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41 summary There are over 40 known Archaic period (10,000– 2500 BP) shell-ring sites along the lower Atlantic coast (Figure 4.1). Unequivocal radiocarbon dates indicate that these Archaic rings were constructed in the Late Archaic period, between 5000 and 3400 cal BP. Archaic-period ring-shaped settlements are present throughout much of the coastal Southeast; indeed circular settlements persist in the prehistory of the Southeast (Russo 2010; chap. 3 of this volume) and are present elsewhere in the United States (e.g., Means 2007) after the Archaic period. However, the Archaic-period shell-ring sites on the lower Atlantic coast form a distinctive subset. The overall configuration of these sites—especially the height and character of the shell deposits—is unique. I argue in this chapter that many (although not necessarily all) of these constructions, built by fisher-gathererhunters , functioned as ceremonial centers, among the first of such centers in the southeastern United States (Saunders and Russo 2011). Like ceremonial centers built by smallscale societies in other parts of the New World (see, e.g., de Boer 1997), as well as the Old (Spielmann 2008), these centers served as integrative facilities that brought dispersed bands together to share information, to exchange mates, and to trade, all accompanied by religious ritual, dancing, and feasting. archaic shell rings on the lower atlantic coast: definitions, descriptions, and other details Archaic shell rings are variations of U-shaped or circular constructions ranging in height from less than one meter CHAPTER FOUR Shell Rings of the Lower Atlantic Coast of the United States Defining Function by Contrasting Details, with Reference to Ecuador, Columbia, and Japan Rebecca Saunders to more than six meters; rings occur as single structures or sites may contain a number of rings. The Fig Island Shell Ring Complex, in South Carolina, is one of the most elaborate of the ring complexes (Figure 4.2). Interior diameters of shell rings vary from less than 40 to more than 200 meters. With some exceptions, ring walls are composed overwhelmingly of whole oyster (Crassostrea virginica) shell. The deposits are remarkably free of organic soil; thus there is little organic staining on the shell. This leaves the shell with a very clean appearance. Shell hash is usually present, and the deposits usually contain literally millions of tiny fish bones (for shell, see Russo, chap. 3 in this volume , Table 3.3). Artifacts, overwhelmingly pottery, are also present. Early researchers (e.g., Moore 1897; Waring 1968; Waring and Larson 1968) were struck by the contrast between the character of the midden in the relatively rare rings (Figure 4.3), and the broken oyster and dark organic soil that characterizes the contemporaneous sheet middens— generally considered residential sites—that line the lower Atlantic coast. Other contrasts with contemporaneous shell sites include the formal layout of rings in comparison to amorphous sheet middens, and the maintenance of ring sites: the interior “plaza” and the area immediately outside of the ring wall are relatively free of contemporaneous shell and other organics. Construction of shell rings ensued at the beginning of the Late Archaic period, around 5000 cal BP, at a time when local populations had abandoned their Middle Archaic subsistence strategy, which involved a fairly equitable reliance on both terrestrial and estuarine resources. In its place, Late Archaic people focused on a few estuarine resources. Most shell middens of this culture (and indeed, 42 Rebecca Saunders of subsequent coastal cultures) contain oyster and only traces of other bivalves and gastropods (see Russo, chap. 3 of this volume, Table 3.3), as well as a limited number of species of small, net-able fishes especially saltwater cat- fishes (Ariidae) and herrings (Clupeidae) that appear in large schools in the coastal estuaries.1 Shell rings are no exception. Furthermore, just as these societies looked only eastward for subsistence resources, they also turned their collective backs on trade with the interior. On the stonepoor coast, Middle Archaic sites contain many more lithic artifacts than Late Archaic sites (of any configuration). Indeed, in the absence of sustained trade with the interior, ceremonial centers may have become necessary for information exchange, communal revitalization ceremonies, and the exchange of mates. In this respect, it is important to note that Archaicperiod shell rings have a very discrete distribution—they are a coastal phenomenon. There are huge freshwater shell midden sites dating to the Late Archaic in the interior southeastern United States, along the Green, Tennessee, and Ohio Rivers, as well as...

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