Lives in Transition: Impacts and Adaptations in the Georgia Bight

Summary

The St. Catherines Island Archaeological Project, now more than 40 years in duration, has provided a wealth of data for addressing questions and hypotheses about native adaptations in the Georgia bight. Owing to the rich archaeological context and robust research design, the project has provided opportunities to document and interpret key developments and adaptive transitions in ways not dreamed of when fieldwork began in 1975. The bioarchaeological arm of the investigation, viewed in its rich social, cultural, and natural contexts, focusses on the pre- and post-contact populations inhabiting the island and the Georgia bight generally. This paper discusses the long-term study of two key adaptive transitions, the foraging-to-farming transition in late prehistory and the impacts of exploration and colonization by Spain. The research provides a comprehensive record of time transgressive changes in health, lifestyle, and adaptations that forever altered the landscape and the people inhabiting it. Although the results of this study focus on one region, the implications are global in scope.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• 2015 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of David Hurst Thomas

Keywords

Spatial Coverage