Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Investigating the origins of the Shell Mound Archaic: Occupational histories and interaction among shell-bearing sites in western Tennessee

在大卫G.安德森，撒迪厄斯比塞特将研究与中大陆壳丘丘（SMA）相关的文化传统的起源，使用来自田纳西州西部四个分层壳丘遗址的考古材料。 淡水贝壳土丘首次出现在该地区的早期几个世纪的中全新世温暖的间隔（约。距今8，900 - 5，700 cal年[cal yr BP]），相当于中白垩纪文化时期。 SMA的遗址来自田纳西州、肯塔基州和亚拉巴马，总共跨越了6,000多年的历史（约1000年）。8，900 - 3，200 cal yr BP）。 然而，尽管对这些通常是大量堆积的贝壳、石头、文化材料和人类墓葬进行了近世纪的广泛考古调查，但与这些遗址的创建相关的文化实践的起源和性质还没有得到很好的理解。本研究将评估社会互动和群体身份形成的模型如何应用于考古数据，并将解决有关人口流动的历史，群体互动，在SMA的早期发展和人种的关键问题。 这项工作将改进用于调查分层贝壳遗址的方法，这些遗址几乎在世界各地都有。最后，这项研究将产生一个高分辨率的中全新世早期在中南部，这将作为一个基线，为未来的研究在该地区。传统的模型认为，壳土丘积累的垃圾从日常的生存行为，但最近的替代模型表明，SMA网站是狩猎仪式的地点，采集者的社会团体定期聚集在一起，举行用贝类食物的宴会和葬礼。 这些模式进一步表明，这些习俗起源于对群体身份的积极重新谈判，代表了外来者到达该地区后新的文化传统的发展以及他们随后与已经居住在该地区的人民的互动。 拟议的研究将评估这些论点。多个AMS 14 C日期从文化层中的四个中东的贝壳土丘将被用来估计在这些网站的占领时间。 这些数据将允许比较地层内和地层之间贝壳和其他人工制品类的沉积速率，以评估相对职业强度和场地使用历史。 将比较沉积速率的研究中心内变化，以确定研究中心使用是否随时间发生变化。 将对地层的同时代性进行评估，以评价这些变化是否发生在同一时期的大面积。对来自多个遗址的相似年代地层的文物进行风格分析，将探讨文化习俗的变化是否是群体之间的互动造成的，以及该地区是否以及如何出现了不同的文化传统。由于SMA遗址受到洪水和持续抢劫等自然因素的威胁，这项研究的一个重要贡献将是记录它们对理解复杂社会的起源和中期影响的效用。全新世气候变化对北美东部人口的影响。研究结果具有广泛的公众和学术意义，并将在教学和公众教育方面发挥作用。这项工作将利用从新政时代开始的实地调查中被低估的博物馆藏品，所有结果都将向公众提供，并将在科学会议和同行评审期刊上发表。

Under the supervision of Dr. David G. Anderson, Thaddeus Bissett will study the origins of cultural traditions associated with the midcontinental Shell Mound Archaic (SMA), using archaeological materials from four stratified shell mound sites in western Tennessee. Freshwater shell mounds first appeared in that region during the early centuries of the Mid-Holocene Warm Interval (ca. 8,900 - 5,700 cal years before present [cal yr BP]), corresponding to the Middle Archaic cultural period. Sites of the SMA are known from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama, and collectively span more than 6,000 years of history (ca. 8,900 - 3,200 cal yr BP). However, despite extensive archaeological investigation of these often massive accumulations of shell, stone, cultural material, and human burials for nearly a century, the origins and nature of the cultural practices associated with the creation of such sites are not well understood.This study will assess how models of social interaction and group identity formation can be applied to archaeological data, and will address key questions regarding the history of population movement, group interaction, and ethnogenesis during the early development of the SMA. The work will refine methods used to investigate stratified shell sites, which are known from nearly every region of the world. Finally, this research will produce a high resolution chronology for the early Mid-Holocene in the Midsouth that will serve as a baseline for future research in the region.Traditional models have viewed shell mounds as accumulated refuse from routine subsistence behaviors, but recent alternative models suggest that SMA sites were ritual locations where hunter-gatherer social groups gathered periodically for ceremonial feasting using shellfish and for ritual interment of the dead. These models further posit that such practices originated from the active renegotiation of group identities, representing the development of new cultural traditions after the arrival of outsiders to the area and their subsequent interaction with peoples already inhabiting the region. The proposed research will evaluate these arguments.Multiple AMS 14C dates from cultural strata at four Middle Archaic shell mounds will be used to estimate the duration of occupation at these sites. These data will permit the comparison of depositional rates of shell and other artifact classes within and between strata to assess relative occupational intensity and history of site use. Intra-site variation in deposition rates will be compared to determine if changes in site use occurred over time. Contemporaneity of strata will be assessed to evaluate whether these changes occurred during the same period over a large area. Stylistic analyses of artifacts from strata of similar age at multiple sites will address whether changes in cultural practices resulted from interaction between groups, and whether and how differing cultural traditions may have emerged in the region.Because SMA sites are threatened by natural factors like flooding and from ongoing looting, an important contribution of this study will be the documentation of their utility for understanding the origins of complex societies and the effect of Mid-Holocene climate change on human populations in eastern North America. The results are of broad public as well as academic interest, and will be useful in teaching and public education. This work will make use of under-reported museum collections from fieldwork dating to the New Deal era, and all results will be made available to the general public, and will be presented at scientific meetings and in peer-reviewed journals.