Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2246/6

The Anthropological Papers, published continuously since 1907, are monographic volumes that include some of the great ethnographies of the 20th century, particularly on North American Indians. Several illustrious anthropologists published their work in the Anthropological Papers, as well as many past and present curators of the AMNH Division of Anthropology. Prior to 1930, large special reports were published in the Memoirs.

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Open Access
Defining the Central Mountains Archaic : Great Basin natural and cultural biographies : the archaeology of Monitor Valley, contribution 5 (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, number 106)
(American Museum of Natural History., 2024-11-22) Thomas, David Hurst.; Canaday, Timothy W.; Layton, Thomas N.; Millar, Constance I.; Pendleton, Lorann S. A.; Robinson, Erick.; Rogers, Alexander K.; Semon, Anna M.
This second volume of the Alta Toquima trilogy situates Monitor Valley archaeology within the Central Mountains Archaic, introduced here as a taxonomic equivalent to the better-known Lovelock culture, Fremont complex, and the Virgin Branch of Ancestral Puebloans. This analysis integrates Monitor Valley into the broader Intermountain West using seven multiscalar time slices that address paleoclimatic and cultural change from the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene (pre-7000 cal b.c.) through the Little Ice Age (cal a.d. 1350–1800). This overview establishes that the loglinear relationships between two independent cultural proxies (nearly 5000 cultural radiocarbon dates and more than 47,000 time-sensitive projectile points) are highly correlated (r = 0.988) and relevant for explicating region-by-region demographic change. We hypothesize that the Intermountain West achieved (or exceeded) exponential growth throughout more than 90% of the 13 millennia spanning Paleoindian colonization through Euro-American contact. During two notable exceptions—the Late Holocene Dry Period (850 cal b.c.–cal a.d. 100) and the late 13th-century drought—human population growth fell below exponential expectations. The Late Holocene Dry Period (LHDP) was a pivotal climatic event that varied in geographic range, duration, and intensity. The 42°–40° N dipole hypothesis holds that persistent La Niña-like climatic conditions resulted in an anomalously moist northern Great Basin and exceptionally arid southwestern Great Basin, separated by an undulating dipole transition between 42° and 40° north latitude. Human demography plummeted below exponential expectations as foragers abandoned almost all settlements south of the 42°–40° N dipole, marking an intensification that shifted away from “man caves” and logistical bighorn hunting to extended family bands who created the first alpine residences at Alta Toquima. The high-elevation settlements were occupied only during the driest of the short-term xeric-mesic cycles during (and after) the LHDP. In wetter times, the alpine houses were abandoned in favor of repurposed man caves and other subalpine base camps. These syncopated intensifications began a full millennium before the arrival of bow technology into the Central Mountains Archaic. The other exception to exponential growth was the tumultuous late 13th-century drought, when the Fremont complex dissolved after a dozen centuries of farming, the Lovelock culture disappeared, and the Virgin Branch of Ancestral Puebloans collapsed—all part of the far-reaching demographic decline in the American Southwest and elsewhere across interior North America. In the aftermath of these fundamental economic shifts, changing social landscapes, and human migrations, the Little Ice Age returned to exponential growth during the challenges and windfalls for Shoshonean communities of the Intermountain West. This volume proposes and tests multiple hypotheses addressing the deep natural and cultural histories of the Intermountain West. Resilience theory proves to be an important tool in unraveling relationships between abrupt climatic and behavioral adjustments, human paleogeography, piñon pine processing, multiple meanings of abandonment, adaptation to lacustrine and desert-mountain mosaics, and shifting landscapes of ritualized practice.
Open Access
Obsidian projectile point conveyance patterns in the lower Humboldt Valley, Nevada (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, number 105)
(American Museum of Natural History., 2022-12-14) Hughes, Richard E. (Richard Edward), 1947-
Despite their ubiquity, surface occurrences of obsidian artifacts at archaeological sites throughout western North America have traditionally been viewed as unworthy of serious attention because of the difficulty in dating them. In the past 40 years, the time sensitivity of certain Great Basin projectile point types has been established, which brings the importance of surface collections more center stage. With the coming of age and refinement of geochemical methods, obsidian artifacts from these surface sites can now be analyzed using nondestructive instrumental methods and matched to their geological eruptive origin on the basis of congruence in trace and rare earth element chemistry. Many of these surface assemblages in the Great Basin contain considerable numbers of obsidian projectile points that, when matched to their chemical source of origin, open up entirely new ways to investigate change and continuity in past land use and social relations. The present study was conducted in the lower Humboldt Valley of western Nevada, where large numbers of obsidian projectile points have been collected by professional archaeologists over the past century and housed in academic institutions and museums. In this study, more than 900 obsidian projectile points and bifaces were analyzed from 24 sites and localities within the lower Humboldt Valley using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) to bring data to bear on the question of whether changes in obsidian source use occurred there over the past 5000 years (as determined by time-sensitive projectile points). Significant changes were identified in the direction and distance-to-source of arrow points vs. dart points, and in the source and direction of Humboldt series points and of Humboldt Basal-notched bifaces, which implicate directional shifts through time in social relations among peoples using—and during some periods living at sites in—the lower Humboldt Valley. These results provide independent data to evaluate current views about land use, artifact conveyance, social relations, and technological change in the western Great Basin and beyond.
Open Access
Alpine archaeology of Alta Toquima and the Mt. Jefferson Tablelands (Nevada) : the archaeology of Monitor Valley, contribution 4. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, number 104)
(American Museum of Natural History., 2020-12-17) Thomas, David Hurst; Bean, Jessica R.; Burns, Gregory R.; Canaday, Timothy W.; Charlet, David Alan, 1953-; Colwell, Robert K. (Robert Knight), 1943-; Culleton, Brendan; Eerkens, Jelmer W.; Freeland, Nicholas P.; Graybill, Donald A.; Grayson, Donald K.; Harper, Thomas K.; Hughes, Richard E. (Richard Edward), 1947-; Jimenez, Joseph; Kennett, Douglas J.; Millar, Constance I.; Novick, Andrea Lee; Pendleton, Lorann S. A.; Rankin, Amanda M.; Rhode, David, 1956-; Rosenthal, Jeffrey; Rovner, Irwin, 1941-; Spero, Howard J.; Stevens, Nathan (Nathan Erik)
The Central Mountains Archaic began with the arrival of foraging populations in the Intermountain West about 6000 years ago. This migration coincided with the "extremely dramatic" winter-wet event of 4350 cal b.c. and the arrival of piñon pine forests in the central Great Basin. Human foragers likely played a significant role in the rapid spread of piñon across the central and northeastern Great Basin. Logistic hunters exploited local bighorn populations, sometimes serviced by hunting camps (the "man caves" such as Gatecliff Shelter, Triple T Shelter, and several others) and they staged communal pronghorn drives at lower elevations. As climate cooled and became more moist, logistic bighorn hunting gradually shifted downslope, then apparently faded away about 1000 cal b.c. Communal pronghorn driving persisted into the historic era in the central Great Basin. This volume, the first in the Alta Toquima trilogy, describes and analyzes more than 100 alpine hunting features on the Mt. Jefferson tablelands. High-elevation, logistical bighorn hunting virtually disappeared across the central Great Basin with the onset of the Late Holocene Dry Period (about 750-850 cal b.c.), giving way to an alpine residential pattern at Alta Toquima (26NY920) and elsewhere on Mt. Jefferson. Situated at almost exactly 11,000 ft (3352 m) above sea level, Alta Toquima was sited on the south summit of Mt. Jefferson (the third-highest spot in the state of Nevada), where at least 31 residential stone structures were emplaced along this steep, east-facing slope. When first recorded in 1978, Alta Toquima was the highest American Indian village site known in the Northern Hemisphere. This volume discusses the material culture, plant macrofossils, vertebrate fauna, and radiocarbon dating for Alta Toquima. Bayesian analysis of 95 14C dates documents an initial occupation of Alta Toquima at 1370-790 cal b.c., with the sporadic settlements persisting until immediately before European contact. These alpine residences are the most dramatic examples of the intensified provisioning strategies that began in the Central Mountains Archaic about 3000 years ago, broadening the diet breadth to include plant and animal resources previously considered too costly. The oldest summertime residence at Alta Toquima correlates with the onset of Late Holocene Dry Period (LHDP) aridity (~750 cal b.c.), and these houses were episodically occupied only during the driest intervals throughout the next 1500 dramatic years of abrupt climate change. During the intervening wetter stretches, Alta Toquima was abandoned in favor of subalpine basecamps. This sequenced intensification predated the arrival of bow technology in the central Great Basin by more than a millennium. Exactly the opposite sequencing took place a few miles to the north, when Gatecliff Shelter was abandoned during LHDP aridity--precisely when the first summertime settlements appeared at Alta Toquima. This pattern reversed again when lowland habitats became sufficiently well watered to again support summertime patches of seeds and geophytes (~150 cal b.c.-cal a.d. 100). Alta Toquima families responded by abandoning (temporarily) their alpine summertime camps to repurpose former "man caves" like Gatecliff and Triple T shelters into family settlements. The Monitor Valley sequence documents several syncopated lowland-alpine, wet-dry reversals, reflecting an adaptive diversity that spanned more than two millennia. The drought terminating cal a.d. 1150 devastated much of the western Great Basin and American Southwest, but its impact was less severe in central Nevada. Although subalpine sites were again abandoned during the drought buildup that peaked in the mid-12th century, summertime occupation of Alta Toquima became more commonplace, although it increased notably during the ~cal a.d. 1200-1400 aridity and persisted throughout the Little Ice Age.
Open Access
At the vanishing point : environment and prehistoric land use in the Black Rock Desert. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, number 103)
(American Museum of Natural History., 2018-06-29) McGuire, Kelly R.; Hildebrandt, William R.; Young, D. Craig.; Colligan, Kaely.; Harold, Laura.
This volume presents the results of data recovery excavations directed at prehistoric archaeological deposits located near Sulphur Springs, along the southeastern margin of the Black Rock Desert, in Humboldt and Pershing counties, Nevada. Although 20 sites with prehistoric assemblages were identified during this project, intact spatio-temporal components were found at only seven of these sites, of which just five were the focus of intensive data recovery excavations: 26HU1830, 26HU1876, 26HU2871, 26HU3118, and 26HU5621. A total of 372 m³ of excavation by hand was directed at dateable components within these five sites. The results of this effort yielded a substantial artifact assemblage, including a variety of flaked and ground stone tools, shell and bone beads, as well as large quantities of faunal bone and debitage. Also documented were an assortment of features, including a number of small processing facilities and the remnants of several house floors. Key to this investigation was the isolation of a series of discrete temporal components. Eleven such components were identified representing six temporal intervals: Early Archaic (5700-3800 cal b.p.), Middle Archaic (ca. 3000 cal B.P.), mixed Middle/Late Archaic (3800-600 cal B.P.), Late Archaic A (1340-1165 cal B.P.), Late Archaic B (985-855 cal B.P.), as well as Late Archaic (1300-600 cal B.P.) deposits that could not be further separated into smaller units of time. It is particularly noteworthy that many of these components have very narrow time frames, in many cases smaller than the traditional Great Basin periods. The profile of projectwide time-sensitive projectile points and radiocarbon dates, coupled with a robust artifact and feature assemblage dated to narrow time frames, allows for an assessment of changes in habitation and land-use pattern with an unusual level of resolution. Prior to about 4500 years ago, occupations appear to have been sporadic, with people making brief visits to the area during periods of increased effective moisture and spring discharge associated with the Early Holocene, and largely avoiding it for more promising areas during times of drought during the Middle Holocene. Archaeological visibility increases significantly after 4500 cal B.P., including periods when substantial houses were constructed, and people supplemented the local resource base with foods and materials obtained from distant locations possessing richer concentrations of large game and obsidian toolstone. These more intensive habitations were not constant, however, and were abandoned during a major Late Holocene drought cycle that occurred between 2800 and 1500 cal B.P. Robust habitation returns during the initial Late Archaic period but is bimodal with a sudden break at about 1000 B.P., a spike at roughly 985 to 855 cal B.P., followed by another break. The settlement profile may have been in response to the drought-wet-drought cycle of the Medieval Climatic Anomaly. Along with the role of environmental change in trans-Holocene settlement structure, the large feature and artifact assemblages provide commentary on a variety of other research themes, including the rise of Middle Archaic residential stability and logistical hunting; Middle versus Late Archaic domestic/habitation patterns; local cryptocrystalline silicate (CCS) toolstone production and obsidian conveyance patterns; subsistence-settlement variation within the Late Archaic Period; and an assessment of the missing Terminal Prehistoric record within the project area and surrounding region.
Open Access
Tufa Village (Nevada) : placing the Fort Sage Drift Fence in a larger archaeological context. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 102)
(American Museum of Natural History., 2017-06-16) Young, D. Craig; Hildebrandt, William R.; Far Western Anthropological Research Group.
The Fort Sage Drift Fence is one of the largest pre-Contact rock features known in the Great Basin, and appears to date between 3700 and 1000 cal B.P. When Pendleton and Thomas (1983) first recorded the 2 km long complex, they were impressed by its sheer size and the amount of labor required to build it. This led them to hypothesize that it must have been constructed, maintained, and used by specialized groups associated with a centralized, village-based settlement system--a system that was not recognized in the archaeological record at that time. Their hypothesis turned out to be quite insightful, as subsequent analyses of faunal remains and settlement pattern data have documented the rise of logistical hunting organization linked to higher levels of settlement stability between about 4500 and 1000 cal B.P. throughout much of the Great Basin. Although Pendleton and Thomas' (1983) proposal has been borne out on a general, interregional level, it has never been evaluated with local archaeological data. This monograph remedies this situation through reporting the excavation findings from a nearby, contemporaneous house-pit village site. These findings allow us to place the drift fence within its larger settlement context, and provide additional archaeological support for the original Pendleton-Thomas hypothesis.
Open Access
Prehistory of Nevada's northern tier : archaeological investigations along the Ruby Pipeline. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 101)
(American Museum of Natural History., 2016-03-11) Hildebrandt, William R.; McGuire, Kelly R.; King, Jerome.; Ruby, Allika.; Young, D. Craig.; Rhode, David, 1956-; Rosenthal, Jeffrey.; Barker, James P. (James Patrick); Colligan, Kaely.; Bloomer, William.; Garner, Albert.; Stevens, Nathan (Nathan Erik); Ugan, Andrew.; Carpenter, Kimberley.; Brink, Laura.; Waechter, Sharon.; Hughes, Richard E. (Richard Edward), 1947-; Origer, Thomas M.; Street, Sharlyn.; Pierce, Wendy (Wendy N.); Far Western Anthropological Research Group.
The Ruby Pipeline originates in Opal, Wyoming, travels westward across Utah and Nevada, and terminates in Malin, Oregon. Almost 360 miles of the line is in Nevada, where it crosses through some of the most remote, sparsely populated land in the lower 48 states. Despite the remote nature of this corridor, it has produced a rich archaeological record reflecting a dynamic history of land-use pattern changes over a period of at least 13,000 years. Archaeological excavations were conducted at 578 prehistoric sites prior to construction of the pipeline. The sites were distributed across four ecological regions, including (from west to east): the High Rock Country, Upper Lahontan Basin, Upper Humboldt Plains, and Thousand Springs Valley. First evidence of human occupation dates to the Paleoindian (14,500-12,800 cal b.p.) and Paleoarchaic (12,800-7800 cal b.p.) periods, when people spent most of their time in the High Rock Country where important economic resources reached their highest densities. Paleoindian findings are limited to a series of Great Basin Concave Base projectile points and small obsidian flaked stone concentrations. Paleoarchaic sites are much more common, and tend to be represented by Great Basin Stemmed projectile points, bifaces, and a limited number of other flaked stone tools. Most of these assemblages reflect small groups of hunters refurbishing their tool kits as they traveled through the area. An important exception to this pattern was found at Five Mile Flat along the west end of pluvial Lake Parman where two significant habitation sites dating to 11,180 cal b.p. were discovered. One of these sites includes a house floor, which is the oldest ever found in the Great Basin. Despite the warm-dry conditions that characterized much of the middle Holocene, it appears that human populations nearly doubled during the Post-Mazama Period (7800-5700 cal b.p.). Most activity remained concentrated in the High Rock Country, but evidence for occupation begins to trickle out into the Upper Lahontan Basin and Upper Humboldt Plains regions as well. Most of the artifact assemblages remain rather narrow, often composed of Northern Side-notched and Humboldt Concave Base points, bifaces, and debitage, and reflect use of the region by mobile groups of hunters. Major changes took place with the arrival of the Early Archaic (5700-3800 cal b.p.) and continued forward into the Middle Archaic Period (3800-1300 cal b.p.). Early Archaic projectile points are largely represented by Humboldt and Gatecliff forms. It appears that population densities increased almost fourfold from the preceding interval, and all four regions experienced significant occupation for the first time. Simultaneous to this population increase and dispersal, a full complement of site types began to emerge, with large-scale residential areas becoming significant for the first time. This trend continued forward into the Middle Archaic Period where the relative frequency of residential sites almost doubled compared with the Early Archaic interval. Plant macrofossil and archaeofaunal assemblages also become more abundant and diversified at this time, probably marking a broadening of the diet breadth. This general trajectory extends into the Late Archaic (1300-600 cal b.p.) and Terminal Prehistoric periods, as people continued to expand into a wider range of habitats. This was particularly case for the latter interval, as the habitat preferences that made sense for over 12,000 years were upended, with population densities highest in the Upper Humboldt Plains and Thousand Springs Valley. This reorientation corresponds to the arrival of Numic speaking populations, especially the Western Shoshone who appear to have reached northern Nevada much earlier than the Northern Paiute, and is probably linked to a greater emphasis on small-seeded plants that are abundantly present in their territory. Although low ranked compared to many other foods, with the proper technology and work organization, small seeds could support higher population densities than was the case earlier in time. Finally, the discovery of obsidian in multiple Terminal Prehistoric sites from sources located much further away than any other time in the past may signal the earliest use of horses in northern Nevada.
Open Access
A pre-Hispanic chiefdom in Barinas, Venezuela : excavations at Gaván-complex sites. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 100)
(American Museum of Natural History., 2014-11-21) Spencer, Charles S. (Charles Sidney); Redmond, Elsa M.; Duncan, William N.; Berrizbeitia, Emily L. de.; Sifontes G., Ramón.; Schubert, Carlos, 1938-; Gassón, Rafael.; Rinaldi, Milagro.; Bonzani, Renée M., 1962-
Between 1983 and 1992, the authors conducted an archaeological project that involved five years of survey and excavation in a 450 km² study region that included portions of the high llanos (savanna grasslands) and adjacent Andean piedmont in the state of Barinas, Venezuela. Fieldwork (in 1983-1988) was followed by four years of laboratory analysis in the Departamento de Antropología at the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC) in Altos de Pipe, state of Miranda. Our project was designed to investigate whether during pre-Hispanic times the study region had witnessed the development of a chiefdom, which we defined as a regional (multivillage) polity led by a paramount chief who ruled from a regional center and presided over a chiefly administration that was centralized but not internally specialized.... Our fieldwork comprised three seasons of regional survey, during the summer months of 1983-1985, followed by two dry seasons (January-May) of excavation in 1986 and 1988. On survey we recorded a total of 103 archaeological sites in our study region that was centered on the Canaguá River valley, extending across the high llanos (savanna grasslands) and adjacent Andean piedmont. Site occupations pertained to two chronological periods: an early period dating to A.D. 300-1000 and a later period dating to A.D. 1000-1850, taking our coverage into the early historic period. We called the earlier of these occupations on the high llanos the Gaván complex, divided into the Early Gaván phase (A.D. 300-550) and the Late Gavaán phase (A.D. 550-1000), the latter of which exhibited many of the characteristics consistent with the expected archaeological manifestations of a chiefly society. There was convincing evidence of a regional hierarchy....
Open Access
Ecology and behavior of Lemur fulvus mayottensis (Primates, Lemuriformes). Anthropological papers of the AMNH ; v. 54, pt. 4
(American Museum of Natural History., 1977) Tattersall, Ian.
Lemur Fulvus mayottensis is unique to the island of Mayotte, one of the Congo group. It quite closely resembles L. fulvus, from which it is probably derived, but is characterized by an enormous variability in pelage coloration. Between January and May 1975, more than 500 hours of quantifiable (time-sampled) field observations were accumulated on this island subspecies.
Open Access
Panoan languages and linguistics. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 99)
(American Museum of Natural History., 2013-10-10) Fleck, David W. (David William), 1969-
Knowledge of Panoan languages and linguistics has increased significantly over the last several decades. The present paper draws upon this new information to produce a current internal classification of all the extant and extinct languages in the Panoan family based on lexical, phonological, and grammatical comparisons. This classification pays special attention to distinguishing dialects from independent languages and to mismatches that exist between linguistically defined languages and socially defined ethnic groups. An evaluation of previously proposed genetic relations to other language families is followed by a discussion of lexical borrowing and possible areal diffusion of grammatical features from and into neighboring non-Panoan languages and Kechua. The history of Panoan linguistics is chronicled from the first Jesuit and Franciscan vocabularies to the most recent contributions, and priorities for future research are suggested. A typological overview of Panoan phonology, morphology, and syntax is provided along with descriptions of some of the extraordinary linguistic features found in the family. Name taboos, postmortem word taboos, in-law avoidance languages, trade languages, ceremonial languages, and other ethnolinguistic phenomena found in the Panoan family are also discussed.
Open Access
Life among the tides : recent archaeology on the Georgia Bight : proceedings of the Sixth Caldwell Conference, St. Catherines Island, Georgia, May 20-22, 2011. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 98)
(American Museum of Natural History., 2013-06-14) Thomas, David Hurst.; Thompson, Victor D.; Alexander, Clark R. (Clark Raymond), 1960-; Ashley, Keith H.; Blair, Elliot, 1981-; Cordell, Ann S.; Deagan, Kathleen A.; DePratter, Chester B.; Fitzpatrick, Scott M.; Garrison, Ervan G.; Hayes, Royce H.; Jefferies, Richard W.; Keene, Deborah Ann.; Mahar, Ginessa J.; Marrinan, Rochelle A.; Moore, Christopher R.; Napolitano, Matthew F.; Parsons, Alexandra L.; Rolland, Vicki L.; Sanger, Matthew C., 1976-; Sipe, Ryan O.; Thompson, Amanda D. Roberts.; Thunen, Robert L.; Turck, John A.; Wallis, Neill J.; Whitley, Thomas G.; American Museum of Natural History.; Saint Catherines Island Foundation.; Caldwell Conference (6th : 2011 : Saint Catherines Island, Ga.)
Although this volume covers a broad range of temporal and methodological topics, the chapters are unified by a geographic focus on the archaeology of the Georgia Bight. The various research projects span multiple time periods (including Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian, and contact periods) and many incorporate specialized analyses (such as petrographic point counting, shallow geophysics, and so forth). The 26 contributors conducting this cutting-edge work represent the full spectrum of the archaeological community, including museum, academic, student, and contract archaeologists. Despite the diversity in professional and theoretical backgrounds, temporal periods examined, and methodological approaches pursued, the volume is unified by four distinct, yet interrelated, themes. Contributions in Part I discuss a range of analytical approaches for understanding time, exchange, and site layout. Chapters in Part II model coastal landscapes from both environmental and social perspectives. The third section addresses site-specific studies of late prehistoric architecture and village layout throughout the Georgia Bight. Part IV presents new and ongoing research into the Spanish mission period of this area. These papers were initially presented and discussed at the Sixth Caldwell Conference, cosponsored by the American Museum of Natural History and the St. Catherines Island Foundation, held on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, May 20-22, 2011. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Revising the ¹⁴C reservoir correction for St. Catherines Island, Georgia / David Hurst Thomas, Matthew C. Sanger, and Royce H. Hayes -- An assessment of coastal faunal data from Georgia and northeast Florida / Alexandra L. Parsons and Rochelle A. Marrinan -- Archaeological geophysics on St. Catherines Island : beyond prospection / Ginessa J. Mahar -- Paste variability and clay resource utilization at the Fountain of Youth site, St. Augustine, 8SJ31 / Ann S. Cordell and Kathleen A. Deagan -- Petrographic analysis of pottery and clay samples from the Georgia Bight : evidence of regional social interactions / Neill J. Wallis and Ann S. Cordell -- Past shorelines of the Georgia coast / Chester B. DePratter and Victor D. Thompson -- Coastal landscapes and their relationship to human settlement on the Georgia coast / John A. Turck and Clark R. Alexander -- The role of small islands in foraging economies of St. Catherines Island / Matthew F. Napolitano -- Ever-shifting landscapes : tracking changing spatial usage along coastal Georgia / Matthew C. Sanger -- A paleoeconomic model of the Georgia coast (4500-300 B.P.) / Thomas G. Whitley -- A survey of Irene phase architecture on the Georgia coast / Deborah A. Keene and Ervan G. Garrison -- Life and death on the Ogeechee : a view from the Redbird Creek village / Ryan O. Sipe -- Mission San Joseph de Sapala : mission-period archaeological research on Sapelo Island / Richard W. Jefferies and Christopher R. Moore -- The Guale landscape of Mission Santa Catalina de Guale : 30 years of geophysics at a Spanish colonial mission / Elliot H. Blair -- Missions San Buenaventura and Santa Cruz de Guadalquini : retreat from the Georgia coast / Keith H. Ashley, Vicki L. Rolland, and Robert L. Thunen -- Entangling events : the Guale coastal landscape and the Spanish missions / Victor D. Thompson, John A. Turck, Amanda D. Roberts Thompson, and Chester B. DePratter -- Island and coastal archaeology on the Georgia Bight / Scott M. Fitzpatrick.
Open Access
Seasonality and human mobility along the Georgia Bight : proceedings of the Fifth Caldwell Conference, St. Catherines Island, Georgia, May 14-16, 2010. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 97)
(American Museum of Natural History., 2012-03-06) Reitz, Elizabeth Jean, 1946-; Quitmyer, Irvy R.; Thomas, David Hurst.; Andrus, C. Fred T., 1967-; Bergh, Sarah G.; Cannarozzi, Nicole R.; Carroll, Gwendolyn Denise.; Colaninno, Carol E.; Culleton, Brendan.; DePratter, Chester B.; Hollenbach, Kandace D.; Jones, Douglas S.; Keene, Deborah Ann.; Kennett, Douglas J.; Lambert, Charles W.; Moak, J. W.; Saul, Bruce M.; Scarry, C. Margaret.; Waselkov, Gregory A.; Wing, Elizabeth S.; American Museum of Natural History.; Saint Catherines Island Foundation.; Caldwell Conference (5th : 2010 : Saint Catherines Island, Ga.)
Some of the most enduring and fundamental questions in archaeology relate to site seasonality. During which seasons did people occupy coastal archaeological sites? Why is "seasonality" important to our understanding of human behavior? What does this knowledge tell us about life in dynamic estuarine systems? What methods and technologies are available to address key issues of seasonality? Archaeological seasonality is uniquely linked to settlement patterns, resource availability, environmental relationships, anthropogenesis, landscapes, and social complexity. Archaeologists working in coastal settings typically recover multiple biological proxies that are well suited to explicating questions of human seasonal behavior. The Fifth Caldwell Conference was convened to discuss and report on practiced methods for reading the seasonality record found in common biological proxies. These researchers spoke of how they are applying various methods grounded in the natural sciences to estimate seasonality with particular reference to the archaeology of St. Catherines Island and the Georgia Bight. These methods include stable isotope analysis, ¹⁴C dating, longitudinal studies of animals (molluscs and fishes), zooarchaeology, and archaeobotany. The research shows that all plant and animal remains found in a midden contain a record of human behavior. The authors of these 13 chapters agree that multiple indicators of site seasonality provide the most robust picture of the annual settlement cycle. These papers were initially presented at the Fifth Caldwell Conference, cosponsored by the American Museum of Natural History and the St. Catherines Island Foundation, held on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, May 14-16, 2010. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Seasonality and mobility on the Georgia Bight : why should we care? / David Hurst Thomas -- A Bayesian chronological framework for determining site seasonality and contemporaneity / Douglas J. Kennett and Brendan J. Culleton -- Interpreting seasonality from modern and archaeological fishes on the Georgia coast / Elizabeth J. Reitz, Bruce M. Saul, J.W. Moak, Gwendolyn D. Carroll, and Charles W. Lambert -- Evaluating [delta]¹⁸O profiles of hardhead catfish and Atlantic croaker otoliths as a method of determining seasonal use of fishes / Carol E. Colaninno -- Late prehistoric settlement patterns : zooarchaeological evidence from Back Creek Village, St. Catherines Island / Sarah G. Bergh -- Molluscs as oxygen-isotope season-of-capture proxies in southeastern United States archaeology / C. Fred T. Andrus -- Annual incremental shell growth patterns in hard clams (Mercenaria spp.) from St. Catherines Island, Georgia : a record of seasonal and anthropogenic impact on zooarchaeological resources / Irvy R. Quitmyer and Douglas S. Jones -- Validation of annual shell increments and shifting population dynamics in modern and zooarchaeological hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) from the Litchfield Beach region, South Carolina / Douglas S. Jones, Irvy R. Quitmyer, and Chester B. DePratter -- Reevaluating the use of impressed odostome (Boonea impressa) as a season of capture indicator for oysters / Deborah Ann Keene -- Estimating the season of harvest of the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) from the St. Catherines Shell Ring / Nicole R. Cannarozzi -- What can plants and plant data tell us about seasonality? / C. Margaret Scarry and Kandace D. Hollenbach -- Making a case for coastal subsistence seasonality / Gregory A. Waselkov -- Discussion / Elizabeth S. Wing.
Open Access
The Huánuco Pampa Archaeological Project. Volume 1, The plaza and palace complex. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 96)
(American Museum of Natural History., 2011-11-02) Morris, Craig, 1939-2006.; Covey, R. Alan, 1974-; Stein, Pat H.
This volume represents the first in a series of publications detailing the archaeological research conducted by Craig Morris and his colleagues at Huánuco Pampa, an Inka provincial administrative center located in highland Peru. The site offers a unique opportunity to study Inka urbanism, and the present publication discusses the form and function of Inka cities, as well as the extent to which the Andean urban form could be coopted by the Spanish empire after the conquest of the Inkas. Open spaces and special state compounds were key components of Inka administrative centers, and attention is given to the archaeological remains found in and around the central plaza at Huánuco Pampa. Buildings on the plaza were probably used by local provincial groups for festive and ceremonial activities presided over by Inka officials. While the central plaza provided space for a broad provincial constituency, a series of smaller open spaces in the Zone IIB administrative palace offered more exclusive areas for encounters between provincial and Inka elites. After discussing Inka palace compounds, the archaeological focus turns to excavations inside structures and in exterior spaces in the palace, revealing patterns of access and degrees of status in the transit from accessible administrative spaces to restricted residential ones. An appendix to the volume provides a detailed description of the analysis of ceramic artifacts from excavations at Huánuco Pampa. CONTENTS: Introduction : Reconstructing Inka urbanism and provincial administration -- Interdisciplinary perspectives on the Inka city -- Inka central plazas -- The colonial occupation of the central plaza at Huánuco Pampa -- Form and function of Inka palace complexes -- An administrative palace at Huánuco Pampa -- Building summaries from Zone IIB-1 -- Building summaries from Zone IIB-2a -- Building summaries from Zone IIB-2b and IIB-2c -- Building summaries from Zone IIB-3 -- Building summaries from Zone IIB-4 -- Comparing plaza spaces at Huánuco Pampa -- References -- Appendix : The ceramics of Huánuco Pampa.
Open Access
Murder and martyrdom in Spanish Florida : Don Juan and the Guale uprising of 1597. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 95)
(American Museum of Natural History., 2011-08-03) Francis, J. Michael (John Michael); Kole, Kathleen M., 1984-; Thomas, David Hurst.
In the late fall of 1597, Guale Indians murdered five Franciscan friars stationed in their territory and razed their missions to the ground. The 1597 Guale Uprising, or Juanillo's Revolt as it is often called, brought the missionization of Guale to an abrupt end and threatened Florida's new governor with the most significant crisis of his term. To date, interpretations of the uprising emphasize the primacy of a young Indian from Tolomato named Juanillo, the heir to Guale's paramount chieftaincy. According to most versions of the uprising story, Tolomato's resident friar publicly reprimanded Juanillo for practicing polygamy. In his anger, Juanillo gathered his forces and launched a series of violent assaults on all five of Guale territory's Franciscan missions, leaving all but one of the province's friars dead. Through a series of newly translated primary sources, many of which have never appeared in print, this volume presents the most comprehensive examination of the 1597 uprising and its aftermath. It seeks to move beyond the two central questions that have dominated the historiography of the uprising, namely who killed the five friars and why, neither of which can be answered with any certainty. Instead, this work aims to use the episode as the background for a detailed examination of Spanish Florida at the turn of the 17th century. Viewed collectively, these sources not only challenge current representations of the uprising, they also shed light on the complex nature of Spanish-Indian relations in early colonial Florida.
Open Access
Geoarchaeology of St. Catherines Island, Georgia : proceedings of the Fourth Caldwell Conference, St. Catherines Island, Georgia, March 27-29, 2009. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 94)
(American Museum of Natural History., 2011) Bishop, Gale A.; Rollins, Harold B., 1939-; Thomas, David Hurst.; Beratan, Kathi K., 1957-; Booth, Robert K.; Camann, Eleanor J.; Chowns, T. M.; Keith-Lucas, Timothy.; Martin, Anthony J.; Meyer, Brian K.; Pirkle, Fredric L.; Pirkle, William A.; Potter, Donald B., 1923-; Pottinger, James E.; Prezant, Robert S.; Rich, Fredrick J.; Rindsberg, Andrew K.; Sanger, Matthew C., 1976-; Stahlman, Patty A.; Toll, Ronald Bruce, 1955-; Vance, Regina K.; Vega, Anthony J.; Vento, F. J.; American Museum of Natural History.; Saint Catherines Island Foundation.; Caldwell Conference (4th : 2009 : Saint Catherines Island, Ga.)
This edited volume addresses the geoarchaeology of St. Catherines Island (Georgia). The field of geoarchaeology has typically been defined as either geology pursued within an archaeological framework or (sometimes the reverse) as archaeology framed with the help of geological methodology. Either way, the formalized objectives of geoarchaeology define a broad range of pursuits, from placing archaeological sites into relative and absolute temporal context through the application of stratigraphic principles and absolute dating techniques, to understanding the natural processes of site formation, to reconstructing the landscapes that existed around a site or group of sites at the time of occupation. The editors of this volume have generally followed the lead of G.R. Rapp and C.L. Hill (2006, Geoarchaeology : the earth-science approach to archaeological interpretation) by stressing the importance of multiple viewpoints and methodologies in applying geoscience techniques to evaluate the archaeological record. In the broadest sense, then, Geoarchaeology of St. Catherines Island applies multiple earth science concepts, techniques, or knowledge bases to the known archaeological record and the processes that created that record. This volume consists of 16 papers presenting the newest research on the stratigraphic and geomorphological evolution of the St. Catherines Island landscape. Of particular interest are presentations addressing the relative timing and nature of sedimentation, paleobiology, sea level change, stream capture, hydrology, and erosional patterning evident on St. Catherines Island (and to some degree the rest of the Georgia Bight). These papers were initially presented at the Fourth Caldwell Conference, cosponsored by the American Museum of Natural History and the St. Catherines Island Foundation, held on St. Catherines Island (Georgia), March 27-29, 2009. Table of contents: Why this archaeologist cares about geoarchaeology : some pasts and futures of St. Catherines Island / David Hurst Thomas -- Evolution of late Pleistocene-Holocene climates and environments of St. Catherines Island and the Georgia Bight / Fredrick J. Rich, Anthony Vega, and Frank J. Vento -- Geoarchaeological research at St. Catherines Island : defining the geological foundation / Gale A. Bishop, Brian K. Meyer, R. Kelly Vance, and Fredrick J. Rich -- Development of a late Pleistocene-Holocene genetic stratigraphic framework for St. Catherines Island : archaeological implications / Frank J. Vento and Patty A. Stahlman -- Ichnological diagnosis of ancient storm-washover fans, Yellow Banks Bluff, St. Catherines Island / Anthony J. Martin and Andrew K. Rindsberg -- Quaternary vegetation and depositional history of St. Catherines Island / Fredrick J. Rich and Robert K. Booth -- Recent shoreline erosion and vertical accretion patterns, St. Catherines Island / Donald B. Potter Jr. -- Role of storm events in beach ridge formation, St. Catherines Island / Harold B. Rollins, Kathi Beratan, and James E. Pottinger -- Drainage changes at Ossabaw, St. Catherines, and Sapelo sounds and their influence on island morphology and spit building on St. Catherines Island / Timothy M. Chowns -- Vibracores and vibracore transects : constraining the geological and cultural history of St. Catherines Island / Gale A. Bishop, David Hurst Thomas, Matthew C. Sanger, Brian K. Meyer, R. Kelly Vance, Robert K. Booth, Fredrick J. Rich, Donald B. Potter, and Timothy Keith-Lucas -- Application of ground penetrating radar to investigations of the stratigraphy, structure, and hydrology of St. Catherines Island / R. Kelly Vance, Gale A. Bishop, Fredrick J. Rich, Brian K. Meyer, and Eleanor J. Camann -- Postsettlement dispersal and dynamic repopulation of estuarine habitats by adult Mercenaria mercenaria, St. Catherines Island / Robert S. Prezant, Harold B. Rollins, and Ronald B. Toll -- The foundation for sea turtle geoarchaeology and zooarchaeology : morphology of recent and ancient sea turtle nests, St. Catherines Island, Georgia, and Cretaceous Fox Hills Sandstone, Elbert County, Colorado / Gale A. Bishop, Fredric L. Pirkle, Brian K. Meyer, and William A. Pirkle -- Sea turtle habitat deterioration on St. Catherines Island : defining the modern transgression / Gale A. Bishop and Brian K. Meyer -- Modeling indigenous hunting and harvesting of sea turtles and their eggs on the Georgia Coast / Gale A. Bishop, David Hurst Thomas, and Brian K. Meyer -- Geomorphology, sea level, and marine resources : St. Catherines Island / Harold B. Rollins and David Hurst Thomas -- Appendix 1. Noncultural radiocarbon record from St. Catherines Island : a compendium -- Appendix 2. Vibracore record from St. Catherines Island : a compendium.
Open Access
Trend, tradition, and turmoil : what happened to the southeastern Archaic? : proceedings of the Third Caldwell Conference, St. Catherines Island, Georgia, May 9-11, 2008. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 93)
(American Museum of Natural History., 2010) Thomas, David Hurst.; Sanger, Matthew C., 1976-; Anderson, David G., 1949-; DePratter, Chester B.; Gibson, Jon L.; Kidder, Tristram R.; Marquardt, William H.; Marrinan, Rochelle A.; Russo, Michael, 1953-; Sassaman, Kenneth E.; Saunders, Joe.; Saunders, Rebecca, 1955-; Schwadron, Margo.; Thompson, Victor D.; American Museum of Natural History.; Saint Catherines Island Foundation.; Caldwell Conference (3rd : 2008 : Saint Catherines Island, Ga.)
The late Archaic of the American Southeast is typically described as a time of population growth, innovative developments in subsistence strategies, and increased social complexity. Although it is difficult to generalize, many early Woodland communities are characterized as relatively small scale, fairly mobile foragers organized into unranked or minimally ranked lineages and clans. Early Woodland groups also seem to be more socially isolated than their late Archaic predecessors, with a decline in regional exchange networks. The papers in this volume were presented at a conference entitled "What Happened in the Late Archaic?" which was co-sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History and the St. Catherines Island Foundation and held on St. Catherines Island (Georgia), May 9-11, 2008. The Third Caldwell Conference invited the participants to engage the appropriate archaeological data from the American Southeast, specifically addressing the nature of change during the late Archaic-early Woodland transition. This volume consists of a dozen substantive papers, followed by three discussant contributions. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Trend, tradition, and transition at the end of the Archaic / Tristram R. Kidder -- "Nothing but the river's flood" : late Archaic diaspora or disengagement in the lower Mississippi Valley and southeastern North America / Jon L. Gibson -- The two rings of St. Catherines Island : some preliminary results from the St. Catherines and McQueen shell rings / Matthew C. Sanger and David Hurst Thomas -- Two late Archaic period shell rings, St. Simon's Island, Georgia / Rochelle A. Marrinan -- The Archaic above Choctawhatchee Bay : hydrodynamics, adaptation, and abandonment / Rebecca Saunders -- Prehistoric landscapes of complexity : Archaic and Woodland period shell works, shell rings, and tree islands of the Everglades, South Florida / Margo Schwadron -- Shell rings and other settlement features as indicators of cultural continuity between the late Archaic and Woodland periods of coastal Florida / Michael Russo -- "What happened to the southeastern Archaic?" : a perspective from St. Catherines Island / David Hurst Thomas -- Leaving the rings : shell ring abandonment and the end of the late Archaic / Matthew C. Sanger -- The rhythms of space-time and the making of monuments and places during the Archaic / Victor D. Thompson -- Getting from the late Archaic to early Woodland in three middle valleys (those being the Savannah, St. Johns, and Tennessee) / Kenneth E. Sassaman -- Late Archaic? : what the hell happened to the middle Archaic? / Joe Saunders -- Thoughts on the late Archaic-early Woodland transition on the Georgia and South Carolina coasts / Chester B. DePratter -- Mounds, middens, and rapid climate change during the Archaic-Woodland transition in the southeastern United States / William H. Marquardt -- The end of the southeastern Archaic : regional interaction and archaeological interpretation / David G. Anderson.
Open Access
The Clements Site (41CS25) : a late 17th- to early 18th-century Nasoni Caddo settlement and cemetery. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 92)
(New York : American Museum of Natural History., 2010) Perttula, Timothy K.; Nelson, Bo.; Cast, Robert L.; Gonzalez, Bobby.; Caddo Nation of Oklahoma. Historic Preservation Program.; American Museum of Natural History.
The Clements site (41CS25) is a late 17th- to early 18th-century Nasoni Caddo settlement and cemetery on Black Bayou in the northeastern Texas Pineywoods. The site was found and excavated in about 1898 by a local landowner, who sold the collection to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in 1900. This long-forgotten collection was brought to the attention of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma as part of consultation between the Caddo and the AMNH through a Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act grant, and then studied in detail in 2004 by the Caddo and Archeological & Environmental Consultants, LLC. This report, the product of collaboration between the Caddo Nation, professional archaeologists who work with the Caddo, the AMNH, and the National Park Service, discusses the character and archaeological significance of the diverse funerary objects placed with the dead in this Nasoni Caddo cemetery. TABLE OF CONTENTS: The Clements Site and the W.T. Scott collection -- The W.T. Scott collection at the American Museum of Natural History. Ceramic vessels. Regional comparisons of Caddo vessel assemblages. Ceramic pipes. Pigment. Chipped stone knives. Ground stone tools. Freshwater mussel shells. Marine shell ornaments. Glass beads -- Summary of the collections from the Clements Site.
Open Access
Mission and Pueblo Santa Catalina de Guale, St. Catherines Island, Georgia (USA) : a comparative zooarchaeological analysis. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 91)
(New York : American Museum of Natural History., 2010) Reitz, Elizabeth Jean, 1946-; Pavao-Zuckerman, Barnet.; Weinand, Daniel C.; Duncan, Gwyneth A.; Thomas, David Hurst.
This volume considers the zooarchaeological evidence for animal use by Spaniards and the Guale people during the First Spanish period (a.d. 1565-1763) on St. Catherines Island, Georgia (USA). The focus is on a combined archaeofaunal assemblage containing 70,324 specimens and the remains of an estimated 510 vertebrate individuals associated with Mission Santa Catalina de Guale. This Spanish mission operated on the island from the 1580s until 1680 in a province known as Spanish Florida. Spanish Florida formerly encompassed portions of the present-day states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, and was the first sustained European colonial enterprise north of Mexico. For many years the rich Spanish heritage of the southeastern United States was neglected as a field of study. Spanish colonists themselves often characterized Spanish Florida as a place of poverty, neglect, and ruin. Over the last 30 years, however, archaeologists have demonstrated that this concept of the colony cannot be accurate. Instead of a poverty-stricken Spanish outpost dependent upon imported goods and institutions, archaeologists find that a complex, multiethnic community existed; one in which pre-Hispanic and Spanish traditions merged to form a new relationship with the cultural and natural environments. The study of animal remains from towns and Roman Catholic missions in Spanish Florida highlights the dynamic interchange between natives and immigrants that resulted in new subsistence patterns blending native and immigrant foodways while taking advantage of the local resource base. Instead of a single, inept, transient Spanish government dominating an invisible or resistant native population, we must now think of Spanish Florida as a place where resilient Native Americans developed new patterns of animal use while influencing the diet and exploitation strategies of immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Africa. TABLE OF CONTENTS: The setting -- The cultural geography of Santa Catalina de Guale / David Hurst Thomas -- Pre-Hispanic subsistence patterns in the southern Georgia Bight -- First Spanish period vertebrate use in St. Augustine and in Apalachee and Timucua provinces -- First Spanish period vertebrate use at Mission Santa Catalina de Guale -- Variability in first Spanish period animal use within Pueblo Santa Catalina de Guale -- An interpretation of Guale hunting strategy based on white-tailed deer increment structures -- Diet, exploitation strategies, and economic contributions in Spanish colonial settings -- Appendix A. Zooarchaeological methods and materials -- Appendix B. The natural history of the southern Georgia Bight and the Carolina Province -- Appendix C. Species lists for the cocina (structure 2), garden/well (structure 2/4), and the friary (structure 4) at Mission Santa Catalina de Guale -- Appendix D. Vertebrate fauna from the auger survey and miscellaneous context assemblages -- Appendix E. Assessing density-mediated attrition in white-tailed deer remains -- Appendix F. Measurements from Convento de San Francisco, Mission Santa Catalina de Guale, Pueblo Santa Catalina de Guale (south and north), and Santa Catalina de Guale auger survey and miscellaneous contexts.
Open Access
From Santa Elena to St. Augustine : indigenous ceramic variability (A.D. 1400-1700) : proceedings of the Second Caldwell Conference, St. Catherines Island, Georgia, March 30-April 1, 2007. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 90)
(New York : American Museum of Natural History., 2009) Deagan, Kathleen A.; Thomas, David Hurst.; Ashley, Keith H.; DePratter, Chester B.; Saunders, Rebecca, 1955-; Waters, Gifford J.; Williams, J. Mark.; Worth, John E.; Caldwell Conference (2nd : 2007 : Saint Catherines Island, Ga.)
Archaeologists have long known that important changes took place in aboriginal ceramic assemblages of the northern Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina coast after the arrival of Europeans. New pottery designs emerged and aboriginal demographics became fluid. Catastrophic population loss occurred in some places, new groups formed in others, and movements of people occurred nearly everywhere. Although culturally and linguistically diverse, the native inhabitants of this region shared the unwelcome encounter with Spanish people and colonial institutions, beginning in the early decades of the 16th century and continuing into the 18th century. Spanish missions and military outposts were established at native communities throughout the area, and these sites have been studied by both archaeologists and historians for decades. As a consequence, the lower southeastern Atlantic coast offers one of the most intensively studied episodes of multicultural colonial engagement in America. The Second Caldwell Conference was organized to bring researchers working in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida together to address and more precisely define aboriginal ceramic change throughout the region as a baseline for approaching a more broadly based anthropological perspective on the consequences of encounter. The scope of inquiry was restricted to late prehistoric and early historic (A.D. 1400-1700) aboriginal ceramic wares from Santa Elena (South Carolina) to St. Augustine (Florida). The primary objective was to more precisely establish the technology, form, and design of the archaeological ceramic evidence. Without devolving into semantic and/or taxonomic wrangles, we examined how well (or poorly) archaeological labels used throughout the region to identify pottery serve as reliable proxies for the physical examples of those ceramic traditions. We also attempted to define the time-space distribution of the various ceramic traditions and pottery types throughout the south Atlantic coast. Specifically, we asked: (1) Did the indigenous ceramic complexes change fundamentally with the arrival of the Spaniards? (2) Or did indigenous ceramic traditions essentially persist, and merely shifted geographically? The eight contributions of this volume examine, on a case-by-case basis, the most important aboriginal ceramic assemblages from Santa Elena southward to St. Augustine, across the region, contextualizing each assemblage with the relevant physical stratigraphy, radiocarbon dates, associations with Euro-American wares, and documentary evidence. We also attempt to situate the physical ceramic evidence from the northern Florida-Georgia-South Carolina coastline with the contemporary archaeological assemblages in the immediate interior. The volume concludes with an epilogue that summarizes the results and general contributions of the conference, relative to archaeological practice in the lower Atlantic coastal Southeast, and also to the larger cultural and methodological issues raised by these papers.
Open Access
The beads of St. Catherines Island. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 89)
(2009) Blair, Elliot, 1981-; Pendleton, Lorann S. A.; Francis, Peter, Jr.; Powell, Eric A.; Thomas, David Hurst.
This volume examines the almost 70,000 individual beads recovered during extensive archaeological excavations on St. Catherines Island (Georgia)--primarily from Mission Santa Catalina de Guale. Founded in the 16th century, this site was the capital and administrative center of the province of Guale in Spanish Florida for the better part of a century. This volume describes and classifies this extraordinary bead assemblage, putting the entire collection into a worldwide perspective. Part I describes the global origins of beadmaking and provides an overview of previous studies of bead manufacture. Particular attention is paid to the beads of the Spanish colonial empire, the source of most trade beads recovered on the Island. Part II presents a history of archaeological research on St. Catherines Island, a long-term perspective of the aboriginal people who lived there, and the details of archaeological work at Mission Santa Catalina de Guale. It also presents a comprehensive catalog of the St. Catherines Island bead assemblage. Part III discusses the Santa Catalina bead assemblage from a global perspective, specifically examining presumed centers of origin and the diverse manufacturing techniques employed by various glassmaking guilds in Europe. Part IV concludes with a consideration of the bead assemblage within the cultural matrix of 16th- and 17th-century Mission Santa Catalina de Guale.
Open Access
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.