Journal Articles by Mallory Melton
Latin American Antiquity, 2023
This study uses isotope and microbotanical data from the analysis of teeth and dental calculus to... more This study uses isotope and microbotanical data from the analysis of teeth and dental calculus to investigate camelid diet and foddering practices at Quilcapampa (AD 835-900). By providing taxonomically specific evidence of foods consumed, botanical data from dental calculus complement the more general impressions of photosynthetic pathways obtained through isotopic analysis. Results suggest that the camelid diet incorporated maize (Zea mays), algarrobo (Prosopis sp.), potato chuño (Solanum sp.), and other resources. The life-history profile of one camelid (Individual 3) reveals dietary change from mainly C 3 plants to more C 4 plant contributions as the animal aged. This pattern is supported by carbonate isotope results indicating that this individual spent its youth in the mid-valley ecozone before becoming more mobile later in life. As this life-history example shows, isotopic and microbotanical analyses are complementary approaches, clarifying a pattern of seasonal transhumance that linked the lives of humans and animals along the Middle Horizon (AD 600-1000) caravan networks that crisscrossed the central Andes.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2022
Chuño is created by subjecting Solanum subspecies or other tubers to a process of freeze-drying t... more Chuño is created by subjecting Solanum subspecies or other tubers to a process of freeze-drying that reduces their weight and renders them highly storable. Despite the importance of chuño within traditional Andean foodways, we know strikingly little regarding the antiquity of the freeze-drying practice used to create potato chuño. In this study, we present starch granule evidence for the presence of chuño on ceramic and lithic artifacts from the Middle Horizon (A.D. 600-1000) site of Quilcapampa La Antigua, a Wari-affiliated outpost in the Sihuas Valley, Peru. We argue that damage patterns on the archaeologically recovered starch granules are consistent with expectations for chuño. This research has the potential to impact investigations into the domestication and use of potatoes by early Andean communities and other communities around the world who have incorporated potatoes into their foodways.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2020
Identification of diagnostic signatures of food processing practices in the starch grain record h... more Identification of diagnostic signatures of food processing practices in the starch grain record has recently revolutionized our ability to understand foodways, particularly in the Old World. In this paper, we build upon extant starch grain research on chuño, a freeze-dried potato product produced in the Andean highlands, to develop criteria for the identification of chuño types in the archaeological record. We analyzed two hundred modern starches from four chuño blanco and chuño negro sources in Peru and Bolivia. Our results reveal differences in morphology and statistically significant (p < 0.0001) discrepancies in size metrics between the two chuño types that can be used to distinguish archaeological starches. This set of criteria has great potential to inform our understandings of the origins of potato domestication, the development and spread of detoxification methods, taste preferences and cuisine, social (ayllu) affiliations, and highland to lowland trade networks in the Andean past.
Southeastern Archaeology, 2019
Communal eating events or feasts were important activities associated with the founding and maint... more Communal eating events or feasts were important activities associated with the founding and maintenance of Mississippian communities in the southeastern United States. More often than not, however, archaeological deposits of food refuse are interpreted along a spectrum, with household-level consumption at one end and community-wide feasting at the other. Here, we draw attention to the important ways that domestic food practices contributed to social events and processes at the community level. We examine ceramic, botanical, and faunal assemblages from two fourteenth century contexts at Parchman Place (22CO511), a late Mississippi period site in the northern Yazoo Basin. For the earlier deposit, everyday ceramics and plant foods combined with high-utility deer portions and exotic birds suggest pot-luck style feasting meant to bring people together in the context of establishing a community in place. We interpret the later deposit, with its pure ash matrix, focus on serving wares, and purposeful disposal of edible maize and animal remains, as the result of activities related to maize harvest ceremonialism. Both practices suggest that household contributions in general and disposal of domestic food refuse in particular are critical yet underappreciated venues for creating and maintaining community ties in the Mississippian Southeast.
American Antiquity, 2018
Engagement in sustained encounters with colonial actors had long-lasting demographic, social, and... more Engagement in sustained encounters with colonial actors had long-lasting demographic, social, and political consequences for Native American inhabitants of Southeastern North America during the colonial period (AD 1670–1783). Less clear is whether Native peoples who did not regularly trade with colonists also felt the destabilization experienced by more closely affiliated groups. This article explores Native lifeways in the seventeenth-century Eno River valley of the North Carolina Piedmont, a context for which archaeological and ethnohistoric evidence have produced divergent narratives. While extant archaeological findings suggest that daily life from 1650 to 1680 continued virtually unchanged from the preceding Late Woodland period, ethnohistoric accounts indicate that this area was victimized by Native slavers who abducted countless women and children. Seeking to reconcile these narratives, I conducted a diachronic analysis of botanical remains and architecture. Archaeobotanical data reveal that Jenrette site (AD 1650–1680) occupants adopted foodways that differed significantly from those of their Late Woodland predecessors, while architectural evidence indicates a brief village occupation. I argue that Eno River valley inhabitants introduced risk-averse subsistence practices that would have aided in coping with the threat and consequences of slave raiding and that these practices occurred within a social climate of fear and uncertainty that is documented ethnohistorically.
Encuentros sostenidos con actores coloniales tuvieron consecuencias demográficas, sociales y políticas de larga duración para los grupos indígenas del sureste de Norteamérica durante el periodo colonial (1670–1783 dC). Resulta menos claro si los nativos que no comerciaban de manera regular con los colonos también percibieron la misma desestabilización experimentada por grupos con asociaciones más cercanas. Este artículo explora los modos de vida de los nativos durante el siglo XVII en el valle del Río Eno, en el piedemonte de Carolina del Norte, región para la cual la evidencia arqueológica y etnohistórica han producido narrativas divergentes. Mientras que hallazgos arqueológicos previos sugieren que la vida cotidiana en 1650–1680 continuó virtualmente inalterada desde el anterior periodo Silvícola tardío, algunos relatos etnohistóricos indican que esta área fue sometida por mercaderes de esclavos nativos quienes abdujeron un sinnúmero de mujeres y niños. Buscando reconciliar estas narrativas, se llevó a cabo un análisis diacrónico de restos botánicos y arquitectura. Los datos arqueobotánicos revelan que los habitantes del sitio de Jenrette (1650–1680 dC) adoptaron una alimentación significativamente distinta a la de sus predecesores del Silvícola tardío, mientras que la evidencia arquitectónica indica que la ocupación de la aldea fue breve. Se argumenta que los habitantes del valle del Río Eno introdujeron prácticas de subsistencia aversas al riesgo que los habrían ayudado a enfrentarse a la amenaza y las consecuencias de las incursiones esclavistas, y que estas prácticas se presentarían dentro del clima social de temor e incertidumbre que fue documentado etnohistóricamente.
Southeastern Archaeology, 2017
Chronology building has long served as a major focus of archaeological interest in the Central Il... more Chronology building has long served as a major focus of archaeological interest in the Central Illinois River valley (CIRV) of west-central Illinois. Previous methods have relied primarily upon relative dating techniques (e.g., ceramic seriation) as a means of sorting out temporal relationships between sites. This study represents the first investigation into the utility of Bayesian techniques (which consider radiocarbon dates in context with archaeological information) in the CIRV. We present the results of a detailed ceramic seriation of the region, data that we use as a priori information in our Bayesian models. We then offer contiguous, overlapping, and sequential models of site occupations in the Mississippian CIRV, review the output and appropriateness of each model, and consider their implications for the pace of sociopolitical change in the region.
Southeastern Archaeology, 2017
Chronology building has long served as a major focus of archaeological interest in the Central Il... more Chronology building has long served as a major focus of archaeological interest in the Central Illinois River valley (CIRV) of west-central Illinois. Previous methods have relied primarily upon relative dating techniques (e.g., ceramic seriation) as a means of sorting out temporal relationships between sites. This study represents the first investigation into the utility of Bayesian techniques (which consider radiocarbon dates in context with archaeological information) in the CIRV. We present the results of a detailed ceramic seriation of the region, data that we use as a priori information in our Bayesian models. We then offer contiguous, overlapping, and sequential models of site occupations in the Mississippian CIRV, review the output and appropriateness of each model, and consider their implications for the pace of sociopolitical change in the region.
Book Chapters by Mallory Melton
Ancient Foodways: Integrative Approaches to Understanding Subsistence and Society, 2023
Quilcapampa: A Wari Enclave in Southern Peru, 2021
University of Florida Press, Gainesville
Orendorf Settlement D: A Burned Fortified Mississippian Town in the Central Illinois River Valley, ISAS Research Report No. 50, 2020
Spatial and functional analysis of architecture and pit features excavated at Orendorf Settlement... more Spatial and functional analysis of architecture and pit features excavated at Orendorf Settlement D.
Wilson, Gregory D., and Mallory A. Melton
2020 Features. In Orendorf Settlement D: A Burned Fortified Mississippian Town in the Central Illinois River Valley, edited by Lawrence A. Conrad, Kjersti E. Emerson, Thomas E. Emerson, and Duane E. Esarey, pp. 63-90. Illinois State Archaeological Survey Research Report No. 50, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois.
Orendorf Settlement D: A Burned Fortified Mississippian Town in the Central Illinois River Valley, ISAS Research Report No. 50, 2020
Calibration and analysis of radiocarbon dates from the Orendorf settlement is framed within the b... more Calibration and analysis of radiocarbon dates from the Orendorf settlement is framed within the broader scope of the regional chronology of the Central Illinois River Valley, building on research presented in Wilson et al. 2018 (journal article published in Southeastern Archaeology).
Melton, Mallory A., Gregory D. Wilson, and Amber M. VanDerwarker
2020 Spoon River Culture and Chronology. In Orendorf Settlement D: A Burned Fortified Mississippian Town in the Central Illinois River Valley, edited by Lawrence A. Conrad, Kjersti E. Emerson, Thomas E. Emerson, and Duane E. Esarey, pp. 119-128. Illinois State Archaeological Survey Research Report No. 50, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois.
Dissertation by Mallory Melton
The emergence of an incipient city represents not only a moment in time, but also the beginnings ... more The emergence of an incipient city represents not only a moment in time, but also the beginnings of a social experiment. Aggregated living introduced new challenges such as the need to feed more mouths than ever before. Yet studying responses to these challenges becomes difficult in the case of early cities as excavations of these contexts do not provide adequate temporal and/or spatial resolution to assess change over time. This dissertation examines subsistence strategies at the archaeological site of La Blanca (900-500 BCE), a Middle Preclassic period incipient city on the Pacific coast of Guatemala with a long history of household excavations. I analyze macrobotanical and microbotanical plant remains from La Blanca to assess both the types of foods used to feed inhabitants and the distribution of intra-site food processing activities across time and space. The analysis of plant remains can provide unique insights into social differentiation in comparison to other commonly used indices, such as the distribution of prestige goods. I rely on Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical construct of social fields to disentangle the study of economic ranking based on prestige goods from economic activities pursued by households. Rather than grouping households by elite or commoner status first and then comparing plant remains second, I look to the plant data first to assess their own non-binary insights into social relations. My research uses Exploratory Data Analysis to investigate spatial and temporal patterning. I integrate a wide variety of techniques including paleoethnobotanical methods (macrobotanical, starch granule, and phytolith analysis), spatial statistics, and Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates to conduct intra-site and inter-site comparisons of plant data from the La Blanca site. My results present novel perspectives on subsistence planning in early cities and long-term changes in the regional subsistence practices of Pacific Mexico and Guatemala during the Preclassic period. Spatial statistics reveal that domestic contexts at La Blanca are clustered, identifying five neighborhoods and one additional area with a more complex use history. Comparisons of botanical remains from these six locales indicate that their uses changed over time. Moreover, temporal comparisons illustrate that diversification played a key role in meeting subsistence needs during the Conchas D subphase, the most populous period of the early city’s occupation. Inter-site comparisons with other Early and Middle Preclassic sites on the Pacific Coast indicate that, contrary to expectations, maize intensification predated the initial urbanization of the region. La Blanca also represents the highest taxonomic diversity of the sequence, revealing that diversification is more characteristic of early urbanism on the Pacific Coast than previously considered. Analysis of plant use as a social field does not provide strong evidence of differences in household subsistence strategies by economic ranking, but instead highlights key differences by spatial cluster that are more indicative of early efforts at city planning.
Technical Reports by Mallory Melton
Research Laboratories of Archaeology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2014
Selected Conference Presentations by Mallory Melton
First Place, Southeastern Archaeological Conference Student Paper Competition (2016)
Employing a... more First Place, Southeastern Archaeological Conference Student Paper Competition (2016)
Employing a diachronic approach, this paper assesses the impacts of European contact on indigenous residents of the seventeenth-century North Carolina Piedmont. Archaeobotanical data reveal that occupants of the Jenrette site (A.D. 1650-1680) adopted risk-averse foodways, while ceramic and architectural evidence indicates that these changes likely occurred in the context of a coalescent village containing Occaneechi refugees who endured social, political, and economic destabilization prior to arriving in the Piedmont. Drawing comparisons to the Cherokee, I suggest that Jenrette residents modified their foodways in reaction to personally-experienced crises and/or the volatility that plagued much of the Southeast during the colonial period.
Recent attention to the distribution of Mississippian ceremonial styles prompts examination of th... more Recent attention to the distribution of Mississippian ceremonial styles prompts examination of the geographic origins of ritual objects, including effigy pipes. A sourcing study was undertaken for Mississippian sandstone effigy pipes from the Lower Mississippi Valley. These pipes were compared to samples collected from Catahoula and Hattiesburg sandstone outcrops in southwestern Mississippi. The stone in the effigy pipes is generally similar to samples collected from the Catahoula Formation, which suggests that outcrops of the latter were viable sources for production material. Other possible sources, however, cannot yet be conclusively eliminated.
Papers by Mallory Melton
Latin American Antiquity
This study uses isotope and microbotanical data from the analysis of teeth and dental calculus to... more This study uses isotope and microbotanical data from the analysis of teeth and dental calculus to investigate camelid diet and foddering practices at Quilcapampa (AD 835–900). By providing taxonomically specific evidence of foods consumed, botanical data from dental calculus complement the more general impressions of photosynthetic pathways obtained through isotopic analysis. Results suggest that the camelid diet incorporated maize (Zea mays), algarrobo (Prosopis sp.), potato chuño (Solanum sp.), and other resources. The life-history profile of one camelid (Individual 3) reveals dietary change from mainly C3 plants to more C4 plant contributions as the animal aged. This pattern is supported by carbonate isotope results indicating that this individual spent its youth in the mid-valley ecozone before becoming more mobile later in life. As this life-history example shows, isotopic and microbotanical analyses are complementary approaches, clarifying a pattern of seasonal transhumance th...
Journal Articles & Book Chapters by Mallory Melton
Latin American Antiquity, 2023
This study uses isotope and microbotanical data from the analysis of teeth and dental calculus to... more This study uses isotope and microbotanical data from the analysis of teeth and dental calculus to investigate
camelid diet and foddering practices at Quilcapampa (AD 835–900). By providing taxonomically specific
evidence of foods consumed, botanical data from dental calculus complement the more general impressions
of photosynthetic pathways obtained through isotopic analysis. Results suggest that the camelid diet
incorporated maize (Zea mays), algarrobo (Prosopis sp.), potato chuño (Solanum sp.), and other resources.
The life-history profile of one camelid (Individual 3) reveals dietary change from mainly C3 plants to
more C4 plant contributions as the animal aged. This pattern is supported by carbonate isotope results
indicating that this individual spent its youth in the mid-valley ecozone before becoming more mobile
later in life. As this life-history example shows, isotopic and microbotanical analyses are complementary
approaches, clarifying a pattern of seasonal transhumance that linked the lives of humans and animals
along the Middle Horizon (AD 600–1000) caravan networks that crisscrossed the central Andes.
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Journal Articles by Mallory Melton
Encuentros sostenidos con actores coloniales tuvieron consecuencias demográficas, sociales y políticas de larga duración para los grupos indígenas del sureste de Norteamérica durante el periodo colonial (1670–1783 dC). Resulta menos claro si los nativos que no comerciaban de manera regular con los colonos también percibieron la misma desestabilización experimentada por grupos con asociaciones más cercanas. Este artículo explora los modos de vida de los nativos durante el siglo XVII en el valle del Río Eno, en el piedemonte de Carolina del Norte, región para la cual la evidencia arqueológica y etnohistórica han producido narrativas divergentes. Mientras que hallazgos arqueológicos previos sugieren que la vida cotidiana en 1650–1680 continuó virtualmente inalterada desde el anterior periodo Silvícola tardío, algunos relatos etnohistóricos indican que esta área fue sometida por mercaderes de esclavos nativos quienes abdujeron un sinnúmero de mujeres y niños. Buscando reconciliar estas narrativas, se llevó a cabo un análisis diacrónico de restos botánicos y arquitectura. Los datos arqueobotánicos revelan que los habitantes del sitio de Jenrette (1650–1680 dC) adoptaron una alimentación significativamente distinta a la de sus predecesores del Silvícola tardío, mientras que la evidencia arquitectónica indica que la ocupación de la aldea fue breve. Se argumenta que los habitantes del valle del Río Eno introdujeron prácticas de subsistencia aversas al riesgo que los habrían ayudado a enfrentarse a la amenaza y las consecuencias de las incursiones esclavistas, y que estas prácticas se presentarían dentro del clima social de temor e incertidumbre que fue documentado etnohistóricamente.
Book Chapters by Mallory Melton
Wilson, Gregory D., and Mallory A. Melton
2020 Features. In Orendorf Settlement D: A Burned Fortified Mississippian Town in the Central Illinois River Valley, edited by Lawrence A. Conrad, Kjersti E. Emerson, Thomas E. Emerson, and Duane E. Esarey, pp. 63-90. Illinois State Archaeological Survey Research Report No. 50, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois.
Melton, Mallory A., Gregory D. Wilson, and Amber M. VanDerwarker
2020 Spoon River Culture and Chronology. In Orendorf Settlement D: A Burned Fortified Mississippian Town in the Central Illinois River Valley, edited by Lawrence A. Conrad, Kjersti E. Emerson, Thomas E. Emerson, and Duane E. Esarey, pp. 119-128. Illinois State Archaeological Survey Research Report No. 50, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois.
Dissertation by Mallory Melton
Technical Reports by Mallory Melton
Selected Conference Presentations by Mallory Melton
Employing a diachronic approach, this paper assesses the impacts of European contact on indigenous residents of the seventeenth-century North Carolina Piedmont. Archaeobotanical data reveal that occupants of the Jenrette site (A.D. 1650-1680) adopted risk-averse foodways, while ceramic and architectural evidence indicates that these changes likely occurred in the context of a coalescent village containing Occaneechi refugees who endured social, political, and economic destabilization prior to arriving in the Piedmont. Drawing comparisons to the Cherokee, I suggest that Jenrette residents modified their foodways in reaction to personally-experienced crises and/or the volatility that plagued much of the Southeast during the colonial period.
Papers by Mallory Melton
Journal Articles & Book Chapters by Mallory Melton
camelid diet and foddering practices at Quilcapampa (AD 835–900). By providing taxonomically specific
evidence of foods consumed, botanical data from dental calculus complement the more general impressions
of photosynthetic pathways obtained through isotopic analysis. Results suggest that the camelid diet
incorporated maize (Zea mays), algarrobo (Prosopis sp.), potato chuño (Solanum sp.), and other resources.
The life-history profile of one camelid (Individual 3) reveals dietary change from mainly C3 plants to
more C4 plant contributions as the animal aged. This pattern is supported by carbonate isotope results
indicating that this individual spent its youth in the mid-valley ecozone before becoming more mobile
later in life. As this life-history example shows, isotopic and microbotanical analyses are complementary
approaches, clarifying a pattern of seasonal transhumance that linked the lives of humans and animals
along the Middle Horizon (AD 600–1000) caravan networks that crisscrossed the central Andes.
Encuentros sostenidos con actores coloniales tuvieron consecuencias demográficas, sociales y políticas de larga duración para los grupos indígenas del sureste de Norteamérica durante el periodo colonial (1670–1783 dC). Resulta menos claro si los nativos que no comerciaban de manera regular con los colonos también percibieron la misma desestabilización experimentada por grupos con asociaciones más cercanas. Este artículo explora los modos de vida de los nativos durante el siglo XVII en el valle del Río Eno, en el piedemonte de Carolina del Norte, región para la cual la evidencia arqueológica y etnohistórica han producido narrativas divergentes. Mientras que hallazgos arqueológicos previos sugieren que la vida cotidiana en 1650–1680 continuó virtualmente inalterada desde el anterior periodo Silvícola tardío, algunos relatos etnohistóricos indican que esta área fue sometida por mercaderes de esclavos nativos quienes abdujeron un sinnúmero de mujeres y niños. Buscando reconciliar estas narrativas, se llevó a cabo un análisis diacrónico de restos botánicos y arquitectura. Los datos arqueobotánicos revelan que los habitantes del sitio de Jenrette (1650–1680 dC) adoptaron una alimentación significativamente distinta a la de sus predecesores del Silvícola tardío, mientras que la evidencia arquitectónica indica que la ocupación de la aldea fue breve. Se argumenta que los habitantes del valle del Río Eno introdujeron prácticas de subsistencia aversas al riesgo que los habrían ayudado a enfrentarse a la amenaza y las consecuencias de las incursiones esclavistas, y que estas prácticas se presentarían dentro del clima social de temor e incertidumbre que fue documentado etnohistóricamente.
Wilson, Gregory D., and Mallory A. Melton
2020 Features. In Orendorf Settlement D: A Burned Fortified Mississippian Town in the Central Illinois River Valley, edited by Lawrence A. Conrad, Kjersti E. Emerson, Thomas E. Emerson, and Duane E. Esarey, pp. 63-90. Illinois State Archaeological Survey Research Report No. 50, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois.
Melton, Mallory A., Gregory D. Wilson, and Amber M. VanDerwarker
2020 Spoon River Culture and Chronology. In Orendorf Settlement D: A Burned Fortified Mississippian Town in the Central Illinois River Valley, edited by Lawrence A. Conrad, Kjersti E. Emerson, Thomas E. Emerson, and Duane E. Esarey, pp. 119-128. Illinois State Archaeological Survey Research Report No. 50, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois.
Employing a diachronic approach, this paper assesses the impacts of European contact on indigenous residents of the seventeenth-century North Carolina Piedmont. Archaeobotanical data reveal that occupants of the Jenrette site (A.D. 1650-1680) adopted risk-averse foodways, while ceramic and architectural evidence indicates that these changes likely occurred in the context of a coalescent village containing Occaneechi refugees who endured social, political, and economic destabilization prior to arriving in the Piedmont. Drawing comparisons to the Cherokee, I suggest that Jenrette residents modified their foodways in reaction to personally-experienced crises and/or the volatility that plagued much of the Southeast during the colonial period.
camelid diet and foddering practices at Quilcapampa (AD 835–900). By providing taxonomically specific
evidence of foods consumed, botanical data from dental calculus complement the more general impressions
of photosynthetic pathways obtained through isotopic analysis. Results suggest that the camelid diet
incorporated maize (Zea mays), algarrobo (Prosopis sp.), potato chuño (Solanum sp.), and other resources.
The life-history profile of one camelid (Individual 3) reveals dietary change from mainly C3 plants to
more C4 plant contributions as the animal aged. This pattern is supported by carbonate isotope results
indicating that this individual spent its youth in the mid-valley ecozone before becoming more mobile
later in life. As this life-history example shows, isotopic and microbotanical analyses are complementary
approaches, clarifying a pattern of seasonal transhumance that linked the lives of humans and animals
along the Middle Horizon (AD 600–1000) caravan networks that crisscrossed the central Andes.