scholarly journals The Integration of Lidar and Legacy Datasets Provides Improved Explanations for the Spatial Patterning of Shell Rings in the American Southeast

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dylan S. Davis ◽  
Robert J. DiNapoli ◽  
Matthew C. Sanger ◽  
Carl P. Lipo
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Native American ◽  
Spatial Models ◽  
Remotely Sensed ◽  
Airborne Lidar ◽  
Point Pattern ◽  
European Contact ◽  
American Southeast ◽  
Shell Rings ◽  
Beaufort County

ABSTRACTArchaeologists have struggled to combine remotely sensed datasets with preexisting information for landscape-level analyses. In the American Southeast, for example, analyses of lidar data using automated feature extraction algorithms have led to the identification of over 40 potential new pre-European-contact Native American shell ring deposits in Beaufort County, South Carolina. Such datasets are vital for understanding settlement distributions, yet a comprehensive assessment requires remotely sensed and previously surveyed archaeological data. Here, we use legacy data and airborne lidar-derived information to conduct a series of point pattern analyses using spatial models that we designed to assess the factors that best explain the location of shell rings. The results reveal that ring deposit locations are highly clustered and best explained through a combination of environmental conditions such as distance to water and elevation as well as social factors.

Shell Mounds in the Southeast: Middens, Monuments, Temple Mounds, Rings, or Works?

2010 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 551-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H. Marquardt
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Carolina ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Mound Construction ◽  
Architectural Features ◽  
Shell Mounds ◽  
Shell Rings ◽  
Oriented Approach

Focusing on the southeastern United States, I provide some alternative perspectives on shell mounds previously interpreted as architectural features, temple mounds, and feasting sites. The same pattern of deposition often inferred to indicate mound construction—darker-colored, highly organic strata alternating with lighter-colored, shell-rich strata—can be accounted for by domestic midden accumulation and disposal of refuse away from living areas. Observed abundances of particular shell species can result from local or regional ecological conditions. Site complexes interpreted as architectural may have evolved largely in response to short-term climate changes. Shell rings on the Georgia and South Carolina coasts probably functioned to conserve and store unconfined water. To understand ancient shell mounds, we need a sediment-oriented approach to the study of mound deposits and more attention to the environmental contexts in which shell mounds accumulated.

A Multi-proxy assessment of the impact of climate change on Late Holocene (ca 4500-3800 BP) Native American villages of the Georgia coast

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carey James Garland ◽  
Victor D Thompson ◽  
Matthew C Sanger ◽  
Karen Y Smith ◽  
Fred T Andrus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
Shell Ring ◽  
Shell Rings ◽  
Georgia Coast ◽  
The Impact

Circular shell rings along the Atlantic Coast of southeastern North America are the remnants of some of the earliest villages that emerged during the Late Archaic Period (5000 – 3000 BP). Many of these villages, however, were abandoned during the Terminal Late Archaic Period (ca 3800 – 3000 BP). Here, we combine Bayesian chronological modeling with multiple environmental proxies to understand the nature and timing of environmental change associated with the emergence and abandonment of shell ring villages on Sapleo Island, Georgia. Our Bayesian models indicate that Native Americans occupied the three Sapelo shell rings at varying times with some generational overlap. By the end of the complex’s occupation, only Ring III was occupied before abandonment ca. 3845 BP. Ring III also consists of statistically smaller oysters ( Crassostrea virginica ) that people harvested from less saline estuaries compared to earlier occupations. These data, when integrated with recent tree ring analyses, show a clear pattern of environmental instability throughout the period in which the rings were occupied. We argue that as the climate became unstable around 4300 BP, aggregation at shell ring villages provided a way to effectively manage fisheries that are highly sensitive to environmental change. However, with the eventual collapse of oyster fisheries and subsequent rebound in environmental conditions ca. 3800 BP, people dispersed from shell rings, and shifted to non-marine subsistence economies and other types of settlements. This study provides the most comprehensive evidence correlations between large-scale environmental change and societal transformations on the Georgia coast during the Late Archaic period.

Archaic Shell Mounds in the American Southeast

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Saunders
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Savannah River ◽  
The Past ◽  
Island Area ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Shell Mounds ◽  
The Future ◽  
American Southeast ◽  
Shell Rings

Freshwater and estuarine shellfish began to be exploited in the southeastern United States between 9000 and 7000 b.p. Shortly thereafter, shell mounds appeared in the mid-South Shell Mound Archaic, along the St. Johns River in peninsular Florida, and, somewhat later, in the Stallings Island area along the middle Savannah River. On the lower Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, shell rings arose. Until recently, all these mounds were considered middens—the accumulations of the remains of simple meals of mobile peoples who visited the same areas for hundreds or thousands of years. More recent scholarship indicates that these mounds were deliberate constructions—some of the first sculpted landscapes created by Archaic peoples to memorialize the past, celebrate the present, and provide for the future. In this chapter, recent research on shell sites in these four areas is discussed. The emphasis is on changing perspectives about the peoples who built them.

scholarly journals A Case Study in Watershed-Based Plan Development and Implementation for the May River Watershed in Bluffton, South Carolina

2014 ◽  
pp. 19-25
Author(s):  
Kimberly W. Jones ◽  
Ronald Bullman
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Environmental Control ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
River Watershed ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
Beaufort County ◽  
The Town

The Town of Bluffton, South Carolina was a one square mile coastal village until it experienced exponential growth in the early 2000s, and today is approximately 54 square miles. Until this recent growth, few sources of possible impairments to water quality were recognized within the watershed, and even fewer within close proximity to the river itself. In 2007, the Town was told by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) that fecal coliform levels in the May River headwaters were increasing and in 2009 the river received a shellfish harvesting classification down-grade. In response to this down-grade, the Town of Bluffton, with Beaufort County and stakeholders, committed to take action to restore shellfish harvesting in the river and to prevent further degradation to the river. Following the U.S. EPA (EPA) guidelines for developing watershed plans, Town staff worked for nearly a year with consultants, Beaufort County, topic experts and local residents to develop the May River Watershed Action Plan which was adopted by Town Council in November 2011.

scholarly journals Using APAR to Predict Aboveground Plant Productivity in Semi-Aid Rangelands: Spatial and Temporal Relationships Differ

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rowan Gaffney ◽  
Lauren Porensky ◽  
Feng Gao ◽  
J. Irisarri ◽  
Martín Durante ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Variation ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Spatial Models ◽  
Remotely Sensed ◽  
Plant Functional Groups ◽  
Remotely Sensed Data ◽  
Temporal Models ◽  
Alternative Means ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

Monitoring of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) is critical for effective management of rangeland ecosystems but is problematic due to the vast extent of rangelands globally, and the high costs of ground-based measurements. Remote sensing of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR) can be used to predict ANPP, potentially offering an alternative means of quantifying ANPP at both high temporal and spatial resolution across broad spatial extents. The relationship between ANPP and APAR has often been quantified based on either spatial variation across a broad region or temporal variation at a location over time, but rarely both. Here we assess: (i) if the relationship between ANPP and APAR is consistent when evaluated across time and space; (ii) potential factors driving differences between temporal versus spatial models, and (iii) the magnitude of potential errors relating to space for time transformations in quantifying productivity. Using two complimentary ANPP datasets and remotely sensed data derived from MODIS and a Landsat/MODIS fusion data product, we find that slopes of spatial models are generally greater than slopes of temporal models. The abundance of plant species with different structural attributes, specifically the abundance of C4 shortgrasses with prostrate canopies versus taller, more productive C3 species with more vertically complex canopies, tended to vary more dramatically in space than over time. This difference in spatial versus temporal variation in these key plant functional groups appears to be the primary driver of differences in slopes among regression models. While the individual models revealed strong relationships between ANPP to APAR, the use of temporal models to predict variation in space (or vice versa) can increase error in remotely sensed predictions of ANPP.

scholarly journals Prediction of Individual Tree Diameter Using a Nonlinear Mixed-Effects Modeling Approach and Airborne LiDAR Data

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liyong Fu ◽  
Guangshuang Duan ◽  
Qiaolin Ye ◽  
Xiang Meng ◽  
Peng Luo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Random Effects ◽  
Prediction Accuracy ◽  
Remotely Sensed ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Airborne Lidar ◽  
Sample Plot ◽  
Nonlinear Mixed Effects ◽  
Estimation Model ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Airborne Lidar Data

Rapidly advancing airborne laser scanning technology has become greatly useful to estimate tree- and stand-level variables at a large scale using high spatial resolution data. Compared with that of ground measurements, the accuracy of the inferred information of diameter at breast height (DBH) from a remotely sensed database and the models developed with traditional regression approaches (e.g., ordinary least square regression) may not be sufficient. Thus, this regression approach is no longer appropriate to develop accurate models and predict DBH from remotely sensed-related variables because DBH is subject to the random effects of forest stands. This study developed a generalized nonlinear mixed-effects DBH estimation model from remotely sensed imagery data. The light detection and ranging (LiDAR)-derived stand canopy density, crown projection area, and tree height were used as predictors in the DBH estimation model. These variables can be more readily measured over an extensive forest area with higher accuracy compared to the conventional field-based methods. The airborne LiDAR data for a total of 402 Picea crassifolia Kom trees on a sample plot that were divided into 16 sub-sample plots and located in the most important distribution region of western China were used. The leave-one sub-sample plot-out cross-validation method was applied to evaluate the model’s prediction accuracy. The results indicated that the random effects of the sub-sample plot on the prediction of DBH were large and their inclusion into the DBH model significantly improved the prediction accuracy. The prediction accuracy of the proposed model at the mean (M) response was also substantially improved relative to the accuracy obtained from the base model. Among several tree selection alternatives evaluated, a sample size of the two largest trees per sub-sample plot used in estimating the random effects showed a significantly higher accuracy compared to other sampling alternatives. This sample size would balance both the measurement cost and potential prediction errors. The nonlinear mixed-effects DBH estimation model at the M response can also be applied if obtaining the estimates of individual tree DBH with a relatively lower cost, and a lower prediction accuracy was the purpose of the study.

The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina: Volume I, 1514-1861.

1998 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 339
Author(s):  
Alan Gallay ◽  
Lawrence S. Rowland ◽  
Alexander Moore ◽  
George C. Rogers Jr.
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
History Of ◽  
Beaufort County

Population History of the Onondaga and Oneida Iroquois, A.D. 1500–1700

2010 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric E. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Population Data ◽  
Population History ◽  
Population Trends ◽  
Contact Period ◽  
Native American Population ◽  
European Contact ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Contact

Much of the discussion about North American precontact and contact-period populations has focused on continent-wide estimates. Although the associated work has produced valuable information on the demographic and cultural history of the continent, it has failed to generate agreed-upon estimates, population trends, or detailed demographic knowledge of Native American cultures. Using archaeological settlement remains and methods developed in recent research on Iroquoian cultures, this study estimates and examines population trends for the Onondaga and Oneida cultures of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) from A.D. 1500 to 1700. Onondaga population appears to have increased until the mid—seventeenth century, when drastic declines in settlement area and population size occurred. This depopulation event is both several decades after first contact with Europeans and at least a decade after the first known depopulation event among the Haudenosaunee. Oneida populations show a much more complex history that suggests the need for more detailed analyses of contact-period Native American population data. In conjunction with archaeological evidence and ethnohistoric information, the population trends generated by this study create a model of two precontact Native American populations and display the effects of European contact on those populations.

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