Collaborative Research: Cooperation and Competition at Crystal River

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With support from the National Science Foundation, Drs. Thomas Pluckhahn, Victor Thompson, and Brent Weisman will conduct archaeological research at the Crystal River site, a mound complex on the Gulf Coast of Florida dating primarily to the Woodland period (ca. 1000 B.C. to A.D. 1000). Crystal River has long been noted as one of the most important sites in North America, but remains poorly understood due to the limited scope and under-reporting of previous investigations. The research objective is to examine the dynamic between cooperation and competition in the formation of early village societies. This topic has rarely been a focus of concerted study, although notions regarding competition and cooperation are implicit in archaeological theories of human societies. In the few instances where the topic has been directly addressed, the focus has primarily been on chiefdoms and states, where competitive and cooperative practices were already institutionalized. The study will evaluate spatial and temporal variation in three categories of material remains: prestige goods, public architecture, and feasting debris. The goal is to determine whether these remains are spatially restricted and temporally punctuated (indicating greater competition) or open-access and regularly scheduled (indicating greater cooperation.) The project will employ two methods for accomplishing a fine-grained study of these remains, while respecting the need for site conservation: 1) comprehensive reanalysis of the collections from previous investigations; and, 2) systematic, minimally invasive new field work to both correct the biases and limited scope of previous studies. The field investigations include geophysical survey, coring, and test excavations. Laboratory analyses include a variety of archaeological dating techniques, as well as studies to determine season of occupation and rate of deposition. The research contributes to the understanding of the dynamic between competition and cooperation in human societies---one of the foremost issues in the social sciences. The project also contributes to the study of social complexity through focused study of early villages, precursors to better-studied ranked and stratified societies. Finally, the project contributes to the understanding of Crystal River and related sites of the Woodland period on the Gulf Coast, an area and time period marked by one of the most distinctive, yet least understood, material culture complexes in the prehistory of North America. The proposed research has broader impacts in education, within academia and beyond. Undergraduate and graduate training are given priority; this training includes both specialized techniques and traditional archaeological methods. Affiliations with the Florida Public Archaeology Network and the Public Archaeology program at the University of South Florida provide a ready-made infrastructure for the involvement of the general public in the research, and a framework for the training of graduate students in the theory and method of public archaeology. Finally, the insights that will be generated through the proposed study will be applied to enhancing on-site museum displays, signs, and brochures, better interpreting for the general public one of the nation's most important archaeological sites.