Silence over Kolomoki: A Curious Episode in the History of Southeastern Archaeology (original) (raw)
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The paper discusses the prolonged silence surrounding the incorrect cultural chronology established by William H. Sears at the Kolomoki archaeological site in southwest Georgia. This oversight, known as the "Kolomoki problem," not only reflects the dynamics of archaeological debate in the Southeastern United States but also highlights the complex interplay of personal relationships and professional reputations that hindered corrections to the misinterpretation. By analyzing the historical context and the reluctance of contemporaries to confront the issue, the authors aim to shed light on the implications of this episode for our understanding of Woodland cultural chronology in the lower Chattahoochee valley.
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A New History of Community Formation and Change at Kolomoki (9ER1)
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We present a revised chronology for the Kolomoki site (9ER1) in Georgia, occupied primarily during the Middle and Late Woodland periods (ca. 200 BC to AD 1050). The considerable extent of the site has been noted for more than a century but came into sharper focus with the archaeological investigations by Sears (1956) and Pluckhahn (2003). The site includes at least nine mounds, a large central plaza, and a discontinuous habitation area nearly a kilometer in diameter. Previous interpretations assumed gradual and incremental changes in the community plan. We present a greatly revised chronology, based on new investigations in some of the lesser-known portions of the site and a doubling of the number of absolute dates. Bayesian modeling of these and previous dates reveals that, far from the gradualist assumption of previous work, the community at Kolomoki was dynamically transformed several times in its history, reaching its greatest spatial extent and formal complexity in two relative...
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Ocmulgee Archaeology 1936–1986, edited by David J. Hally, University of Georgia Press, Athens., 1994
Like Blood from a Stone: Teasing Out Social Difference from Lithic Debris at Kolomoki
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Many thanks to my committee members for their insightful feedback and especially to my advisor, Dr. Thomas J. Pluckhahn, who went above and beyond the requirements of a faculty mentor in providing logistical and financial support for this research. Further thanks are due my colleague, Shaun West, who has helped broaden the scope of our work in Kolomoki's south village tremendously. Finally, the Anthropology Department support staff deserves special recognition for all the help they have provided throughout my time at USF. Finally, I would like to thank the Society for Georgia Archaeology for their generous contribution to this research.
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