Shells and Sherds: Insights into the Historical Landscapes and Mission Period Site Distributions on Sapelo Island, Georgia

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Site 9Mc23, located at the north end of Sapelo Island, Georgia, is a multicomponent Late Archaic through Spanish Mission period site marked by numerous shell rings, piles, lenses, and pits. The adjacent marsh provided abundant shell, which the site’s first inhabitants utilized to construct three monumental shell rings. These features continued to influence site organization throughout the Woodland and Late Precontact periods. Survey data indicate that the focus of settlement shifted during the 17th century Mission period, with a cluster of midden piles at Site 9Mc23 likely representing the Guale mission town of Sapala, while another cluster at Site 9Mc501 to the north may represent a refugee community. This paper examines the spatial patterning of shell at these sites and the changing use of the landscape over time.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23441