The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast [Paperback]

David G. Anderson (Editor), Kenneth E. Sassaman (Editor), Michael F. Johnson (Contributor), Lisa D. O'Steen (Contributor), Dena F. Dincauze (Contributor), Larry R. Kimball (Contributor), Boyce Driskell (Contributor), R.J. Daniel Daniel (Contributor), John S. Cable (Contributor), James L. Michie (Contributor), John B. Boster (Contributor), Mark R. Norton (Contributor), James S. Dunbar (Contributor), David Webb (Contributor), Samuel O McGahey (Contributor), Christopher J. Gillam (Contributor), Joel Gunn (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 1996

The southeastern United States has one of the richest records of early human settlement of any area of North America. This book provides the first state-by-state summary of Paleoindian and Early Archaic research from the region, together with an appraisal of models developed to interpret the data. It summarizes what we know of the peoples who lived in the Southeast more than 8,000 years ago—when giant ice sheets covered the northern part of the continent, and such mammals as elephants, saber-toothed tigers, and ground sloths roamed the landscape. Extensively illustrated, this benchmark collection of essays on the state of Paleoindian and Early Archaic research in the Southeast will guide future studies on the subject of the region's first inhabitants for years to come.

Divided in three parts, the volume includes:

Part I: Modeling Paleoindian and Early Archaic Lifeways in the Southeast

Environmental and Chronological Considerations, David G. Anderson, Lisa D. O'Steen, and Kenneth E. Sassaman
Modeling Paleoindian and Early Archaic Settlement in the Southeast: A Historical Perspective, David G. Anderson and Kenneth E. Sassaman

Models of Paleoindian and Early Archaic Settlement in the Lower Southeast, David G. Anderson
Early Archaic Settlement in the South Carolina Coastal Plain, Kenneth E. Sassaman
Raw Material Availability and Early Archaic Settlement in the Southeast, I. Randolph Daniel Jr.
Paleoindian and Early Archaic Settlement along the Oconee Drainage, Lisa D. O'Steen
Haw River Revisited: Implications for Modeling Terminal Late Glacial and Early Holocene Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems in the Southeast, John S. Cable
Early Archiac Settlement and Technology: Lessons from Tellico, Larry R. Kimball
Paleoindians Near the Edge: A Virginia Perspective, Michael F. Johnson

Part II: The Regional Record

The Need for a Regional Perspective, Kenneth E. Sassaman and David G. Anderson
Paleoindian and Early Archaic Research in the South Carolina Area, David G. Anderson and Kenneth E. Sassaman
The Taylor Site: An Early Occupation in Central South Carolina, James L. Michie
Paleoindian and Early Archaic Research in Tennessee, John B. Boster and Mark R. Norton
A Synopsis of Paleoindian and Early Archaic Research in Alabama, Eugene M. Futato
Statified Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Deposits at Dust Cave, Northwestern Alabama, Boyce N. Driskell
Bone and Ivory Tools from Submerged Paleoindian Sites in Florida, James S. Dunbar and S. David Webb
Paleoindian and Early Archaic Data from Mississippi, Samuel O. McGahey
Early and Middle Paleoindian Sites in the Northeastern Arkansas Region, J. Christopher Gillam

Part III: Commentary

A Framework for the Paleoindian/Early Archaic Transition, Joel Gunn
Modeling Communities and Other Thankless Tasks, Dena F. Dincauze
An Arkansas View, Dan F. Morse
Comments, Henry T. Wright

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The research base for this book has been accumulating for over 20 years. This is a timely synthesis by southeastern archaeologists and will serve as a benchmark study to be used by scholars both within and outside the Southeast." —Albert C. Goodyear, Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, The University of South Carolina

"A state-of-the-art summary for this important area of hunter-gatherer research . . . and a mandatory addition to the libraries of anyone interested in this dynamic period of prehistory." —American Antiquity

About the Author

David G. Anderson is an Archaeologist with the National Park Service in Tallahassee, Florida. Kenneth E. Sassaman is an Archaeologist with the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology in Columbia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: University Alabama Press (September 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0817308350
• ISBN-13: 978-0817308353
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #629,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David G. Anderson (Ph.D. Michigan 1990, MA Arkansas 1979; BA Case Western Reserve 1972). Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee (2004-present; formerly with the National Park Service, 1988-2003. Awards: Society for American Archaeology (SAA) Dissertation Prize 1991; SAA Presidential Recognition Award 1997; SAA Excellence in Cultural Resource Management Award for Research 1999; First C. B. Moore Award for Excellence in Archaeology, Southeastern Archaeological Conference 1990. I have conducted archaeological fieldwork in the Southeastern, Southwestern, and Midwestern United States, and in the Caribbean. Professional interests include exploring the development of cultural complexity in Eastern North America, maintaining and improving the nation's archaeological program, teaching and writing about archaeology, and developing technical and popular syntheses of archaeological research. This work is documented in some 350 publications and meeting papers and some 40 books and technical monographs. Selected publications include The Savannah River Chiefdoms: Political Change in the Late Prehistoric Southeast (Alabama 1994), The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast (Alabama 1996); Archaeology of the Mid-Holocene Southeast (Florida 1996), the latter two edited with Ken Sassaman; The Woodland Southeast (Alabama 2002) edited with Bob Mainfort; Archaeology, History, and Predictive Modeling (Alabama 2003) with Steve Smith; and Climate Change and Cultural Dynamics: A Global Perspective on Mid-Holocene Transitions (Academic Press 2007) edited with Kirk A. Maasch and Daniel H. Sandweiss. Technical monographs/publications have encompassed large scale survey, excavation, and synthesis projects; site file management; site destruction and looting; historic preservation planning; and the state of the nation's cultural resource management program. A fairly complete resume, picture, and other biographical data is available on the web at http://web.utk.edu/~anthrop/faculty/anderson.html

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast, May 19, 2000

By 

Lee Devendorf (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast (Paperback)

Very useful collection of papers and summaries of papers on paleo and early archaic Americans in this region. The thought provoking theories on settlement and hunting practices that evolved along with the changing climate make this well worth reading. I keep my copy handy and refer back to it often.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Synthesis in Southeastern Archaeology, December 8, 2007

By 

Willet A. Boyer III "Archaeologist" (Gainesville, Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast (Paperback)

This book is a series of papers initially presented at a symposium during the Southeastern Archaeological Conference. It summarizes what was known at that time (1993) about the Paleoindian and early Archaic periods in the Southeast; that is, the time when the first ancestors of later Native American cultures first settled in what is now southeastern North America.

The book covers the entire southeastern region, with site reports and syntheses from Florida out to Arkansas and north to Virginia. It presents a good picture of what we know of the first human settlers in this region, including their believed use of "staging areas" - that is, places the first settlers could learn about their new environments before moving outward into more marginal territory - as well as the environmental factors, such as stone outcrops and plant and animal communities, that would have affected patterns of human settlement.

My only complaint against the book, like so many others in archaeology, is that it does not address what is known or what could be known of the cultures themselves beyond the merely physical. That is, there is far too much attention paid to environmental and technological factors at the expense of attempts to understand what these first settlers may have been thinking, or what their cultural systems or worldviews may have been. However, this alone does not mar what otherwise is a well-written and comprehensive synthesis.

I enjoyed the book, and recommend it to anyone interested in Native American cultures and archaeology.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Paleoindian Book, February 7, 2009

By 

Barry Vanwinkle "atlatlman" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast (Paperback)

I was really looking forward to this addition to my early American library. Fortunately I "Looked Inside" at the Table of Contents and Index and was very surprized to find no mention of the Atlatl, the major hunting weapon used by Paleo people the world over. Predating the bow and arrow by thousands of years. Not only artifacts but wonderful petroglyphs in the US Southwest. A simple but most effective weapon still used by the Aboriginal people in Australia's Outback as well as well as South American Indians for large fish in the Andean lakes and by Alaskan natives for seal.
Maybe I missed something.
Barry VanWinkle