Thesis--University of Florida. / Description based on print version record. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 240-250).

This thesis examines the history and results of investigations at 1Cv32, the Mitchell Site, in Covington County, Alabama. The Mitchell Site is perhaps the largest recorded Middle Woodland mound center in southeast Alabama. Data from limited testing are examined here with particular emphasis on the ceramic assemblage. Ceramic data indicate that the portion of this site investigated is predominately Middle Woodland, with distinct Weeden Island attributes.

The Bayshore Homes site was occupied intermittently over a period of approximately twelve hundred years, with the two main occupation periods being CE 150-550 and CE 900-1350. During those lengthy occupations a substantial amount of plain and decorated pottery was discarded at the site. A portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometer was utilized to analyze the elemental composition of 133 sherds, both decorated and plain. The resulting elemental composition data were then analyzed using multivariate statistics in an attempt to discern discrete clay sources that may have been exploited by inhabitants of the Bayshore Homes site. Principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant function analysis (DA) were employed to identify three discrete clay sources exploited in the production of pottery. The results of the statistical analyses were then used to answer two basic, yet pertinent, questions about the Bayshore pottery: 1) Were the same clay sources exploited during both occupation periods? 2) Were the same clay sources exploited for both decorated and plain pottery? The results of the statistical analyses indicate that the same clay sources were exploited for both occupation periods, though evidence suggests that the dominant clay source in use did change over time. The results also imply that the same clay sources were utilized in the production of plain and decorated pottery, which suggests that at least some portion of the decorated pottery excavated from the Bayshore site was produced locally, and not obtained through trade. Finally, the results of this research demonstrate that pXRF is a useful tool for preliminary differentiation of clay sources in Florida.

University of South Florida field investigations in northwest Florida’s Apalachicola Valley have resulted in the relocation of some lost mounds from the Middle Woodland period (ca. A.D. 1 to 650) by trekking through the forest and consulting with avocationals and collectors. This thesis project was triggered by a collector’s donation of some Swift Creek pots and the attempt to relocate the mound from which they came. In the 1970s, Gardner and Nidy recorded this site, named Poplar Springs Mound, categorized as Middle Woodland due to its Swift Creek and Weeden Island pottery. The donated collection contained pottery of the Swift Creek Complicated-Stamped series, Weeden Island series, and a couple of anomalous Mississippian sherds. To see how this mound fit in with other Middle Woodland mounds of the valley, it was necessary to compile data for all of them and relocate as many mounds as possible through additional survey. Artifact types from these mounds, such as pottery, shell, bone, and exotic materials, and burial practices were tabulated and spatial distributions were plotted. The mounds are distributed along the banks of the main navigable waterways of the Apalachicola and Chipola Rivers, on smaller streams and along the Gulf Coast. Nearly all have both Swift Creek and early Weeden Island ceramics, except for three with only Swift Creek types and a single site with only Weeden Island types. The artifact distributions show stone, bone, and shell tools clustering close to the coast and the main waterways. This is also the case for exotic (nonlocal) raw materials and artifacts made from these materials. Copper is distributed mainly along the coast, while other exotics (i.e. mica, galena, hematite) are located along the coast and close to the main rivers. The tabulation of these data, along with the documentation of the Poplar Springs Mound collection, will help archaeologists to see the manifestation of Middle Woodland ceremonial activity in the Apalachicola Valley.

Investigating the organization of production systems can reveal much about a society, in particular how resources and labor were allocated, and the influence that economic, political, social, and ceremonial institutions had on the production process. Interpreting the nature of specialized production is useful for understanding how production was organized. In turn, the degree of standardization exhibited by the goods being produced is used to determine the nature of specialization. While archaeological research regarding specialized production has expanded over time to incorporate a wide range of societies, such research is often focused on complex societies. The research presented here focuses on the small-scale, or non-stratified, community that once inhabited the Kolomoki site, a Middle to Late Woodland period site in Early county, Georgia. This thesis utilizes a three-dimensional laser scanner to document Weeden Island pottery from Kolomoki. The digital images created by the scanner were used to measure incising and punctation marks. The measurements were then analyzed in order to determine the extent of standardization among the decorative attributes. Results suggest that standardization varies among different subsamples of pottery. However, the overall degree of standardization is relatively low, thus suggesting that specialized production may not have existed, or was very limited, at Kolomoki. Despite the limited extent of standardization among the decorative attributes, the results of this research, especially in conjunction with previous research, suggest that some pottery may have been afforded special attention during the production process. In particular, pottery from mound proveniences, and socially valued goods, notably sacred and prestige items, demonstrate higher degrees of standardization. This leads to the conclusion that the production of Weeden Island pottery was likely influenced by ritual and ceremonial activity within the Kolomoki community. This thesis contributes to a greater understanding of specialization in non-stratified Woodland period societies in the southeastern United States.

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Rochelle Marrinan, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Anthropology. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Jan. 18, 2005). Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis should serve as a comprehensive site report for both Porter’s Bar (8Fr1) and Green Point (8Fr11) mounds in northwest Florida. These prehistoric burial mounds and their associated village shell midden are determined to have been constructed during two different time periods, Middle Woodland and Early Woodland, respectively. This is the first time that all materials and data have been described and compiled for both sites, despite the fact that they were both originally recorded over a century ago and described differently later by multiple researchers. The mounds served as an important ceremonial center along Apalachicola Bay some 1500 years ago, beginning perhaps during the Early Woodland (1200 B.C. – A.D. 250) and continuing through the Middle Woodland (A.D. 250 – A.D. 650). Evidence indicates an earlier Late Archaic component, and a much later historic nineteenth-century component. People living here probably experienced slightly different coastlines as sea levels fluctuated. The village midden associated with the two mounds extends for nearly 300 meters along the bay shore and has been damaged by sea-level change, while other parts have been borrowed for road material. The mounds have been damaged by looting and residential construction. All known materials and data from the two sites are presented and compared, including burial styles and associated funerary goods. Ceramic types and tempers indicate that Green Point mound was one of the few built during the Early Woodland known in the region. The same population may have constructed Porter’s Bar during Middle Woodland times, perhaps a century or two later, and included artifacts that are rarely found in the research area. Potential areas of further investigation are noted, but time is limited as the midden will probably be inundated within the next fifty years.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Rochelle A. Marrinan, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Anthropology. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Feb.1, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains x, 126 pages. Includes bibliographical references.