Collaborative Research: Woodland Subsistence Seasonality on the Northern Coast of the Gulf of Mexico

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With National Science Foundation support, three collaborative teams led by Dr. Gregory A. Waselkov (University of South Alabama), Dr. Elizabeth J. Reitz (University of Georgia), and Dr. C. Frederick T. Andrus (University of Alabama) will investigate the seasonal nature of fishing and shellfishing during the Middle Woodland and Late Woodland periods (AD 325-1040) along estuaries of the Alabama portion of the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. In this two-year project, team members will compare methods of analysis used by archaeologists to assess seasonality of habitat exploitation and residential mobility at coastal sites around the world. The University of Georgia's component will focus on zooarchaeological analysis of vertebrate and invertebrate remains with the goal of integrating the two kinds of animal remains into a dynamic model of subsistence exploitation. The team from the University of Alabama will take the lead on a large-scale application of oxygen isotope temperature proxy analysis to multiple species of fish and shellfish to produce refined seasonality interpretations. University of South Alabama project members will develop a Bayesian statistical analysis to correlate temperature proxy curves from different species and achieve more precise seasonality interpretations of archaeological deposits. That team will investigate elemental and isotopic analyses of selected fish and terrestrial vertebrates to provide information on ontogenetic (individual lifetime) habitat changes, with seasonality-of-capture implications. The UGA and USA teams will also prepare specimens for isotopic analysis and record data on growth patterns. One outcome will be a reliable and precise understanding of the seasonal dimensions of Woodland subsistence adaptations along the Alabama coast, an area little studied by archaeologists. A second broader outcome will be a higher standard of analysis based on adequate samples of multiple prey species that yield confident assessments of seasonal habitat exploitation and site occupation, providing a firm basis for models of coastal sedentism and mobility around the world. This project brings together specialists in archaeology, zooarchaeology, geochemistry, materials science, and marine biology to create a synergy with benefits that transcend normal disciplinary boundaries. The intellectual merit of the project derives from a rigorous protocol for analysis that targets specific seasonal events with multiple lines of evidence, increased precision of seasonal interpretations, and calibration of seasonal exploitations of different habitats, an approach new to archaeology. These analytical methods work in concert, making this a very powerful interpretive approach that can transform archaeological inquiries on coastal sedentism and mobility. At a more basic level, isotope analysis of the archaeological remains will give insight into the fundamental processes that govern all skeletal growth. There are broader impacts to this study. All three project labs will meaningfully involve undergraduates in this research, learning the basics of isotope chemistry and zooarchaeological analysis. Analytical procedures and results of this project will be particularly highlighted in active public outreach programs, including supervised volunteer opportunities in the labs, staff and student visits to K-12 classrooms, hosting visits by school groups to the labs, and in an exhibit currently in development for the University of South Alabama's Archaeology Museum.