Fishing Practices and Effective Seasons: An Evaluation of Zooarchaeological-Based Seasonality Studies in the Lower Suwannee Region of Florida

Summary

This paper critically evaluates the concept of seasons as utilized in zooarchaeological studies of coastal settlements. The project aims to show that "seasons," as a matter of perception, emerge from interplay between natural processes and human practices. Because processes and practices vary geographically and historically, effective seasons are contingent on local circumstances and histories. This paper presents methods for utilizing data on present-day fish populations in the Lower Suwannee area of the Florida Gulf Coast to model locally relevant seasons and apply them to interpretations of coastal settlement over much of the last 4,500 years.

The research provides the first fine-screened zooarchaeological analyses for the lower Suwannee region. Assemblages are interpreted via taxa abundances, allometric estimates, and diversity values. One key result suggests that mobile and sedentary practices co-existed among coastal occupants. Through time, people have been sedentary within the region as a whole, but moved between locations based on cultural and environmental factors. Interpretations are enriched through assessments of multiple coeval sites over single contexts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Recent Considerations of Coastal Subsistence Practices in the Southeastern USA

Keywords

Spatial Coverage