The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast

2. Modeling Paleoindian and Early Archaic Settlement in the Southeast: A Historical Perspective

2 Modeling Paleoindian and Early Archaic Settlement in the Southeast: A Historical Perspective David G. Anderson and Kenneth E. Sassaman INTRODUCTION The southeastern Paleoindian and Early Archaic record is rich and varied , and Paleoindian and EarlyArchaic settlement systems differed markedly over the region. Coupled with this, pronounced changes in both culture and environment occurred over the 3,500 or more years these periods encompassed. Recognition of these facts is essential if we are to interpret properly the record of early human occupation over the region. The papers that follow are directed to the development of explanatory frameworks that can help guide Paleoindian and Early Archaic research in the Southeast in the years ahead. They are specifically intended to help shape the way we view and deal with the record of early human settlement . Controlling for assemblage, climatic, and physiographic variability over time and space is critical to successful archaeological analysis and modeling activity. Variation in climate and resource structure meant that somewhat different adaptive strategies were required by the human populations in each subregion and locality, and from drainage to drainage. Models that deal with specific areas or subperiods or that focus on specific aspects of technological organization, such as the effects of raw material distribution or selection practices on settlement, must, accordingly, be capable of being placed in a larger regional and diachronic perspective . Prior to discussion of current models of Paleoindian and Early Archaic settlement in the lower Southeast, a brief review of earlier models is appropriate. The discussion that follows is revised and updated from a paper originally prepared by Anderson and Hanson (1985). Major sites mentioned in the text are illustrated in figure 2.1. Modeling Settlement: A Historical Perspective 17 Adams/Little River Paleoindian District 2 Adam's Mastodon 3 AdkinsIVaiI 4 Baucom 5 Big Bone Lick 6 Brand 7 Bull Brook I. II 8 Carson-Conn-Short 9 Clays Ferry Crevice 10 Coates-Hindes II Crowfield 12 Debert Laurentide Ice Sheet '.,. .:; . ;':;~~-:" . .' .,. .:,39 ';Little Salt Springs ,.../' 40 Lower Blue Lick .' ..,. ".,~., . 41 Macon Plateau·f··'· 42 Main Site. Ky 1· • 43 Manningffaylor 44 Martin's Creek 45 Meadowcroft 46 Michaud 47 Modoc rock shelter 48 Munsungun Lakes 49 Nobles Pond 50 NuckollsINuckolls Extension 51 Page-Ladson 52 Parkhill 53 Parrish Village 54 Pierce 55 Plenge 56 Puckett 57 Quad 58 Reagan 59 Rodgers Shelter 60 Rucker's Bottom 61 Savage Cave 62 Shawnee-Minisink 63 Shoop 64 Silver Springs 65 Sloan 66 St. Albans 67 Stanfield-Worley 68 Tellico Reservoir 69 Templeton 70 Tensaw Creek 71 Thedford 72 Thenault 73 Twelkemeier 74 Upper Blue Lick 75 Wacissa River 76 Wallace Reservoir 77 Welling 78 Wells Creek Crater 79 West Athens Hill 80 Whatley 81 Whipple 82 Williamson 83 Wolfe Shelter ! North , ," " \ '::..\ ',. ..:':':: ." , " ..... -23 .:.::.\.\ \ ..... \ \,' '. '\. \ .. \ \ . ." ',. .... I. . I " . "'. I '" 26 ~'es;er 27 Higgens 28 Hi-Lo 29 Holcombe Beach 30 Joe Powell 31 Johnson-Hawkins 32 Kimmswick 33 Lace Place 34 Lamb 35 Leavitt 36 LeCroy 37 Lepold 38 Lincoln Hills 200 13 Doershuck 14 Dust Cave 15 Dutchess Quarry Cave 16 Eagle Hill Feronia 17 Fifty 18 Fisher 19 G. S. Lewis East 20 Gamey 21 Graham Cave 22 Hardaway 23 Harney Rats 24 Haw River 25 Hebe Plantation miles kilometers 200 o o " / , , Figure 2.1 Major Paleoindian and Early Archaic sites mentioned in the text (see figures 6.2, 8.1, 8.6, 8.7, 9.3, 11.1, 15.1, and 18.1 for additional details). 18 The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast PALEOINDIAN AND EARLY ARCHAIC MODELS PRIOR TO CIRCA 1965: SEQUENCE DEFINITION AND CHRONOLOGICAL CONCERNS The emergence of reasonably secure assemblage and chronological information on Paleoindian and Early Archaic occupations in the Eastern Woodlands dates to the 1950s and early 1960s, with the initiation of extensive excavations at deeply stratified rock shelter sites such as Graham Cave in Missouri (Logan 1952) and Russell Cave in Alabama (Miller 1956, 1958). Artifacts recovered from these and similar sites, dated with the then newly developed radiocarbon process, were used to develop cultural sequences-focused primarily on the stratigraphic occurrence of projectile point forms-an activity that has continued to the present day. With the exception of Coe's pioneering excavations at the Doershuck and Hardaway open-air sites along and near the Yadkin River of North Carolina (initiated in the late 1940s but not published until 1964), most of this early work was conducted at caves and rock shelters. Major published reports from sites...