Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Long Term Processes Of Cultural Interaction And Change

Ohio State University, The, Columbus OH

Investigators

Abstract

Interaction between groups of people fosters cultural change, including transformations in settlement patterns, subsistence, and ideology. This is particularly important in an increasingly globalized world, in which many people grapple with lifestyle changes associated with socioeconomic transitions. Archaeology provides unique time-depth into the study of how interaction can alter the practices of individuals and groups of people. This discipline can also highlight, in the broader context of socioeconomic change, the reasons that some societies collapse and some persist. This project provides particular insight into how peripheral groups negotiate contact with larger cultural systems in the face of large-scale economic change. All aspects of this project present applied learning opportunities for undergraduate students to engage with the scientific process, anthropological thinking and Ohio prehistory. Students gain archaeological field experience at a summer field school, as well as instruction in laboratory techniques using excavated assemblages. Each student is also encouraged to present their findings at an undergraduate research forum as well as at regional conferences. This project is one of the few current studies into the prehistory of Ohio by a state institute of higher education and as such represents a unique link between academia and the general public. This project investigates the emergence of sedentary village life and its relationship to the spread of agriculture, a persistent anthropological question. In the Middle Ohio Valley, Fort Ancient culture (c. AD 1000-1650) developed in the context of the emergence and spread of Mississippian chiefdoms and is notable for a lifestyle which included large circular villages and maize agriculture. This way of life represents a novel development in the long prehistory of this region; prior groups lived comparatively mobile lifestyles and subsisted on native plants and animals. Investigations focus on the Turpin site, located near Cincinnati, Ohio, which was occupied for over a millennium by Fort Ancient agriculturalists and preceding Late Woodland (c. AD 500-1000) foragers. This early transitional site provides a unique view of the emergence of an agrarian, village-based lifestyle within the context of Mississippian development, considering Mississippian artifacts and numerous non-local individuals have been identified at Turpin. Detailed understanding of how Fort Ancient agricultural systems began and persisted over centuries (as opposed to the collapses experienced by many contemporary Mississippian chiefdoms) also provides time-depth to current examinations into the sustainability of maize-based agricultural practices. Methodologically, this project presents a framework for understanding the structure and chronology of complex prehistoric sites by utilizing geophysical survey, focused excavations and radiocarbon dating. Additionally, examining prehistoric deer hunting patterns and how they changed over time allows for understanding of whether Turpin was occupied seasonally or year-round. Overall, this project employs multiple lines of evidence to test archaeological hypotheses in a minimally destructive way, ultimately shedding light on how interaction between groups of people facilitates the emergence of new ways of life.