Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Monumentality in Early Florida

University Of Georgia Research Foundation Inc, Athens GA

Investigators

Abstract

Doctoral candidate Matt Colvin and Dr. Victor Thompson of the University of Georgia will undertake research on the nature of cooperation and community formation among hunter-gatherer-fishers in the Lake Okeechobee region of Florida. Recent studies in both the social and evolutionary sciences have taken a more pronounced focus on cooperation, seeking to understand how unrelated groups work together and form formal communities. These investigations often focus on groups that follow hunting and gathering and limited agricultural economies. Archaeology has the ability to inform on the history of practices that belie such cooperation though an analysis of the built environment, particularly through the study of the form of monuments and constructed civic-ceremonial spaces. Reconstructing the building and occupational sequences, as well as the intensity of use, at such places is one measure of how cooperation and co-residence became entrenched among these communities. The primary contribution of this research will be to advance understanding of institutional development among hunter-gatherer-fishers, and the degree and context in which such groups managed to cooperate in large-scale labor projects over extended periods of time. To conduct this research the project will investigate the site of Fort Center, a multi-mound ceremonial complex in the southern Florida interior that exhibited periods of monument construction and co-residence among hunter-gatherer-fishers for over 2000 years. This research will address two interrelated trajectories: (1) Identify the intensity of activity change over time (e.g., shifts from a periodic usage to more continual activity). (2) Determine if shifts in the intensity of activities in other areas correspond with novel types of monumental architecture. Following the identification and extent of both domestic and communal middens, the investigators will conduct excavations within identified middens at the site. These excavations will provide samples to create a robust radiocarbon chronology, identify rates of accumulation both spatially and through time, and also determine the distribution of middens to interpret related activities. Finally, this work will provide training opportunities for undergraduate students, as well as engage with local communities and public outreach regarding the cultural history of the region. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.