Evaluating Mobility, Monumentality, and Feasting at the Sapelo Island Shell Ring Complex

2011 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor D. Thompson ◽  
C. Fred T. Andrus
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Growth Band ◽  
Sapelo Island ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Ratios ◽  
Shell Matrix ◽  
Ring Complex ◽  
Shell Deposition ◽  
Shell Ring ◽  
Shell Rings ◽  
Georgia Coast

Two of the most salient anthropological questions regarding southeastern shell ring sites are related to the season(s) that they were occupied and whether or not the deposits represent monumental constructions and/or feasting remains. This paper addresses these questions through the analysis of growth band of clams (Mercenaria spp.) (N = 620) and stable oxygen isotope ratios of clam and oyster shells (Crassostrea virginica) (N = 58) at the Sapelo Island Shell Ring complex located on the Georgia coast, USA. The season of death and the samples' position in the shell matrix at Sapelo provide important information on the rate of shell deposition and the season(s) the site was occupied. These data support the view that at least some portion of the human population at Sapelo occupied the site year-round. Additionally, while it appears that two shell rings at the site formed through the gradual deposition and accumulation of daily subsistence, other areas evidence short term, large-scale, shellfish processing and may lend credence to the view that at some point shell rings become monuments, commemorating rituals and gatherings.

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.

EXPLORING THE GUALE VILLAGE AND SPANISH MISSION OCCUPATIONS AT THE SAPELO SHELL RING COMPLEX THROUGH BAYESIAN ANALYSIS

Radiocarbon ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Victor D Thompson ◽  
Richard W Jefferies ◽  
Christopher R Moore
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Bayesian Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Critical Periods ◽  
Mission Period ◽  
Ring Complex ◽  
Degree Of Certainty ◽  
Shell Ring ◽  
Southern Georgia ◽  
Georgia Coast

ABSTRACT Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon (14C) dates in North American archaeology is increasing, especially among archaeologists working in deeper time. However, historical archaeologists have been slow to embrace these new techniques, and there have been only a few examples of the incorporation of calendar dates as informative priors in Bayesian models in such work in the United States. To illustrate the value of Bayesian approaches to sites with both substantial earlier Native American occupations as well as a historic era European presence, we present the results of our Bayesian analysis of 14C dates from the earlier Guale village and the Mission period contexts from the Sapelo Shell Ring Complex (9MC23) in southern Georgia. Jefferies and Moore have explored the Spanish Mission period deposits at this site to better understand the Native American interactions with the Spanish during the 16th and 17th centuries along the Georgia Coast. Given the results of our Bayesian modeling, we can say with some degree of confidence that the deposits thus far excavated and sampled contain important information dating to the 17th-century mission on Sapelo Island. In addition, our modeling of new dates suggests the range of the pre-Mission era Guale village. Based on these new dates, we can now say with some degree of certainty which of the deposits sampled likely contain information that dates to one of the critical periods of Mission period research, the AD 1660–1684 period that ushered in the close of mission efforts on the Georgia Coast.

Oxygen isotope evidence for the genesis of Upper Paleozoic granitoids from southwestern Nova Scotia

1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. J. Longstaffe ◽  
T. E. Smith ◽  
K. Muehlenbachs
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The South ◽  
Metasedimentary Rocks ◽  
South Mountain Batholith ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Ratios ◽  
Upper Paleozoic ◽  
Isotope Evidence ◽  
Alteration Processes

The oxygen isotope ratios for 127 rocks and coexisting minerals from Paleozoic granitoids and clastic metasedimentary rocks of southwestern Nova Scotia have been measured. The whole-rock δ18O values for samples of the South Mountain batholith range from 10.1–12.0‰.But discrete granitoid plutons, located to the south of the South Mountain batholith, have lower δ18O values (7.8–10.4‰). Coexisting minerals from the Nova Scotia granitoids are near isotopic equilibrium, indicating that the whole-rock δ18O values primarily reflect the δ18O of the magma, rather than secondary alteration processes. The Meguma Group clastic metasedimentary rocks that host the Nova Scotia granitoids range in δ18O from 10.1–12.9‰. These clastic metasedimentary rocks show no systematic geographic variation in δ18O. The greenschist facies Meguma Group rocks that host the South Mountain batholith have similar δ18O values to the amphibolite facies equivalents located about the southern discrete plutons. Large scale isotopic exchange between the Meguma Group and the South Mountain batholith, or the southern plutons, is not evident.The relatively high δ18O values of the peraluminous South Mountain batholith (10.1–12.0‰) indicate that it formed by anatexis of 18O-rich clastic metasedimentary rocks. The southern plutons were also derived by partial melting of clastic metasedimentary rocks, but their lower δ18O values reflect exchange of the source material with a low 18O reservoir (mafic magmas?) prior to, or during anatexis.The sheared Brenton pluton is much lower in δ18O (5.0‰) than any of the other rocks, probably because of exchange with low 18O fluids during shearing.

scholarly journals Rare pre-Columbian settlement on the Florida Gulf Coast revealed through high-resolution drone LiDAR

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (47) ◽  
pp. 23493-23498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry E. Barbour ◽  
Kenneth E. Sassaman ◽  
Angelica Maria Almeyda Zambrano ◽  
Eben North Broadbent ◽  
Ben Wilkinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Oyster Shell ◽  
Marine Gastropods ◽  
Florida Gulf Coast ◽  
Regional Demand ◽  
Political Economies ◽  
Ring Complex ◽  
Shell Ring ◽  
Ring Architecture

Drone-mounted, high-resolution light detection and ranging reveals the architectural details of an ancient settlement on the Gulf Coast of Florida without parallel in the Southeastern United States. The Raleigh Island shell-ring complex (8LV293) of ca. 900 to 1200 CE consists of at least 37 residential spaces enclosed by ridges of oyster shell up to 4 m tall. Test excavations in 10 of these residential spaces yielded abundant evidence for the production of beads from the shells of marine gastropods. Beads and other objects made from gulf coastal shell were integral to the political economies of second-millennium CE chiefdoms across eastern North America. At places as distant from the coast as the lower Midwest, marine gastropods were imported in raw form and converted into beads and other objects by craftspeople at the behest of chiefs. Bead making at Raleigh Island is exceptional not only for its level of production at the supply end of regional demand but also for being outside the purview of chiefly control. Here we introduce the newly discovered above-ground architecture of Raleigh Island and outline its analytical value for investigating the organization of shell bead production in the context of ancient political economies. The details of shell-ring architecture achieved with drone-mounted LiDAR make it possible to compare the bead making of persons distributed across residential spaces with unprecedented resolution.

Large-Scale Fractionation of Molluscan Shell Matrix

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Marin ◽  
Lucilia Pereira ◽  
Peter Westbroek
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Molluscan Shell ◽  
Shell Matrix

Using growth band autofluorescence to investigate large-scale variation in growth of the abalone Haliotis midae

2007 ◽  
Vol 153 (5) ◽  
pp. 789-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee-Anne Proudfoot ◽  
Sven Kaehler ◽  
Christopher D. McQuaid
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Growth Band ◽  
Haliotis Midae ◽  
Scale Variation

EVIDENCE FOR SIGNIFICANT SUBTERRANEAN STORAGE AT TWO HUNTER-GATHERER SITES: THE PRESENCE OF A MAST-BASED ECONOMY IN THE LATE ARCHAIC COASTAL AMERICAN SOUTHEAST

2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew C. Sanger
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
Time Period ◽  
American Southeast ◽  
Potential Factor ◽  
Shell Rings

Excavations at two Late Archaic shell rings on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, revealed evidence of significant amounts of subterranean storage. Based on botanical evidence, ethonographic analogies, and interpretations of other Late Archaic sites, hickory nuts and acorns are the most likely resource being stored, and quantifying the capacity found at each ring highlights the prevalence and importance of mast storage. These findings are important because large-scale storage has rarely been proposed for Late Archaic coastal peoples and, therefore, its impact as a potential factor for social changes enacted during this time period, including increasing sedentism, formalization of intragroup relations, and regionalization of cultural identities, has yet to be explored.

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