Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Gathering in the Late Paleoindian and Early Archaic Periods in the Middle Tennessee River Valley, Northwest Alabama

University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Abstract

Plant foods comprise a significant portion of the diet of modern hunting-and-gathering groups living in non-arctic environments. Accordingly, the decisions and activities associated with the gathering and use of plants are important aspects of their subsistence pursuits. Little is known, however, about the impact of plant foods on the subsistence strategies and movements of early hunter-gatherers living in the southeastern United States. Under the guidance of Dr. C. Margaret Scarry, Kandace Detwiler will address this issue by analyzing the carbonized remains of plants recovered from five rockshelter sites located in northwest Alabama. The rockshelters contain archaeological deposits dating between 8000 and 10,500 years ago. These deposits are noteworthy for their excellent preservation of animal and plant remains, which are not commonly recovered from open-air sites in the Southeast. Through the analysis of the plant remains, Detwiler will determine which plant species these early hunting-and-gathering groups were targeting. She will then examine the scheduling and labor demands associated with the use of these plant species. This information will be obtained from botanical data regarding the preferred ecology and the fruiting habits of these species, as well as ethnographic descriptions and historic accounts of the gathering efforts and decisions of contemporary hunting-and-gathering groups. Detwiler will then examine this information about the use of plants with respect to other subsistence activities at each site, suggested by the animal remains, stone tools, and residues of fires recovered at the sites. At a broader regional level, she will explore the relationship of the location of the rockshelters and other campsites to the distribution of plant, animal, and stone resources on the landscape. This will be done with the aid of a geographic information system (GIS). Using this information, Detwiler will construct a model of subsistence strategies and movements within this region for early hunting-and-gathering groups, based on their decisions of how to most effectively utilize resources that may differ in their availability in both time and space. This research is significant for several reasons. First, it will provide baseline data, which is currently lacking, regarding the range of plants used during these early periods of occupation of the Southeast. Second, it can be used to suggest ways in which gathering can be incorporated into models for early hunting-and-gathering groups that tend to emphasize the influence of hunting on mobility and subsistence strategies. Third, it will bring the activities and decisions of gatherers, who are predominantly women, children, and the elderly, to the foreground of such models. Finally, this research will allow the opportunity for several undergraduate assistants, as well as the author, to gain training in the analytical methods mentioned above. The results of the research will be accessible to the scientific community both in the form of a dissertation as well as publications in refereed journals and professional newsletters.