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Thesis
Mississippianization and Late Woodland Resistance: An Analysis of a Wakulla Shell Midden on Pensacola Bay
University of West Florida Libraries
Master of Arts (MA), University of West Florida
2023
Abstract
The study of northwest Florida’s past Indigenous populations is often challenging as they frequently do not fit the anticipated models constructed by researchers whose gazes have been fixed on cultural shifts of the interior. Mississippianization, or the spread of Mississippian cultural identity and practices, remains an understudied topic in much of the region, but especially along the coast where the cultural chronology of Indigenous populations is still undergoing refinement. The physiographic benefits, temperate climate, and abundant resources of marine environments made coastal dwelling favorable throughout history. This liminal space where land meets sea establishes a unique combination of determining factors, setting coastal populations on a different path than those further inland. During the summer of 2017, one section of the University of West Florida’s archaeological field school investigated a shell midden on the East Pensacola Heights (8ES1) site, overlooking Pensacola Bay. While the ceramic assemblage suggested the midden was deposited during a transitional phase between the Late Woodland and Early Mississippian periods, radiocarbon analyses reveal a complex chronology. Using data from this discrete shell midden, this thesis discusses how and why coastal communities appear to diverge from the practices of their inland contemporaries, and the impact of maritime cultural landscapes in the response to Mississippianization along the northern Gulf Coast.
Details
- Title
- Mississippianization and Late Woodland Resistance
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Contributors
- Ramie A. Gougeon (Committee Chair)John E. Worth (Committee Member)Jennifer Melcher (Committee Member)
- Publisher
- University of West Florida Libraries
- Format
- pdf
- Number of pages
- 170
- Copyright
- Permission granted to the University of West Florida Libraries by the author to digitize and/or display this information for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires the permission of the copyright holder.
- Identifiers
- 99380482393806600
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology
- Language
- English
- Awarding Institution
- Anthropology; University of West Florida; Master of Arts (MA)
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), University of West Florida