A Mode-based Approach to Seriation of Woodland Pottery in Northwest Georgia

Author(s): Julie Markin; Vernon Knight

Year: 2016

Summary

The complex nature of ceramic style geographies of the Woodland period in northern Georgia has led many to argue that pottery cannot be properly seriated in this region. When we rely on our current typological tools, this assertion holds true because major styles are contemporaneous for long periods. A further complication is the use of different decorative modes within a small community or even by a single household. The overlapping nature of decorative modes does not yield itself well to seriation across a single region as large as northern Georgia but argues rather for the construction of mode-based micro chronologies. A mode-based analysis of pottery from secure contexts in a seven county area of northwest Georgia reveals the gradualness of style replacement between modes. The continuing evolution of elements within a single stamping tradition forces us to rethink and even discard current diagnostic types. Redrawing chronological boundaries in this region based on subtle stylistic connections will enable better assessment of the precise timing and tempo of changes in population, settlement, subsistence, and sedentism.

Cite this Record

A Mode-based Approach to Seriation of Woodland Pottery in Northwest Georgia. Julie Markin, Vernon Knight. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Orlando, Florida. 2016 ( tDAR id: 405005) ; doi:10.6067/XCV80C4XWP

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Spatial Coverage

min long: -91.274; min lat: 24.847 ; max long: -72.642; max lat: 36.386 ;

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