Doctoral Dissertation Research: Places of Gathering: Orange Pottery Variability and the Social Scale of Late Archaic Shell Mound Interaction in Northeast Florida

在Kenneth Sassaman博士的指导下，Zackary Gilmore将分析来自佛罗里达的古代陶器，以调查大型纪念性场所在促进史前狩猎采集者不同文化群体之间的社会互动方面的作用。世界各地都有重要的考古遗址，不同的群体聚集在一起进行交流，仪式和纪念碑建设。通常，这些地方的相互作用产生了新型的社会形态，并影响了整个地区的历史轨迹。在7200年至3500年前，佛罗里达圣约翰河谷的居民用淡水贝类遗骸建造了数十个土丘。有证据表明，这些地方是关键区域发展的中心，包括早期纪念性建筑的建造，陶器技术的采用，以及定居主义和独特部落身份的建立。尽管如此，在建造和居住它们的社会中，甚至对它们最基本的功能和意义也几乎没有达成一致意见。本研究旨在确定佛罗里达州东北部银谷流（SGR）建筑群在建造和使用贝壳丘过程中参与的社会互动的类型和规模。在过去7000年的大部分时间里，在公元前2500年到2000年之间，这个建筑群的居民建造了该地区最大的两个贝壳丘，并沉积了数百个与该大陆最早的陶瓷技术之一有关的陶器。为了更好地了解该建筑群的经济和社会重要性，该项目采用了两种互补类型的陶器分析。首先，相关的来源技术（仪器中子活化分析[INAA]和岩石学）将用于表征SGR碎片的化学和矿物学成分。将这些结果与已知来源的粘土参考样品进行比较，将有助于确定聚集在SGR的各种组成群体的地理来源。其次，技术和风格分析将揭示制造容器的预期功能（烹饪，服务，存储等），以及使用它们的社会条件（例如，小型家庭餐与大型公共宴会）。总之，这些分析提供了一个机会，让我们更细致地了解这个和类似的地点在佛罗里达史前狩猎采集者的社会历史中所扮演的角色。除了其直接的考古意义外，这项研究还为志愿者参与考古陶器的分类和编目提供了机会，从而有助于本科教育。它也是机构间性质的，汇集了来自三个公共研究机构和一个私人组织的资源和专门知识。技术分析将在佛罗里达大学（UF）进行。岩石学分析将在佛罗里达自然历史博物馆（FLMNH）和密苏里大学研究反应堆中心的INAA进行。所有这些都将利用FLMNH现有的收藏。此外，这项研究还将收集和分析数据，并将这些数据分发给Silver Glen Run综合体所在土地上的公共和私人组织。调查结果将以介绍、技术报告和其他印刷材料的形式提供，这将使各机构更有知识和更有效地管理其控制下的大量考古资源。结果和原始数据也将在LSA网站（http://www.anthro.ufl.edu/LSA/）上公开。

Under the guidance of Dr. Kenneth Sassaman, Zackary Gilmore will analyze ancient pottery from Florida to investigate the role of large-scale, monumental places in facilitating social interaction among culturally diverse groups of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Important archaeological places exist worldwide where disparate groups gathered together for purposes of exchange, ritual, and monument construction. Frequently, the interaction fostered by these places produced new types of social formations and affected the historical trajectories of entire regions. Between 7200 and 3500 years ago, the inhabitants of Florida's St. Johns River Valley built dozens of mounds out of freshwater shellfish remains. Evidence suggests that these places were at the center of pivotal regional developments including the construction of early monumental architecture, the adoption of pottery technology, and the establishment of sedentism and distinct tribal identities. Despite this fact, little agreement has been reached regarding even their most basic functions and meanings within the societies that built and inhabited them. This research is designed to identify the types and scales of social interaction engaged in during the construction and use of shell mounds at the Silver Glen Run (SGR) complex in northeast Florida. Occupied for most of the past 7,000 years, between 2,500 and 2,000 B.C., this complex's inhabitants constructed two of the region's largest shell mounds and deposited hundreds of pottery vessels associated with one of the continent's earliest ceramic technologies. To better understand the economic and social importance of the complex, this project employs two complementary types of pottery analysis. First, related sourcing techniques (Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis [INAA] and petrography) will be used to characterize the chemical and mineralogical constituents of the SGR sherds. Comparing these results to clay reference samples with known source locations will help determine the geographic origins of the various constituent groups who gathered at SGR. Second, technological and stylistic analysis will reveal the intended functions (cooking, serving, storage, etc.) for which vessels were manufactured, along with the social conditions (e.g., small domestic meal vs. large communal feast) in which they were used. Together, these analyses provide the opportunity to gain a more nuanced understanding of the role played by this and similar sites in the social histories of Florida's prehistoric hunter-gatherers.Beyond its direct archaeological significance, this research contributes to undergraduate education by providing opportunities for volunteer participation in the sorting and cataloging of archaeological pottery. It is also inter-institutional in nature, bringing together resources and expertise from three public research institutions, as well as a private organization. Technological analysis will be conducted at the University of Florida (UF). The petrographic analysis will be conducted at the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) and INAA at the University of Missouri Research Reactor Center. All of these will make use of extant collections at the FLMNH. In addition, this research will compile and analyze data that will be disseminated to public and private organizations on whose land the Silver Glen Run complex is located. Results of the investigations will be made available in the form of presentations, technical reports, and other printed materials that will make the institutions more knowledgeable and effective stewards of the considerable archaeological resources under their control. Results and raw data will also be made publicly available on the LSA website (http://www.anthro.ufl.edu/LSA/).