More than a millennium ago, the Weeden Island culture flourished across the northern half of Florida and adjacent portions of the Alabama and Georgia coastal plain. For more than a century, archaeologists have marveled over the extraordinary animal effigy pottery vessels left behind by these pre-Columbian peoples in their mounds and villages. In this volume the authors draw on north Florida archaeological excavations and site surveys to unlock the secrets of the Weeden Island culture and its magnificent ceramics. In particular, investigations at the McKeithen site, a multi-mound village site, provide information used to place the culture within the evolutionary framework of native societies in the southeastern United States. The authors examine the role of mound-building, make assessments about the crafting of Weeden Island ceramics and the ritual significance of animal effigy figurines, and offer conclusions about Weeden Island lifeways, social structure, and sociopolitical stability. Archaeology of Northern Florida provides a much-needed and valuable synthesis of the Weeden Island culture, one that fundamentally alters how we view the pre-Columbian Southeast. It will be of interest to professional archaeologists, students, and that large part of the general public that enjoys learning about the past around us.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Good, But Raises Questions.....,
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This review is from: Archaeology of Northern Florida, A.D. 200-900: The McKeithen Weeden Island Culture (Paperback)
This book, a synthesis of the dig performed at the McKeithen site in northern Florida, is one of the best syntheses available about the Weeden Island culture, which flourished from 200 - 900 A.D., as the book title implies.
While the book is well written and extremely informative - virtually every aspect of the dig is covered in great and useful detail - the work raises a number of important questions which are left unanswered. What was the relationship, if any, of the Weeden Island culture to other contemporaneous archaeological cultures throughout the greater Southeast - for example, the Hopewell culture? Was the Weeden Island "culture", as defined by archaeologists, an actual cultural system or discrete group of people, or was it a system of belief that was shared by a number of Florida's tribes or chiefdoms? Since Weeden Island sites are located in areas where later groups were known to speak dissimilar languages, should we be speaking of a "culture" in considering Weeden Island artifacts? As with any good work on archaeology, the work addresses what can be known about these issues - the chapter on Weeden Island symbolism and beliefs, based on pottery iconography, is among the best of the work. However, the issues raised by the book cry out for further study. Despite these issues, however, the book is and remains a very important work for either the specialist in the Woodland period, or anyone interested in Southeastern archaeology. I highly recommend it.
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