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Crystal River (8CI1) and Roberts Island (8CI36, 8CI40, 8CI41) are neighboring mound complexes on Florida’s west-central Gulf Coast, with mainly sequential occupations during the Middle and Late Woodland periods, respectively. Previous work at Crystal River produced assemblages marked by a diversity of pastes and surface treatments, suggestive of di...
Citations
... Elsewhere, Deetz (1965) had already noted the importance of knowledge for the persistence of decoration and interprets the richness of Arikara ceramic decoration in terms of this transmission. This pattern is also identifiable in other contexts, for example the persistence of potters' choices across phases of occupation and monument construction at Crystal River (Pluckhahn et al., 2017). This transmission is steady, rather than static. ...
The study of the motor actions and identification of the tools used in creating surface decoration in Late Neolithic Malta shows interactions between different communities of potters and other groups. Continuing the use of attribute analyses from the megalithic site of Kordin III, this paper identifies new ranges of motor actions from the megalithic complexes at Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, highlighting differences between geographically discrete communities. The results offer a statistically nuanced sample of ceramics, identify distinct assemblages beyond traditional typologies and investigates décor in its social context. A detailed breakdown of the results is given for each phase at each site. Comparisons are then drawn between the sites of Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra and Kordin III, highlighting a number of divergences and convergences. This reveals previously unknown aspects of community membership, particularly in the realm of technological choices.
Highlights
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Continuation of attribute analyses on a wider scale
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Identification of distinct patterns of tool use and choices between sites
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Identification of distinct assemblages beyond traditional typologies
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Identification of interactions between potters and other groups
... I employed a "communities of practice" perspective (Lave and Wenger 1991;Pluckhahn et al. 2017;Stark 2006) to understand how separate Formative Caddo communities engaged in the production and long-distance exchange of their finewares. This perspective offers a way to understand how dynamic communities become socially and ritually connected through a system of social networks that were constituted and maintained by the production and distribution of specific objects (Joyce 2012). ...
... It also indicates that southern Caddo ceramic specialists and perhaps other ritual elites invested significant time and labor in the production and transportation of hundreds of whole vessels from their source of production. Lastly, it demonstrates that we should not only reevaluate northern Caddo belief systems, but also reconsider the ritual complexity of other small-scale societies in the pre-Columbian southeast as many archaeologists have begun to do (Pluckhahn 2017;Wallis et al. 2017). Step 1 (blue lines), ...
... In general, this time frame is consistent with the prevalence of Hopewell artifacts of copper and exotic stone. The modeled range is also consistent with the ceramic assemblage from Mound F, which also includes early (podal support) vessel forms (Moore, 1903:387-393) that are not represented in village middens (Kemp, 2015:41-42;Thompson, 2016; see also Pluckhahn et al., 2017). ...
... Our modeling suggests that construction of the upper stage began between 394 and 569 cal CE (95% probability), probably between 427 and 541 cal CE (68%). Bullen excavated one unit in Mound K; the ceramic assemblage is small, but again shows consistency with contemporaneous midden collections with regard to dominant temper (limestone) and surface treatments (plain) (Kemp, 2015:51;Pluckhahn et al., 2017). Fig. 13 is a graphical representation of the posterior density estimates for the five modeled mound phases. ...
The “allure of the exotic” dominates both the substance and practice of the archaeology of the Hopewell phenomenon in eastern North America. Ceramics have often been considered less important to Hopewellian exchange, perhaps because they are typically considered local products. I review whole vessels recovered by C. B. Moore from the Crystal River site (8CI1) and curated at the National Museum of the American Indian. Although limited to macroscopic description of form, paste, and decoration, this analysis suggests that ceramic vessels were commonly imported, probably mostly from other ceremonial centers within the region. More than just byproducts of broader interactions, extra-local ceramic vessels were integral to the development of Crystal River by materializing regional alliances and the metaphorical understanding of community as container.
In this article, the pottery production of indigenous groups living inside and outside of colonial spaces in southern Georgia is compared by identifying portions of the chaîne opératoire of pottery production. Diachronic and geographic changes to production demonstrate that groups living in the interior of Georgia were in continual interaction with coastal groups in the mission system. This interaction likely contributed to the emergence of the Altamaha pottery tradition, which spread from southern South Carolina to northern Florida during Spanish colonization of the region. This research shows that Native American groups navigating colonialism drew on a wide network of communities to alter traditions in the face of unprecedented social change.
Platform mounds and plazas have a 5000-year-long history in the eastern United States but are often viewed through the lens of late prehistoric and early historic understandings of mound use. This review approaches the history of these important landscape features via a forward-looking temporal framework that emphasizes the variability in their construction and use through time and across space. I suggest that by viewing platform mounds in their historical contexts, emphasizing the construction process over final form, and focusing on nonmound sites and off-mound areas such as plazas, we can build a less biased and more complex understanding of early Native American monumentality.
We consider the history, present, and future of radiocarbon dating in the American Southeast. We point out some of the past and present flaws related to archaeological research and dating. Our approach to this review is rooted in the perspective that each radiocarbon date collectively adds to our knowledge of the region and not just a particular site. Based on our observations, we suggest some “good” practices with respect to certain aspects of radiocarbon dating. Our concluding discussion considers Bayesian chronological analysis and the growing contribution of chronological modeling to the Southeast.
The interpretive potential of Swift Creek pottery, widely produced throughout Georgia, eastern Alabama, and northern Florida during the Middle and Late Woodland periods between ca. cal AD 100 and 800, has been apparent for many years. Much research has been focused on identifying paddle designs from the impressions left on sherds. Less attention has been devoted to the carving of the wooden paddles and its social context. Drawing inferences from our work on Swift Creek pottery in southern Georgia and Florida, and drawing inspiration from the career of Mark Williams, we consider Swift Creek paddle production “at a human scale.” Extrapolating from the number of paddle designs identified in our sample, we argue that paddle manufacture was an infrequent occurrence, probably conducted by specialists and intended to commemorate major life events.
