Maureen E Meyers
The focus of all my research is the role of exchange between groups, specifically, how the exchange of material goods affects the non-material ties between groups, and how we can identify these ties and their effects in archaeological contexts.
My primary research is focused on one frontier of the Mississippian world in southwestern Virginia. My investigations at the Carter Robinson site identified four structures at this single-mound village chiefdom (A.D. 1285-1385), and were funded by a National Geographic Exploration Grant. At the site, one structure was the location of craft production and feasting, based on artifact data and dietary remains. Ceramic analyses revealed that ceramics were exchanged with local Virginia tribes (Radford culture) and that over time, Mississippian and Radford people established close ties for the purposes of trade. Continued excavation at this site in 2013 will clarify the role of household craft production in the creation and maintenance of chiefly power, and will extend this research to other contemporaneous sites nearby.
In addition to my frontier Mississippian research, I also research the Westo Indians, a 17th century group who were forced from the Northeast around 1650, eventually settling along the Savannah River near present-day August, Georgia. There they became feared slave raiders and traders. My research has identified their probable trading partner as William Byrd of Virginia, as well as some of his contemporaries. Continued research of the Westo is working on identifying their village in Augusta and further clarifying the nature of their ties to Byrd and other colonial Virginians, in order to understand the changing nature of exchange among native groups in Virginia and other areas of the protohistoric South.
Phone: 662-915-7297
Address: P.O. Box 1848
560 Lamar Hall
University of Mississippi
University, MS 38677
My primary research is focused on one frontier of the Mississippian world in southwestern Virginia. My investigations at the Carter Robinson site identified four structures at this single-mound village chiefdom (A.D. 1285-1385), and were funded by a National Geographic Exploration Grant. At the site, one structure was the location of craft production and feasting, based on artifact data and dietary remains. Ceramic analyses revealed that ceramics were exchanged with local Virginia tribes (Radford culture) and that over time, Mississippian and Radford people established close ties for the purposes of trade. Continued excavation at this site in 2013 will clarify the role of household craft production in the creation and maintenance of chiefly power, and will extend this research to other contemporaneous sites nearby.
In addition to my frontier Mississippian research, I also research the Westo Indians, a 17th century group who were forced from the Northeast around 1650, eventually settling along the Savannah River near present-day August, Georgia. There they became feared slave raiders and traders. My research has identified their probable trading partner as William Byrd of Virginia, as well as some of his contemporaries. Continued research of the Westo is working on identifying their village in Augusta and further clarifying the nature of their ties to Byrd and other colonial Virginians, in order to understand the changing nature of exchange among native groups in Virginia and other areas of the protohistoric South.
Phone: 662-915-7297
Address: P.O. Box 1848
560 Lamar Hall
University of Mississippi
University, MS 38677
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