-based diet and consequent increase in population size and density, the pathology reflecting a general rise in occurrence of infectious disease due to an expansion in population size and a high dietary carbohydrate base should increase. Second, with the adoption of corn as a major dietary constituent, the softer foodstuffs and more sedentary lifeway associated with that adaptation should result in a respective decrease in functional demand on the masticatory complex in particular and on the body in general. In addition, the element of poor nutrition should come into play in an economy in which plant domesticates, and corn in particular, are the focus of diet. The comparison and analysis of the pathology and metric data support the model. In addition, the detailed examination of these data by sex suggests that the behavioral alterations that occurred consequent to the change in lifeway differentially affected females"--P. 159.Item The anthropology of St. Catherines Island. 4, The St. Catherines period mortuary complex. Anthropological papers of the AMNH ; v. 57, pt. 4(New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1982) Larsen, Clark Spencer.; Thomas, David Hurst.; DePratter, Chester B.; Grayson, Donald K."The results of archaeological excavations of two St. Catherines period burial mounds - Marys Mound and Johns Mound - by field crews from the University of Georgia and the American Museum of Natural History are presented. Analysis of the ceramics recovered from the two mortuary localities suggests that both mounds were constructed during the terminal phase of the St. Catherines period, probably during the late twelfth or early thirteenth century A.D. Study of the human skeletal remains suggests that these people were physically robust and enjoyed good health, both skeletal and dental. Analysis of nonhuman skeletal remains shows that most identified taxa are present on St. Catherines Island today. In addition, the presence of the domestic pig, Sus scrofa, in association with one iterment from Johns Mound, points to historic (Altahama) period use of this locality. Thin-section analysis of whole clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) from both sites indicates that time of harvesting or death for all specimens falls within 'late fall' to 'late spring' (November to May)"--P. 273.Item The archaeology [i.e. anthropology] of St. Catherines Island. 5, The South End Mound complex. Anthropological papers of the AMNH ; v. 63, pt. 1(New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1986) Larsen, Clark Spencer.; Thomas, David Hurst.; Hutchinson, Dale L.; O'Brien, Deborah Mayer.; Pendleton, Lorann S. A.; Peter, Debra.; Moore, Clarence B. (Clarence Bloomfield), 1852-1936."This volume presents results of archaeological excavations of two prehistoric burial mounds on St. Catherines Island, Georgia. South End Mound I is an Irene period mortuary site, initially excavated by C.B. Moore during the winter of 1896-1897. Although Moore adequately described his investigations in a subsequent publication, he retained only six complete ceramic vessels for later analysis. These vessels have been reexamined and are discussed here. None of the skeletal materials excavated by Moore, to our knowledge, was saved for later analysis. Field crews from the American Museum of Natural History recently reexcavated parts of this site, finding evidence that at least some of the primary human burials previously exposed by Moore remain intact beneath the backdirt of South End Mound I. Further investigation might be fruitful. South End Mound II, a previously unexplored mortuary site, was discovered not far from Moore's excavations. This St. Catherines/Savannah period burial mound, extensively excavated by the American Museum of Natural History, had a central pit containing two cremations and a mass grave containing at least 15 individuals. Grave goods included a perforated copper sheet, worked galena, a river otter mandible, and a polished stone pendant. Prehistoric copper has rarely been reported from archaeological contexts from this area and, to our knowledge, this is the first occurrence of galena in coastal Georgia. Mound construction methods resemble those employed at Johns and Marys mounds, two roughly contemporary mortuary sites on St. Catherines Island"--P. 4.Item The archaeology of Hidden Cave, Nevada. Anthropological papers of the AMNH ; v. 61, pt. 1(New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1985) Thomas, David Hurst.; Bernstein, Nancy K.; Davis, Jonathan O. (Jonathan Ogden).; Goodman, Stacy.; Grayson, Donald K.; Hatoff, Brian.; Hattori, Eugene Mitsuru.; Hughes, Richard E. (Richard Edward), 1947-; Ingbar, Eric.; Jackson, Robert.; Kelly, Robert L.; Larsen, Clark Spencer.; Loy, Thomas.; Mead, Jim I.; Mehringer, Peter J.; Pendleton, Lorann S. A.; Peter, Debra.; Smith, Gerald R.; Wigand, Peter.Item The Archaeology of Mission Santa Catalina de Guale. 2, Biocultural interpretations of a population in transition. Anthropological papers of the AMNH ; no. 68(New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, 1990) Larsen, Clark Spencer.; Choi, Inui.; Fresia, Anne E.; Hutchinson, Dale L.; Lee-Thorp, Julia.; Moore, Katherine.; Powell, Mary Lucas.; Ruff, Christopher.; Russell, Katherine F.; Schoeninger, Margaret J.; Simpson, Scott W.; Thomas, David Hurst.Item The archaeology of Monitor Valley. 3, Survey and additional excavations. Anthropological papers of the AMNH ; v. 66, pt. 2(New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1988) Thomas, David Hurst.; Bierwirth, Susan L.; Grayson, Donald K.; Kautz, Robert R.; Kelly, Robert L.; Larsen, Clark Spencer.; Melhorn, Wilton N.; Thomas, Trudy.; Trexler, Dennis T.Item Bioarchaeology of the late prehistoric Guale : South End Mound I, St. Catherines Island, Georgia. Anthropological papers of the AMNH ; no.84([New York] : American Museum of Natural History, 2002) Larsen, Clark Spencer.; Creekmore, Andrew.; Hutchinson, Dale L.; Joyce, Caroline.; Legge, Scott S.; McNeil, Jessica.; Moore, Elizabeth.; Papathanasiou, Anastasia.; Reitz, Elizabeth Jean.; Schmidt, Christopher W.; Schoeninger, Margaret J.; Sering, Leslie E.; Sullivan, Amy.; Thomas, David Hurst.; Townsend, Randy R.; Weinand, Daniel C.; Moore, Clarence B. (Clarence Bloomfield), 1852-1936."South End Mound I is one of more than 50 mortuary sites (mostly burial mounds) excavated by Clarence Bloomfield Moore (1897) during his five-month expedition to the Georgia coast, and it is one of seven mounds he described on St. Catherines Island. The mound was subsequently tested by Larsen and Thomas (1986), who reported on a small sample of fragmentary human remains left at the site by Moore. This monograph reports on human remains recovered from a large-scale excavation undertaken by Larsen. This excavation revealed that Moore disturbed skeletal remains, but these remains were left in the general location of their original discovery. Our conjoining of fragmentary bones and teeth allowed identification of 26 of the 50 skeletons encountered by Moore. Importantly, this sample provides the only late prehistoric (Irene period) skeletal series from St. Catherines Island, allowing for the first time temporal comparisons with both earlier prehistoric populations (e.g., Johns Mound) and later historic populations (Santa Catalina de Guale) from the island. Analysis of faunal remains and stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen indicates that the population consumed a variety of terrestrial and marine fauna, along with significant amounts of maize in diet. Analysis of dental caries prevalence is consistent with this reconstruction. In addition, presence of skeletal infections indicates poorer health in general relative to prehistoric St. Catherines Islanders. At least some of the periosteal reactions displayed on tibiae reflect treponematosis (nonvenereal syphilis). The overall pattern of health is strikingly similar to contemporary late prehistoric populations from the Georgia coast in particular and to the Eastern Woodlands of North America in general. Lastly, study of body size and postcranial skeletal morphology indicates a similar pattern of activity and lifestyle as for other groups from the Georgia Bight during the late prehistoric era. Overall, this bioarchaeological analysis reveals that the shift from a foraging lifeway to one that incorporated maize agriculture likely had a profound impact on health and lifestyle"--P. 5.Item Bioarchaeology of the Stillwater Marsh : prehistoric human adaptation in the western Great Basin. Anthropological papers of the AMNH ; no. 77(New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, 1995) Larsen, Clark Spencer.; Kelly, Robert L.; Bettinger, Robert L.; Hutchinson, Dale L.; Kaestle, Frederika A.; Lambert, Joanna E.; Rolfs, Becky K.; Ruff, Christopher.; Russell, Katherine F.; Schoeninger, Margaret J.; Smith, David Glenn.; Carson-Stillwater Archaeological Project.Item Native American landscapes of St. Catherines Island, Georgia. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 88)(2008) Thomas, David Hurst.; Andrus, C. Fred T.; Bishop, Gale A.; Blair, Elliot, 1981-; Blanton, Dennis B.; Crowe, Douglas E. (Douglas Edward); DePratter, Chester B.; Dukes, Joel.; Francis, Peter, Jr.; Guerrero, Debra.; Hayes, Royce H.; Kick, Maureen.; Larsen, Clark Spencer.; Licate, Camille.; Linsley, David M.; May, J. Alan.; McNeil, Jessica.; O'Brien, Deborah Mayer.; Paulk, Greg.; Pendleton, Lorann S. A.; Reitz, Elizabeth Jean, 1946-; Rollins, Harold B., 1939-; Russo, Michael, 1953-; Sanger, Matthew C., 1976-; Saunders, Rebecca, 1955-; Semon, Anna.Four deceptively simple questions have guided our long-term research into the aboriginal lifeways of St. Catherines Island: 1. How and why did the human landscape (settlement patterns and land use) change through time? 2. To what extent were subsistence and settlement patterns shaped by human population increase, intensification, and competition for resources? 3. What factors can account for the emergence of social inequality in Georgia's Sea Islands? 4. Can systematically collected archaeological evidence resolve the conflicting ethno-historic interpretations of the aboriginal Georgia coast (the so-called 'Guale problem')? Over a span of four decades, the American Museum of Natural History has addressed these four fundamental questions using a broad array of field and analytical techniques. We conducted a 20 percent probabilistic transect survey of St. Catherines Island, walking and probing for buried sites across a series of 31 east-west transects, each 100 m wide. During this initial survey we located 122 archaeological sites, which we tested with more than 400 one-meter by one-meter units. Because the transect sampling was heavily biased toward sites with marine shell, we also conducted a systematic shovel testing program. We also augmented these systematic surveys with a direct shoreline reconnaissance (mostly following the late Holocene surfaces), recording roughly 84 additional shoreline sites on St. Catherines Island. By plotting the distribution of these known-age sites across the Holocene beach ridges, we have developed a detailed sequence documenting the progradation and erosion of beach ridge complexes adjacent to tidal estuaries and oceanward shorelines on the island. To evaluate the results of the 1000+ test explorations and excavations on St. Catherines Island, we have processed 251 radiocarbon determinations, including two dozen dates on 'modern' mollusks (known-age specimens collected prior to atomic bomb contamination) to compute a 'reservoir' correction factor specific to the estuaries around St. Catherines Island (of [Delta]R = -134 [+ or -] 26). The results have been compiled into a dataset of 239 radiocarbon determinations for samples from St. Catherines Island. One hundred and ten of these dates (from 31 distinct mortuary and midden sites) could be directly associated with datable ceramic assemblages, which were classified according to Chester DePratter's (1979, 1991) Northern Georgia Coast chronology .By comparing the results of typological classification with the radiocarbon evidence currently available from St. Catherines Island, we propose a slightly modified ceramic chronology for St. Catherines Island. We analyzed the seasonal growth increments in modern hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) for a 9-year interval (beginning in 1975). Mercenaria suitable for seasonal analysis were recovered from nearly 85 percent (110 of 130) of the sites identified and sampled in the island wide survey. We analyzed about 2000 individual hard clam shells recovered from these shell middens and, of these, 1771 individual specimens (or fragments) provided usable growth increment estimates, enabling us to address seasonal patterns during the 5000 years of human history. This study is reinforced by an oxygen isotope study of modern and ancient clams from St. Catherines Island. This transect survey produced an extensive and diverse set of vertebrate faunal remains collected systematically from archaeological sites tested across the entire island. Elizabeth Reitz and her colleagues analyzed this vertebrate faunal assemblage, which contains at least 586 individuals represented by 14,970 vertebrate specimens weighing 21,615 g. These materials provide a solid basis for refining hypotheses not only for St. Catherines Island, but for most coastal locations. With the exception of the first and last occupations (the St. Simons and Altamaha periods), the samples suggest a stable pattern of resource use through time, with little variation through time or across space (although the small sample sizes for each time period and circumscribed geographical setting might constrain this interpretation). She also notes the presence of numerous seasonal indicators in the vertebrate zoo archaeological samples recovered from archaeological sites on St. Catherines Island--including unshed deer antlers, juvenile deer dentition, and shark and sea catfish remains. But we also recognized the importance of examining diverse sources of seasonal information in our attempt to flesh out overall patterns of site utilization. We also include analysis of the vertebrate zooarchaeological assemblages from Meeting House Field and Fallen Tree, two additional sites intensively investigated by the American Museum of Natural History and the University of Georgia. The intensive program of mortuary archaeology has recovered the remains of more than 725 individuals from 18 archaeological sites on St. Catherines Island. More than 90 percent of these remains were analyzed by Clark Spencer Larsen and his colleagues, using a variety of microscopic, biomechanical, and stable isotopic techniques. In this monograph, we address the archaeology of St. Catherines Island using the broad- based theoretical approach known as optimal foraging theory, which is grounded in the more general paradigm of human behavioral ecology (that studies human behavior by applying the principles of natural selection within an ecological context). The broad rubric of 'optimal foraging theory' encompasses a broad range of specific models, each of which employs a unique set of simplifying assumptions and constraints, and each can be used to derive testable hypotheses about foraging behavior under certain environmental circumstances. Each model is a formal, mathematical construct and they share the key assumption that during 'economic' pursuits, the forager will operate to maximize the overall rate of energetic return. Specifically, we have employed three basic models to address the archaeology of St. Catherines Island. The diet-breadth (or prey choice) model addresses the issue of which foods should an efficient forager harvest from all those available on St. Catherines Island. Diet-breadth models predict that foragers will optimize the time spent capturing prey, and employ the simplifying assumptions that all resources are randomly distributed (without patches) and that 'capture/handling' and 'search' times represent the sum total of all time spent foraging. We also apply the patch choice model, which, combined with the central limit theorem, predicts that foraging effort will correlate directly with efficiency rank order, meaning that foragers should spend more time working the higher-ranked patches and less time in patches with lower energetic potential. Finally, we likewise employ the central place foraging model to investigate the time/energy spent processing resources at temporary camps before transport to a residential base. We find central place foraging theory to be useful for addressing the role and location of the residential base as a locus for provisioning offspring and mates or potential mates. This monograph also reports the results of optimal foraging experiments conducted over a 2-year period on St. Catherines Island, specifically addressing procurement and return rates for key marine and terrestrial resources that would have been available to aboriginal foragers on St. Catherines Island.Item Rich man, poor men : observations on three antebellum burials from the Georgia coast. Anthropological papers of the AMNH ; v. 54, pt. 3(New York : [American Museum of Natural History], 1977) Thomas, David Hurst.; South, Stanley A.; Larsen, Clark Spencer.