Looking Beyond Consumption: Archaeological and Ethnohistoric Approaches to Interpreting Sweetgum Use at Coles Creek Mound Centers

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The role of non-food plants in human history is a growing area of research for paleoethnobotanists. In this paper, we develop and present a multi-pronged method for exploring non-subsistence human-plant interactions in the archaeological record, using a case study from the American Southeast. The archaeological record of the Lower Mississippi Valley represents a long history of indigenous people making wide and variable use of the region’s exceptionally rich ecosystem. Often, archaeological interpretations of these interactions focus on subsistence and do not take into consideration non-food uses of plants and animals. Our excavations at two Coles Creek (AD 750–1000) mound centers, Feltus and Smith Creek, yielded curious concentrations of sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) in addition to the expected suite of plants. In this paper, we outline important advancements in our ability to recognize sweetgum in the archaeological record and synthesize pre- and post-contact ethnobotany to hypothesize about how and why Coles Creek people used this plant in ceremonial activities taking place at mound centers. We then reflect on the importance of such methodologies in allowing archaeologists to more fully explore non-food plant use in a variety of contexts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38794.0