Late Pre-Columbian Craft and Community at the Weeden Island Site (8Pi1)

Summary

In the past, as in the present, political-economic relationships occur at multiple social scales: for instance, we recognize regional relationships of dominance or tribute, degrees of dependence or rivalry between trading partner communities, and patterns of collaboration or competition between neighboring households. Enduring inequalities may become established at any of these levels at different times. This paper will discuss the local organization of residential communities in the context of the Safety Harbor culture, which occurred on the west-central Gulf coast of Florida in late pre-Columbian times. Early Safety Harbor culture represents a transition from Woodland-period communalism to the hierarchical systems witnessed in the early historic period, though the timing and nature of these changes remains ambiguous. The limited amount of evidence from domestic contexts has made it difficult to understand the degree to which changes in regional settlement corresponded with new ways of managing local relationships. I will focus in particular on recent work at the Weeden Island site (8Pi1), including evidence for an emphasis on crafting special-purpose shell ornaments and the integration of crafting activities with other aspects of subsistence.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21637