Archaeologist interested in monument construction and lithic technology among prehistoric foraging societies in the Southeastern United States. Address: Richmond, Kentucky, United States
The goal of Stage IIa of the Tomoka Archaeology Project (TAP) is to characterize archaeological s... more The goal of Stage IIa of the Tomoka Archaeology Project (TAP) is to characterize archaeological sediments across the site and determine their horizontal and vertical extent. Data from this work provides a means for distinguishing between deposits produced through different activities and insight into how late Mount Taylor groups organized their living and monumental spaces. Knowing the composition and character of subsurface deposits and their distribution will aid in selecting areas with the greatest potential to produce the kinds of data required for paleoenvironmental reconstruction – preserved plant and animal remains – and are found in organically enriched sediments, especially shell – making preservation possible by reducing soil acidity. Data on the location of deposits with preserved organics will help to determine locations to excavate and sample during the next phase of field work.https://encompass.eku.edu/swps_facultygallery/1020/thumbnail.jp
Early Human Life on the Southeastern Coastal Plain, 2018
The quarry cluster approach developed for Florida chert sources in the 1980s has continued to be ... more The quarry cluster approach developed for Florida chert sources in the 1980s has continued to be a robust and reliable method of sourcing artifacts. Provenance is based on visually observable textural and paleontologic attributes. Some improvements have been developed using Weights of Evidence Bayesian analysis and Portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF).
The goal of Stage IIa of the Tomoka Archaeology Project (TAP) is to characterize archaeological s... more The goal of Stage IIa of the Tomoka Archaeology Project (TAP) is to characterize archaeological sediments across the site and determine their horizontal and vertical extent. Data from this work provides a means for distinguishing between deposits produced through different activities and insight into how late Mount Taylor groups organized their living and monumental spaces. Knowing the composition and character of subsurface deposits and their distribution will aid in selecting areas with the greatest potential to produce the kinds of data required for paleoenvironmental reconstruction – preserved plant and animal remains – and are found in organically enriched sediments, especially shell – making preservation possible by reducing soil acidity. Data on the location of deposits with preserved organics will help to determine locations to excavate and sample during the next phase of field work.https://encompass.eku.edu/swps_facultygallery/1020/thumbnail.jp
Early Human Life on the Southeastern Coastal Plain, 2018
The Quarry Cluster concept was first developed in the early 1980s as a way to visually assign lit... more The Quarry Cluster concept was first developed in the early 1980s as a way to visually assign lithic artifacts to geographic localities where chert outcrops share similar geological characteristics. It has been used in Florida for over 30 years and has proven to be a robust method for determining chert provenance. This chapter reviews the concept, how it has been used (and abused), and provides some examples from Paleoindian and Early Archaic sites in Florida. Current efforts to use geochemical methods in combination with visual attributes to characterize Florida cherts are also discussed.
Thornhill Lake phase (5000-4700 cal BP) foragers at the Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex exploited... more Thornhill Lake phase (5000-4700 cal BP) foragers at the Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex exploited coquina (Donax spp.) clams in huge quantities before the adoption of pottery. Direct and indirect evidence for methods of collection and processing these tiny bivalves has accumulated during analysis of materials from this site. Here, evidence for coquina collection and preparation technology at Tomoka is presented. Also considered is its relationship to shellfish collection and processing practices among contemporary coastal and St. Johns River groups. We conclude that technological practices at Tomoka reflect in part technological constraints, but also social interaction and/or geographic origins. Shellfish consumption has a deep history in the Florida peninsula. Establishing the onset of shellfish exploitation on the Atlantic coast is problematic due to post-Pleistocene sea-level rise. Within the St. Johns River Valley shellfish were exploited extensively by 7400 cal BP. Although shellfish remains are ubiquitous at many sites, evidence for how they were collected and processed is scant. Oyster and hard clam are relatively large-bodied, easy to collect, and can be cooked in their own shells directly on hot coals or extracted and added to soups and stews cooked in ceramic vessels. How, then, were the billions upon billions of small-sized mollusks collected and cooked before the adoption of pottery? Small-sized mollusks pose challenges to both collection and processing because their size increases collection and handling time, providing lower returns for the labor invested (Whitaker and Byrd 2014). In this paper we consider how Donax spp. clams were collected and processed before pottery during the Thornhill Lake phase of Mount
Investigations at the Grizzly Newt rock shelter in Daniel Boone National Forest, Jackson County, ... more Investigations at the Grizzly Newt rock shelter in Daniel Boone National Forest, Jackson County, Kentucky encountered relatively well-preserved deposits despite decades of intensive looting. Excavations revealed the presence of a discernible Early Archaic component containing multiple features, diagnostic artifacts, botanicals, and faunal remains. Subsequent Middle to Late Archaic and Woodland occupations also occur along with a significant Fort Ancient presence. This paper offers preliminary findings related to the Early Archaic at Grizzly Newt and underscores the unrealized data potential of this site and carries significant implications for both research and the management of archaeological resources.
This paper presents and discusses investigations at the Late Archaic (5600-4500 cal. B.P.) Thornh... more This paper presents and discusses investigations at the Late Archaic (5600-4500 cal. B.P.) Thornhill Lake Complex in the Middle St. Johns River Valley of northeast Florida. Particular attention is given to the developmental history and chronology of this site as well as the local and regional social context for the construction of and use of sand mortuary mounds. Lastly a discussion of the rationale for, and role of, sand mortuary mound construction is offered highlighting its relationship to commemorative practices and the creation and negotiation of identity at the level of the community and region.
The southeastern United States experiences some of the
fastest rates of population growth in the ... more The southeastern United States experiences some of the fastest rates of population growth in the nation and attendant high rates of urban land-use conversion, most of it residential. Unfortunately, not all residential development requires federally mandated archaeological assessment, and state statutes are often insufficient to ensure adequate assessment. A Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis of archaeological impacts from urban land-use conversion in northeast Florida from 1970 to 1995 illustrates the severity of the problem and points to the need to incorporate predictive models for archaeological site distributions into land-use planning at the local level Archaeological reconnaissance in areas most vulnerable to urban sprawl is needed to offset the loss of sites due to inevitable population growth in the Southeast.
EKU Archaeology Field School 2018: Sawdust Pile Site (15Ja447) & Dustbowl Rockshelter (15Ja121), Daniel Boone National Forest, Jackson County, Kentucky, 2023
The goal of Stage IIa of the Tomoka Archaeology Project (TAP) is to characterize archaeological s... more The goal of Stage IIa of the Tomoka Archaeology Project (TAP) is to characterize archaeological sediments across the site and determine their horizontal and vertical extent. Data from this work provides a means for distinguishing between deposits produced through different activities and insight into how late Mount Taylor groups organized their living and monumental spaces. Knowing the composition and character of subsurface deposits and their distribution will aid in selecting areas with the greatest potential to produce the kinds of data required for paleoenvironmental reconstruction – preserved plant and animal remains – and are found in organically enriched sediments, especially shell – making preservation possible by reducing soil acidity. Data on the location of deposits with preserved organics will help to determine locations to excavate and sample during the next phase of field work.https://encompass.eku.edu/swps_facultygallery/1020/thumbnail.jp
Early Human Life on the Southeastern Coastal Plain, 2018
The quarry cluster approach developed for Florida chert sources in the 1980s has continued to be ... more The quarry cluster approach developed for Florida chert sources in the 1980s has continued to be a robust and reliable method of sourcing artifacts. Provenance is based on visually observable textural and paleontologic attributes. Some improvements have been developed using Weights of Evidence Bayesian analysis and Portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF).
The goal of Stage IIa of the Tomoka Archaeology Project (TAP) is to characterize archaeological s... more The goal of Stage IIa of the Tomoka Archaeology Project (TAP) is to characterize archaeological sediments across the site and determine their horizontal and vertical extent. Data from this work provides a means for distinguishing between deposits produced through different activities and insight into how late Mount Taylor groups organized their living and monumental spaces. Knowing the composition and character of subsurface deposits and their distribution will aid in selecting areas with the greatest potential to produce the kinds of data required for paleoenvironmental reconstruction – preserved plant and animal remains – and are found in organically enriched sediments, especially shell – making preservation possible by reducing soil acidity. Data on the location of deposits with preserved organics will help to determine locations to excavate and sample during the next phase of field work.https://encompass.eku.edu/swps_facultygallery/1020/thumbnail.jp
Early Human Life on the Southeastern Coastal Plain, 2018
The Quarry Cluster concept was first developed in the early 1980s as a way to visually assign lit... more The Quarry Cluster concept was first developed in the early 1980s as a way to visually assign lithic artifacts to geographic localities where chert outcrops share similar geological characteristics. It has been used in Florida for over 30 years and has proven to be a robust method for determining chert provenance. This chapter reviews the concept, how it has been used (and abused), and provides some examples from Paleoindian and Early Archaic sites in Florida. Current efforts to use geochemical methods in combination with visual attributes to characterize Florida cherts are also discussed.
Thornhill Lake phase (5000-4700 cal BP) foragers at the Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex exploited... more Thornhill Lake phase (5000-4700 cal BP) foragers at the Tomoka Mound and Midden Complex exploited coquina (Donax spp.) clams in huge quantities before the adoption of pottery. Direct and indirect evidence for methods of collection and processing these tiny bivalves has accumulated during analysis of materials from this site. Here, evidence for coquina collection and preparation technology at Tomoka is presented. Also considered is its relationship to shellfish collection and processing practices among contemporary coastal and St. Johns River groups. We conclude that technological practices at Tomoka reflect in part technological constraints, but also social interaction and/or geographic origins. Shellfish consumption has a deep history in the Florida peninsula. Establishing the onset of shellfish exploitation on the Atlantic coast is problematic due to post-Pleistocene sea-level rise. Within the St. Johns River Valley shellfish were exploited extensively by 7400 cal BP. Although shellfish remains are ubiquitous at many sites, evidence for how they were collected and processed is scant. Oyster and hard clam are relatively large-bodied, easy to collect, and can be cooked in their own shells directly on hot coals or extracted and added to soups and stews cooked in ceramic vessels. How, then, were the billions upon billions of small-sized mollusks collected and cooked before the adoption of pottery? Small-sized mollusks pose challenges to both collection and processing because their size increases collection and handling time, providing lower returns for the labor invested (Whitaker and Byrd 2014). In this paper we consider how Donax spp. clams were collected and processed before pottery during the Thornhill Lake phase of Mount
Investigations at the Grizzly Newt rock shelter in Daniel Boone National Forest, Jackson County, ... more Investigations at the Grizzly Newt rock shelter in Daniel Boone National Forest, Jackson County, Kentucky encountered relatively well-preserved deposits despite decades of intensive looting. Excavations revealed the presence of a discernible Early Archaic component containing multiple features, diagnostic artifacts, botanicals, and faunal remains. Subsequent Middle to Late Archaic and Woodland occupations also occur along with a significant Fort Ancient presence. This paper offers preliminary findings related to the Early Archaic at Grizzly Newt and underscores the unrealized data potential of this site and carries significant implications for both research and the management of archaeological resources.
This paper presents and discusses investigations at the Late Archaic (5600-4500 cal. B.P.) Thornh... more This paper presents and discusses investigations at the Late Archaic (5600-4500 cal. B.P.) Thornhill Lake Complex in the Middle St. Johns River Valley of northeast Florida. Particular attention is given to the developmental history and chronology of this site as well as the local and regional social context for the construction of and use of sand mortuary mounds. Lastly a discussion of the rationale for, and role of, sand mortuary mound construction is offered highlighting its relationship to commemorative practices and the creation and negotiation of identity at the level of the community and region.
The southeastern United States experiences some of the
fastest rates of population growth in the ... more The southeastern United States experiences some of the fastest rates of population growth in the nation and attendant high rates of urban land-use conversion, most of it residential. Unfortunately, not all residential development requires federally mandated archaeological assessment, and state statutes are often insufficient to ensure adequate assessment. A Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis of archaeological impacts from urban land-use conversion in northeast Florida from 1970 to 1995 illustrates the severity of the problem and points to the need to incorporate predictive models for archaeological site distributions into land-use planning at the local level Archaeological reconnaissance in areas most vulnerable to urban sprawl is needed to offset the loss of sites due to inevitable population growth in the Southeast.
EKU Archaeology Field School 2018: Sawdust Pile Site (15Ja447) & Dustbowl Rockshelter (15Ja121), Daniel Boone National Forest, Jackson County, Kentucky, 2023
This report presents the results of Phase III excavation and data recovery at 8HI509, also known ... more This report presents the results of Phase III excavation and data recovery at 8HI509, also known as the West Williams site, located near the town of Thonotosassa in Hillsborough County, Florida. In total, 250 m2 were hand excavated and over 153,000 artifacts, more than 48,000 faunal remains, and 100 cultural features were recovered and documented.
To date the Tomoka Archaeology Project (TAP) has produced data sufficient to begin outlining the ... more To date the Tomoka Archaeology Project (TAP) has produced data sufficient to begin outlining the development of the site generally and the late Mount Taylor Thornhill Lake Phase (TLP) mortuary mounds in particular. A combination of relative and radiometric dating confirms that the majority of the site’s mounds and midden deposits are attributable to the TLP although shell-bearing and shell-free deposits post-dating Mount Taylor are also present, adding a new facet to this well-known but understudied site. Additionally the frequency of mollusk species composing the midden deposits speak to the environmental conditions attending site occupation and mound construction.
This paper presents a definition and discussion of the Expanded Base Microlith (EBM), a formal un... more This paper presents a definition and discussion of the Expanded Base Microlith (EBM), a formal unifacial microlithic tool type recovered from late Mount Taylor, Orange, and St. Johns contexts within the Middle St. Johns River Valley and Lake Apopka area, respectively. Although described and discussed previously be several researchers (ACI/Janus 2001; Austin 2004; Austin et al 2011; Endonino and Hosford 2006; Randall et al. 2011), this tool type has yet to receive a formal typological definition and description. Here the technology, morphological characteristics, temporal placement, geographic distribution, and preliminary observations on function are offered as are future research prospects.
Despite Mount Taylor societies being of interest to archaeologists for quite some time, no system... more Despite Mount Taylor societies being of interest to archaeologists for quite some time, no systematic descriptions have been offered for Mount Taylor lithic technology. This paper offers some preliminary observations on the organization of Mount Taylor lithic technology within the St. Johns River Valley. Areas considered include raw material acquisition; tool production, use, and discard; tool function; and scavenging and recycling behaviors. Typological, chronological, and social aspects of this particular facet of Mount Taylor technology are also considered.
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fastest rates of population growth in the nation and attendant
high rates of urban land-use conversion, most of it residential.
Unfortunately, not all residential development requires
federally mandated archaeological assessment, and state
statutes are often insufficient to ensure adequate assessment.
A Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis of archaeological
impacts from urban land-use conversion in northeast
Florida from 1970 to 1995 illustrates the severity of the
problem and points to the need to incorporate predictive
models for archaeological site distributions into land-use
planning at the local level Archaeological reconnaissance in
areas most vulnerable to urban sprawl is needed to offset the
loss of sites due to inevitable population growth in the
Southeast.
fastest rates of population growth in the nation and attendant
high rates of urban land-use conversion, most of it residential.
Unfortunately, not all residential development requires
federally mandated archaeological assessment, and state
statutes are often insufficient to ensure adequate assessment.
A Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis of archaeological
impacts from urban land-use conversion in northeast
Florida from 1970 to 1995 illustrates the severity of the
problem and points to the need to incorporate predictive
models for archaeological site distributions into land-use
planning at the local level Archaeological reconnaissance in
areas most vulnerable to urban sprawl is needed to offset the
loss of sites due to inevitable population growth in the
Southeast.