Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Sedentism and Subsistence in the Late Archaic: A Study of Seasonality, Hard Clam Exploitation, and Resource Scheduling

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Rochelle A. Marrinan, Alexandra Parsons will analyze material excavated from the Guana shell ring, an archaeological site near St. Augustine, Florida. Shell rings are circular piles of refuse that, as the name implies, consist primarily of shell. They are located along the coast of the southeast United States, and the majority date to the Late Archaic period (ca. 5,000-2,500 B.P.). Parsons' primary research objective is to determine whether people occupied and utilized the Guana shell ring either on a year-round basis or seasonally. It is important to understand the duration of occupation at the Guana site and others like it, as considerable social changes often coincide with sedentary and semi-sedentary site occupations. For example, sedentary societies must avoid overexploitation of local resources, whereas mobile societies can more fully exploit resources and then move to another location. Additionally, a shift from a seasonally migratory to a semi- or fully sedentary lifestyle has implications for social and political organization. In order to determine if people lived at the Guana shell ring year-round, Ms Parsons will examine quahog clams, which were an important food resource for Guana residents as evidenced by their significant numbers throughout the shell ring. Quahogs produce two annual growth rings in their shells, similar to the annual rings in trees. One can determine the season of death for archaeological clams by comparing the amount of growth in the final annual ring to quahogs in a modern comparative collection (with a known season of death). It is imperative to have modern collection located in the area of the archaeological site because studies have shown latitudinal differences in the timing of seasonal clam growth. Ms Parsons will create a new modern comparative collection for the St. Augustine area by gathering living quahogs once a month for one year. This collection will allow her to generate profiles of expected growth for each season, which will be used to determine the season of death for the archaeological clams at the Guana shell ring. Seasonality of clams and other vertebrate animals will then be used to infer seasons of occupation at Guana. The project contributes directly to the study of Southeastern prehistory as well as to the broader anthropological discussion of sedentism and how it is observed archaeologically, particularly within coastal zones. It will contribute to the growing body of seasonality data for Southeastern coastal sites, which will help elucidate local and regional patterns of sedentism or mobility. The seasonal profiles and other data from the modern comparative collection assembled by Parsons will be available in the dissertation and published in peer-reviewed journals. This will provide other archaeologists with the data to asses clam seasonality at the numerous prehistoric and historic shell middens in the St. Augustine area. The clam collection may also refine the methodology of clam seasonality studies by highlighting variability between other clam collections. The project will involve training at least one undergraduate student in the methodology of clam seasonality and its practical application to the archaeological record. Finally, by examining the spatial patterning of clam seasonality within the ring, the research may increase scientific understanding of how shell rings were used.