I'm now on chapter 5 (out of 6) of Ken Sassaman's (2010) book The Eastern Archaic, Historicized. As I wrote a few days ago, Sassaman's book is a fascinating attempt to re-boot our understanding of the Archaic archaeology of the Eastern Woodlands. It takes a fresh look at change over the course of the eight millennia of the eastern Archaic, augmenting the familiar processual lens (with it's focus on ecology and adaptation) with one that foregrounds historically-continent phenomena such as migration, diaspora, ethnogenesis, and short-term events. It's a good read.
The Eastern Woodlands is a big area, and I don't know any archaeologist who claims mastery of all of it. As far as the Archaic, the part I'm most familiar with probably remains the central Ohio Valley and the lower Great Lakes. I worked in southern, central, and northern Indiana for a total of nine or ten years, give or take, between the mid-1990s and 2006.
The Eastern Woodlands is a big area, and I don't know any archaeologist who claims mastery of all of it. As far as the Archaic, the part I'm most familiar with probably remains the central Ohio Valley and the lower Great Lakes. I worked in southern, central, and northern Indiana for a total of nine or ten years, give or take, between the mid-1990s and 2006.
One of the first peer-reviewed papers I authored was this 2003 Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology (MCJA) paper on Middle Archaic bone pins. These pins -- small, carved bone objects that may have served as hair pins or parts of clothing -- have been found at several sites in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys dating to about the period 6000-5000 RCYBP. The pins vary in both head shape and the engraved decoration. Dick Jefferies (University of Kentucky) has written a lot about the pins. I'll reproduce a couple of figures from my MCJA paper to show you some of the main sites that have produced the pins (there may be more now -- I haven't kept up with the literature) and the range of shape and decoration.
Sites with Middle Archaic carved/engraved bone pins (left); head shapes and decoration types (right).
Sassaman (2010:129) discusses the pins in the context of his ideas about Middle/Late Archaic social boundaries and ethnogenesis. Following Jefferies' analyses, he suggests that variation in the pins is essentially telling us about the composition and external relationships of the societies that made them:
". . . Jefferies (2004, pp. 71-73) views diversity in style as a measure of social diversity and the distribution of styles as a proxy for social networks.
Among the broader inferences Jefferies was able to make with bone pin data is that the Ohio River was a definite boundary separating cultural traditions fully engaged in the production of bone items."
Among the broader inferences Jefferies was able to make with bone pin data is that the Ohio River was a definite boundary separating cultural traditions fully engaged in the production of bone items."
The impetus for my 2003 MCJA paper was to ask if any the variability in the pins was related to time. The carved and engraved pins were produced, after all, over a period of at least 1000 radiocarbon years. If styles come and go through time (as they tend to do), then the mixtures of styles present at any one site may be a result of the passing of time in addition to (or instead of) various kinds of social interactions. This is an analytically important issue: it's tough to interpret variation correctly if you don't have a handle on the time component. Imagine trying to use junkyards to understand the structure of the auto industry without knowing that a '57 Chevy comes from a different era than a '95 Toyota.
Based on what I did, I think there's a good case to be made that at least some of the variation in pin characteristics is temporal. I used combinations of head type and decoration to create a seriation of the bone pins. I combined the relative sequence suggested by the seriation with radiocarbon data to produce a chronology:
Based on what I did, I think there's a good case to be made that at least some of the variation in pin characteristics is temporal. I used combinations of head type and decoration to create a seriation of the bone pins. I combined the relative sequence suggested by the seriation with radiocarbon data to produce a chronology:
My chronology, which I regard as preliminary, suggested that square-top an fishtail pins were produced relatively early in the sequence and t-top and crutch-top pins rather late. Not having kept up with the literature (and falling out-of-touch with many of my colleagues actively doing CRM in the Ohio Valley), I do not know whether pins discovered since the MCJA paper have falsified the chronology I proposed. Occurences of t-top or crutch-top pins prior to 5500 RCYBP or square-top or fishtail pins after 5500 RCYBP would suggest that the ordering and dating of my chronology is wrong. I would be interested to know about pin finds since 2002, or any other sources of data that are relevant (I'm travelling right now and don't have access to my printed sources and the time/space to spread everything out and have a fresh look).
Carved bone pins were produced during the Middle/Late Archaic in several areas of the Eastern Woodlands, and there is significant variability both within and between these regions. This 2004 paper by Dick Jefferies ("Regional-Scale Interaction Networks and the Emergence of Cultural Complexity along the Northern Margins of the Southeast") discusses the Midwestern pins and others. Jefferies (2004:Figure 4.3) illustrates pins from the Savannah River region that appear (at least superficially) to share some design elements with pins from the Midwest. The Stallings Island pin assemblage appears to contain pins very similar to the crutch-top or t-top styles, which is interesting given the general time range of Stallings Island (ca. 4500-3500 BP?) relative to the late positioning of the style in my preliminary chronology from the Midwest (ca. 5000 RCYBP). I'll have to take some time to get caught up and go through the available data carefully and see if it's worth formally revisiting the issue of temporal variation in pin styles in the context of Sassaman's ideas about the Archaic.
Carved bone pins were produced during the Middle/Late Archaic in several areas of the Eastern Woodlands, and there is significant variability both within and between these regions. This 2004 paper by Dick Jefferies ("Regional-Scale Interaction Networks and the Emergence of Cultural Complexity along the Northern Margins of the Southeast") discusses the Midwestern pins and others. Jefferies (2004:Figure 4.3) illustrates pins from the Savannah River region that appear (at least superficially) to share some design elements with pins from the Midwest. The Stallings Island pin assemblage appears to contain pins very similar to the crutch-top or t-top styles, which is interesting given the general time range of Stallings Island (ca. 4500-3500 BP?) relative to the late positioning of the style in my preliminary chronology from the Midwest (ca. 5000 RCYBP). I'll have to take some time to get caught up and go through the available data carefully and see if it's worth formally revisiting the issue of temporal variation in pin styles in the context of Sassaman's ideas about the Archaic.
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