Exploring Southeastern Archaeology
Exploring Southeastern Archaeology
Contributions by Keith A. Baca, Jeffrey P. Brain, Samuel O. Brookes, Ian W. Brown, Philip J. Carr, Jessica Crawford, Patricia Galloway, Alison M. Hadley, Christopher T. Hays, Edward R. Henry, Cliff Jenkins, Jay K. Johnson, Evan Peacock, Janet Rafferty, Maria Schleidt, Mary Evelyn Starr, James B. Stoltman, Andrew M. Triplett, Melissa H. Twaroski, and Richard A. Weinstein
This volume includes original scholarship on a wide array of archaeological research across the South. One essay explores the effects of climate on early cultures in Mississippi. Contributors reveal the production and distribution of stone effigy beads, which were centered in southwest Mississippi some 5,000 years ago, and trace contact between different parts of the prehistoric Southeast as seen in the distribution of clay cooking balls. Researchers explore small, enigmatic sites in the hill country of northern Mississippi now marked by scatters of broken pottery and a large, seemingly isolated "platform" mound in Calhoun County. Pieces describe a mound group in Chickasaw County built by early agriculturalists who subsequently abandoned the area and a similar prehistoric abandonment event in Winston and Choctaw Counties. A large pottery collection from the famous Anna Mounds site in Adams County, excavations at a Chickasaw Indian site in Lee County, camps and works of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the pine hill country of southern Mississippi, and the history of logging in the Mississippi Delta all yield abundant, new understandings of the past.
Overview papers include a retrospective on archaeology in the National Forests of north Mississippi, a look at a number of mound sites in the lower Mississippi Delta, and a study of how communities of learning in field archaeology are built, with prominent archaeologist Samuel O. Brookes’s achievements as a focal point. History buffs, artifact enthusiasts, students, and professionals all will find something of interest in this book, which opens doors on the prehistory and history of Mississippi.
While centered on Mississippi, the book does reflect the diverse circumstances and communities involved in the practice of modern archaeology everywhere.
The chapters in this book collectively provide an extensive sample of current archaeological research in Mississippi, and the diverse topics considered touch on many times, places, and topics in the state’s past. This broad coverage not only reflects the eclectic career contributions of the influential archaeologist Samuel O. Brookes, but it also shows the reader the ways that many constituencies—businesses, laypeople, state and federal agencies, tribal governments, and universities—have contributed to investigating, documenting, preserving, and interpreting Mississippi’s rich archaeological heritage.
An excellent volume honoring the career of Samuel O. Brookes, who through both his research and resource management skills has done so much for southeastern archaeology in Mississippi and far beyond.
Patricia K. Galloway teaches in the School of Information at the University of Texas-Austin. She worked at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, where she managed archaeological publications, was the first IT manager, and created the state electronic records program. She is editor of La Salle and His Legacy: Frenchmen and Indians in the Lower Mississippi Valley, published by University Press of Mississippi. Evan Peacock is an evolutionary archaeologist in the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures at Mississippi State University. He is author of Mississippi Archaeology Q & A, published by University Press of Mississippi.
