Eastern Woodlands Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

The high density of Late Woodland and Late Prehistoric Period habitation sites in northwest Ohio, south of the Western Basin of Lake Erie, suggests that this area experienced a period of significant human activity in late prehistory. It has generally been accepted that in this area the intensification of maize subsistence and a subsequent transition to a more sedentary, agrarian-based settlement pattern occurred during the transition between the Late Woodland and Late Prehistoric Periods (750AD-1450AD). This proposed settlement shift has been described by many as a transition from short-term, often seasonal occupations of lakeshore-oriented sand spits, prairies and major downstream drainages to more sedentary agricultural village settlements located upstream at secondary river confluences, well-drained ancient beach ridges, and/or defensible river bluff locations. While this proposed change in settlement patterns is frequently cited in academic literature, the primary data supporting this change is largely qualitative and anecdotal in nature. Geographical Information System (GIS) Technology provides a new approach to conduct a regional settlement pattern analysis of this area in order to substantiate, quantify, and characterize any proposed change in habitation patterns that may have occurred during this time period, subsequent to the intensification of maize subsistence. The settlement analyses presented in this thesis represent a first attempt to not only aggregate the necessary habitation site data to permit a comprehensive settlement analysis in this region, but also the first to utilize GIS technology combined with environmental data to do so. It is believed that a better understanding of changes in settlement patterns – spatially, chronologically and qualitatively – can help to provide new insight regarding the cultural change that was likely occurring during this transitional time period, as archaeologists are still in its early stages of developing a more comprehensive understanding of the late prehistory of this region.

- by Chad Waffen
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- Settlement Patterns, Agriculture, Great Lakes Archaeology, Eastern Woodlands

PowerPoint presentation for Serpent Mound Summer Solstice event, June 18, 2016.

Over the past 20 years, archaeologists have grown increasingly interested in exploring the relationships between humans and things. In part, this focus on materi-ality has been fueled by the integration of modern philosophical perspectives and considerations of non-Western ontologies and the New Materialisms. In North Amer-ica, much emphasis has been placed on exploring the relational aspects of American Indian ontologies in the past and present. In this article, I build upon these perspectives by integrating memory as an important infrastructure through which these relationships are cast and maintained. I refer to these memory-based practices as processes of remembering. I argue that identifying these discursive memory processes provides an opportunity to refine how we understand objects like bundles and the social process of bundling—one way archaeologists have framed complex human/thing relationships. I use an Adena-Hopewell burial mound from the Middle Woodland period in Eastern North America (ca. 200 BCE–CE 500) as a case study to illustrate how societies during this era were, at least in part, organized and sustained through the rituals involved in revising bundles of ancestors, objects, and memories of human action. I argue that bundling assemblages of the past managed social dissonance by stabilizing or transforming perceptions of kinship in social coalitions.

- by Edward Henry
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- Human Memory, History and Memory, North American (Archaeology), Memory Studies

Two aspects of the artifact assemblage at the Eaton Site in Western New York are examined. First, in what way and to what extent did extensive plowing affect the integrity of the site context? The data suggest that some important inferences can be made. This allows for the second discussion, regarding behavioral patterns. Distribution maps of ceramic and lithic cross-mends, along with post mold maps are used to study waste streams at Eaton, with several distinct lines of refuse disposal identified. The emphasis of the waste stream analysis is on discovering a pattern in the discard practices for the two artifact types.

- by Roderick B . Salisbury
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- Geography, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Anthropology

The Red Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s was not universally endorsed and accepted by all Native communities, particularly in areas where other forms of indigenous accommodation and resistance to settler colonialism had already developed long-term strategies. The situation in the U.S. South was complicated by issues of race, and must be understood in the historical context of, first, slavery, and subsequently, Jim Crow. In these systems, activism by non-White populations carried different meanings within the wider political economy of the region. Understanding the push and pull factors of a desegregating South is required to explain Virginia’s mid-century indigenous political landscape. Attention should be given to the various and multiple reasons for Native community action in each specific context, especially to race-based civil rights activism within a state where the Eugenics Movement, Racial Integrity, and the ‘one drop rule’ had historically loomed large. Like other states across the South, the Commonwealth of Virginia officially recognized eleven tribes of ‘Virginia Indians’ between 1983 and 2010, an outcome of post-Red Power indigenous political activism. Virginia tribes’ political positioning during the civil rights era requires an analysis that historically situates their long-term alliance building and strategic essentialism as alternative approaches to those that were promoted by Red Power.

- by Buck Woodard
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- Native American Studies, Historical Anthropology, Virginia Indians, Virginia History

2015 Presentation given as Recipient of Shanghai Archaeological Forum Field Discovery Award for Rediscovery and Large-Scale Excavation of Cahokia’s East St. Louis Precinct. Award presented by the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing in... more

Living trees historically modified by human populations, oftentimes referred to as “culturally modified trees” (CMTs), are found throughout the North American landscape. In eastern North America specifically, indigenous populations bent thousands of trees to mark trails, and some of these still exist in the region today. In this article, we present a synthesis of current knowledge on trail trees, including their speculated functions, formation, and selection. We also examine the theoretical implications of these living artifacts (or vivifacts) and how they may open new avenues for investiga- tion by archaeologists, environmental historians, and ethnobiologists. To conclude, we make a call for expanded public recognition and documentation of trail trees, discussing the need for their incorporation into forest and park management plans.

- by Cailín Murray and +2
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- Eastern Woodlands, Culturally Modified Trees, Trail Marker Trees, vivifacts
- by Thomas E Emerson and +1
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- Prehistoric Archaeology, History of Archaeological Praxis, Archaeological Theory, Eastern Woodlands
- by Victor Thompson
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- Geography, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Anthropology
- by Andrew White
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Complex Systems Science, Social Networks

Since 2008 Illinois State Archaeological Survey personnel have been conducting investigations for the Illinois Department of Transportation in East St. Louis for the New Mississippi River Bridge project. Nearly 4,000 features at the East St Louis Mound Center (11S706) have been excavated in advance of construction for the relocated I-70 that will cross the new bridge. This paper highlights important discoveries dating from the Terminal Late Woodland to the Mississippian Stirling phase (AD 1000-1200). These ongoing investigations afford an unprecedented view into the daily and ceremonial life of an urban center, while greatly enhancing our understanding of regional events that contributed to the rise of the Cahokian polity.

A series of papers has developed the claim that stone features on the submerged Alpena-Amberley Ridge (AAR) in Lake Huron provides unique insight into the Paleoindian caribou-hunting economies of the Great Lakes. The documented human occupation of the AAR dates to the late Early Holocene (about 9000 calendar years ago), however, a time when glacial ice was far to the north and the region was occupied by hunting-gathering societies with ties to the western Great Plains and the deciduous forests of the Eastern Woodlands. Key elements of the caribou hunting scenario as presented are poorly explained, contradictory, and/or ecologically unsound. Ethnographic and archaeological data demonstrate the use of structures for hunting other kinds of large game, presenting possibilities for alternative explanations. Constructing a satisfying explanation of the AAR features will require expanding the scope of investigation to develop and test multiple hypotheses that engage with the terrestrial archaeological record.

The archaeological record of the American Eastern Woodlands has been the subject of research on the origins and organization of complex societies for decades. Much of this research, ultimately grounded in political-economic theories of accumulation, underscores how foraging, horticultural, and agricultural societies manifested complexity in different ways belying their similar signposts of complexity, including monumental architecture, long-distance exchange, and craft specialization. Here, we contend that aspects of these material practices, which span the Late Archaic, Middle Woodland, and Early Mississippian periods, are essential for sketching a historical ontology of social complexity in indigenous eastern North America. Drawing on political-economic theories developed in sub-Saharan Africa, we propose that the deep time ebb and flow of complex social formations in the Eastern Woodlands relied less on the quantitative accumulation of wealth in things and people and more on the qualitative composition of the diverse knowledge embedded in people and things. We discuss Poverty Point, Ohio Hopewell, and Cahokia from this vantage point in an effort to begin telling a "big history" of the Eastern Woodlands outside the frame of social evolution.

Two Aspects of the artifact assemblage at the Eaton site in Western New York are examined. First, in what way and to what extent did extensive plowing affect the context of the site. The data suggests that some important inferences can be made, which allows for the second discussion, regarding behavioral patterns. The extensive artifact collection and well-preserved features and post molds are used to study waste streams at Eaton. Using distribution maps of ceramic and lithic cross-mends, along with post mold maps, several distinct lines of refuse disposal are identified. The emphasis of the waste stream analysis is an attempt to discover a pattern in the discard practices of the two artifact types.

- by Roderick B . Salisbury
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Anthropology, Prehistoric Settlement

Mind the Gap: Maize Phytoliths, Macroremains, and Processing Strategies in Southern New England 2500-500 BP. This study presents preliminary results from a phytolith analysis of carbonized food residues and sediment soils from sites in southern New England (Connecticut and Rhode Island) dating 2500-500 BP. Phytolith analyses of carbonized food residues from sites across northeastern North America outside of southern New England demonstrate that maize (Zea mays L.) was introduced to the region as early as 2300 BP, hundreds of years before major shifts in settlement strategies became widespread. Phytolith evidence for maize in eastern North America likewise appears hundreds of years earlier than most maize macroremains, such as kernels, cobs, and cupules, appear. This has puzzled researchers attempting to piece together how maize was first circulated and used in the Eastern Woodlands. Preliminary phytolith analysis of carbonized food residues from seven sites indicates that, consistent with research outside the study area, at least some groups in southern New England cooked maize as early as 2300 BP. The results also indicate that maize cooking practices varied in ways that likely reflect broader subsistence strategies and that may explain the temporal gap between maize phytoliths and maize macroremains.

- by Chapungu Lazie
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- Forestry, Remote Sensing, Conservation Biology, Ecology

The Digital Index of North American Archaeology (DINAA) currently contains primary data from over 340,000 archaeological sites in 15 states in eastern North America. Two cases are used to explore the new research and management opportunities that are created by using DINAA in combination with other sources of data. First, the potential power of using DINAA as a “bridge” between specialized, independent datasets is considered using information compiled by the Eastern Woodlands Household Archaeology Data Project. Second, DINAA site data are combined with environmental data to model the effects of anticipated changes in sea level due to global climate change on cultural resources near the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. DINAA data were compiled in cooperation with State Historic Preservation Offices in our partner states to demonstrate the feasibility and research value of interoperating state-maintained site databases into a single, large-scale, freely-available archaeological dataset that protects sensitive site location information.

- by Josh Wells and +3
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Digital Humanities, Climate Change

ABSTRACT The Red Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s was not universally endorsed and accepted by all Native communities, particularly in areas where other forms of indigenous accommodation and resistance to settler colonialism had already developed long-term strategies. The situation in the U.S. South was complicated by issues of race, and must be understood in the historical context of, first, slavery, and subsequently, Jim Crow. In these systems, activism by non-White populations carried different meanings within the wider political economy of the region. Understanding the push and pull factors of a desegregating South is required to explain Virginia’s mid-century indigenous political landscape. Attention should be given to the various and multiple reasons for Native community action in each specific context, especially to race-based civil rights activism within a state where the Eugenics Movement, Racial Integrity, and the ‘one drop rule’ had historically loomed large. Like other states across the South, the Commonwealth of Virginia officially recognised eleven tribes of ‘Virginia Indians’ between 1983 and 2010, an outcome of post-Red Power indigenous political activism. Virginia tribes’ political positioning during the civil rights era requires an analysis that historically situates their long-term alliance building and strategic essentialism as alternative approaches to those that were promoted by Red Power.

The following research is intended to be a baseline study of zooarcheological remains recovered from the Biggs Ford site. Faunal remains sampled from Montgomery and Keyser Complex features were examined and identified to ascertain basic subsistence data. The results confirm earlier studies of subsistence at Late Woodland village sites in the Middle Potomac Valley. Primarily that there was a notable shift in hunting patterns between the Montgomery and Keyser occupations, and that Late Woodland hunters from these villages appear to have developed hunting strategies which allowed them to take maximum advantage of the anthropogenic habitats created by clearing of woodlands and planting of fields around the settlements.

- by Ralph Koziarski
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- Eastern Woodlands, Faunal Analysis, Zooarchaeology

The taking of human body parts as trophies is a practice documented in the American Midwest during the Middle and Late Archaic periods. It was particularly common around the Ohio and Green Rivers, and extended south into the Tennessee River valley. Trophy elements included scalps and heads, forelimbs, mandibles, tongues, and ears. Victims of trophy taking exhibit diagnostic patterns of traumata, generally manifest as cut and chop marks adjacent to where elements were removed. The current study sought to determine the extent to which Archaic trophy taking extended west along the Ohio River. Over one hundred adult and subadult skeletons from the Black Earth site in Southern Illinois were closely examined for evidence of trophy taking. All bones were studied and a 10X hand lens was used in instances where taphonomy obscured surface visibility. No evidence of trophy taking was found, though Black Earth is culturally similar to and contemporaneous with trophy sites in Indian a. The Black Earth finding contradicts evidence from the Ohio and Green Rivers, where trophy taking is found at numerous cemeteries of all sizes (i.e., Indian Knoll, Kentucky n= 800+ and Firehouse site, Indiana, n=5). The Black Earth results indicate that trophy taking, while widespread, was not ubiquitous. It does not sit directly on the Ohio River like its counterparts in Indiana; perhaps this explains why its people were not victimized by trophy taking. In sum, it is clear that trophy taking has a geo-cultural boundary that studies like the current one are helping to define.

- by Nicholas Kawa
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- Ethnohistory, Geography, Environmental Anthropology, Ecological Anthropology

The Woodland Period in Georgia prehistory is transitional between the Archaic (9000-1000 BC) and Mississippian (AD 1000-1550) Periods. The Archaic is viewed as a time of population growth, increased sedentism, and reliance on plant... more

- by William Baden and +1
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Environmental Archaeology, Archaeological Method & Theory