Zooarchaeology and Paleoethnobotany by Tanya M Peres
An experimental study of turtle shell rattle production and the implications for archaeofaunal assemblages
Turtle shell rattles are percussion instruments used by Indigenous peoples of the Americas in cer... more Turtle shell rattles are percussion instruments used by Indigenous peoples of the Americas in ceremonial contexts to keep rhythm. Archaeological investigations in the southeastern United States produced several complete and partial Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina) shell rattles from mortuary contexts dating from the Archaic (ca. 8000–1000 BC) through Mississippian periods (ca. AD 800–1500). Fragmentary turtle remains, some identified as Eastern box turtle, are frequently recovered from non-mortuary contexts. Traditionally, these fragmentary remains are attributed to food waste. Given the archaeological and ethnographic evidence for turtle shell rattles, we need to consider how fragmentary remains might fit into the chaîne opératoire of rattle production. This paper presents the results of an experimental study designed to identify one such chaîne opératoire of rattle production. During this experiment, the data on taphonomic processes such as manufacturing marks, use-wear, and breakage patterns, were recorded. We then tested the taphonomic findings from the experimental study and an object trait list we compiled from known rattle specimens and documentary sources with archaeological turtle remains recovered from non-mortuary contexts at two Mississippian period (ca. AD 1000–1450) sites in Middle Tennessee. Historic indigenous groups are known to have, and still do into the present-day, make and use turtle shell rattles in the region. Ultimately, we determined that “food refuse” should not be the default interpretation of fragmentary box turtle remains, and instead the taphonomic history and contextual associations must be considered in full. The experimental process of crafting turtle shell rattles enhances our understanding of an ancient musical instrument and the success rate of identifying musical artifacts and distinguishing between other modified turtle remains in the archaeological record. This study expands our knowledge of ancient music in North America and prompts re-analysis of curated turtle remains in museums for rattle-related modifications.
Understanding and explaining societal rules surrounding food and foodways have been the foci of a... more Understanding and explaining societal rules surrounding food and foodways have been the foci of anthropological studies since the early days of the discipline. Baking, Bourbon, and Black Drink: Foodways Archaeology in the American Southeast, however, is the first collection devoted exclusively to southeastern foodways analyzed through archaeological perspectives. These essays examine which foods were eaten and move the discussion of foodstuffs into the sociocultural realm of why, how, and when they were eaten. Editors Tanya M. Peres and Aaron Deter-Wolf present a volume that moves beyond basic understandings, applying new methods or focusing on subjects not widely discussed in the Southeast to date. Chapters are arranged using the dominant research themes of feasting, social and political status, food security and persistent places, and foodways histories. Contributors provide in-depth examination of specific food topics such as bone marrow, turkey, Black Drink, bourbon, earth ovens, and hominy. Contributors bring a broad range of expertise to the collection, resulting in an expansive look at all of the steps taken from field to table, including procurement, production, cooking, and consumption, all of which have embedded cultural meanings and traditions. The scope of the volume includes the diversity of research specialties brought to bear on the topic of foodways as well as the temporal and regional breadth and depth, the integration of multiple lines of evidence, and, in some cases, the reinvestigation of well-known sites with new questions and new data. “This volume is an excellent resource on the foodways of the southeast and provides fascinating new data, as well as revisiting previously studied sites and analyses of foodways.” —Renee B. Walker, coeditor of Foragers of the Terminal Pleistocene in North America “Baking, Bourbon, and Black Drink is a collection of works elucidating—and in some instances integrating—many diverse aspects of diet and cuisines, written by authors who bring a broad range of expertise to the field of archaeology. It is a major contribution.” —Gayle J. Fritz, professor of archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis CONTRIBUTORS Rachel V. Briggs / Stephen B. Carmody / Aaron Deter-Wolf / Thomas E. Emerson / Kandace D. Hollenbach / Megan C. Kassabaum / Scot Keith / Nicolas Laracuente / Kelly L. Ledford / Tanya M. Peres / Thomas J. Pluckhahn / Neill J. Wallis / Lauren A. Walls / Elic M. Weitzel University of Alabama Press, August 2018 232 PAGES / 6 x 9 / 33 B&W FIGURES / 4 MAPS / 6 TABLES ISBN 978-0-8173-1992-2 / HARDCOVER ISBN 978-0-8173-9195-9 / EBOOK
Ethnobiology Letters, 2018
Mammal fat is an important industrial product and ingredient in culinary dishes and medicines the... more Mammal fat is an important industrial product and ingredient in culinary dishes and medicines the world over, yet evidence for its use is not often identified in the archaeological record. I first give a brief overview of the importance of bone fats to subsistence and industrial economies. I follow this with criteria for identifying these activities archaeologically. This review concludes with why the identification of such activities are important to our understanding of ancient foodways.
Integrating Zooarchaeology and Paleoethnobotany
Southeastern Zooarchaeology - general by Tanya M Peres
"Trends and Traditions in Southeastern Zooarchaeology," pp. 161-185. Edited by T. M. Peres., Feb 2014
The myriad of imagery depicted on marine shell during the late prehistoric period in the American... more The myriad of imagery depicted on marine shell during the late prehistoric period in the American Southeast was meaningful and significant, and has provided the basis for important examinations of Mississippian art and iconography. However, we argue that the selection of marine mollusks by late prehistoric artisans as an iconographic substrate was explicit and deliberate. By the late prehistoric period, shells were embedded with 5,000 years of physical and symbolic geography. This chapter examines the use of both freshwater and marine shell by ancient Native Americans in the Southeast to recall ancestral origins, sanctify and lay claim to the landscape through the construction of landmarks, legitimize political power through the acquisition and display of symbolic, exotic material, and to signify and enable access to supernatural power.
Emergency Shoreline Assessment and Sampling of Archaeological Sites along the Cumberland River in Middle Tennessee.
http://frank.mtsu.edu/~kesmith/TNARCH/tennesseearchaeology.html
Indiana Archaeology, 2014
Integrating Zooarchaeology and Paleoethnobotany, Jan 1, 2010
pp. 35-48 in "Tattoos and Body Modifications in Antiquity: Proceedings of the Sessions at the Annual Meetings of the European Association of Archaeologist in The Hague and Oslo, 2010/11", 2013
This chapter describes ongoing research into the archaeological remains of ancient tattooing in N... more This chapter describes ongoing research into the archaeological remains of ancient tattooing in North America’s Eastern Woodlands. Ethnohistorical sources are first examined to identify indigenous tattoo technologies. Those tools are then recreated and applied in an experimental test to determine which are best suited to the practice of tattooing. Finally, this research explores the utility of scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in identifying tattoo implements from archaeological collections. While none of these techniques provide indisputable means of identifying ancient tattoo implements, together they provide a more robust understanding of ancient Native American tattooing practices.
Early Holocene Vertebrate Paleontology
First Floridians and Last Mastodons: The Page- …, Jan 1, 2006
The richest concentration of vertebrate fossils and cultural remains in the Page-Ladson site was ... more The richest concentration of vertebrate fossils and cultural remains in the Page-Ladson site was scattered on the upper surface of stratigraphic Unit 5. This bone layer was encountered most clearly in Test C and was worked, as the site was extended, during seven different field ...
Shellfishing Does Not Equal Starvation: Debunking Modern Biases Against an Ancient Lifeway in Tennessee
There is a long-held bias among archaeologists regarding the role of shellfish in the diets of pr... more There is a long-held bias among archaeologists regarding the role of shellfish in the diets of pre-Columbian North Americans. Despite presenting an easily accessible and nutritionally beneficial resource, shellfish have been traditionally viewed as a marginal food source consumed in response to starvation or environmental crisis. This bias stems from the emphasis on dietary protein sources during the heyday of Processualism, the supplemental role of shellfish and their association with women and children in modern and ethnographic gathering-collecting cultures, and the
lack of large quantitative datasets on such sites that allow us to look at long-term occupations. Recent surveys and excavations of shellfish-bearing sites along the Middle Cumberland River in Tennessee have yielded temporal and spatial data that allow us to re-evaluate the role of shellfishing in the lifeways of people occupying these sites from the middle to late Archaic through Mississippian periods.
Zooarchaeological remains of gar (Lepisosteidae) appear throughout the prehistoric archaeological... more Zooarchaeological remains of gar (Lepisosteidae) appear throughout the prehistoric archaeological record of the American Southeast. Although these remains have been predominantly interpreted as food waste or residue of elite feasting events, ethnographic and ethnohistoric data provide conflicting views on how these fish were used by Native Americans. By examining ethnohistoric accounts, modern ethnographic studies, archaeological contexts, and archaeofaunal remains we attempt to explore the full range of gar use in the ethnographic past and present, and suggest new interpretive possibilities for archaeologists faced with gar remains from prehistoric contexts.
The State of Paleoindian Zooarchaeology in Florida (with R. A. Marrinan)
While most works of southeastern archaeology focus on stone artifacts or ceramics, this volume is... more While most works of southeastern archaeology focus on stone artifacts or ceramics, this volume is the first to bring together past and current trends in zooarchaeological studies. Faunal reports are often relegated to appendices and not synthesized with the rest of the archaeological data, but Trends and Traditions in Southeastern Zooarchaeology calls attention to the diversity of information that faunal remains can reveal about rituals, ideologies, socio-economic organization, trade, and past environments.
These essays, by leading practitioners in this developing field, highlight the differences between the archaeological focus on animals as the food source of their time and the belief among zooarchaeologists that animals represent a far more complex ecology. With broad methodological and interpretive analysis of sites throughout the region, the essays range in topic from the enduring symbolism of shells for more than 5,000 years to the domesticated dog cemeteries of Spirit Hill in Jackson County, Alabama, and to the subsistence strategies of Confederate soldiers at the Florence Stockade in South Carolina.
Ultimately challenging traditional concepts of the roles animals have played in the social and economic development of southeastern cultures, this book is a groundbreaking and seminal archaeological study.
Southeastern Archaic Period - general by Tanya M Peres
Bundles, whether personal or corporate, were a real and important component of the lived experien... more Bundles, whether personal or corporate, were a real and important component of the lived experience of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern US. The objects encapsulated in various bundles held information related to the use and care-taking of the bundle and the importance of ritual to group identity. In some cases bundles became part of the archaeological record through interment with humans, dogs, or as stand-alone burials. In this paper we highlight the antiquity of the bundling concept by outlining material markers of bundles from the Archaic period, and extrapolate on their functions using examples from the greater
Southeast.
40RD299 (Black Cat Cave): An Archaic Mortuary Cave in Middle Tennessee
The historic component of 40RD299 is notorious in local lore as the site of a speakeasy during Pr... more The historic component of 40RD299 is notorious in local lore as the site of a speakeasy during Prohibition and later a dance cave. This was all that was known about the cave until 2004, when Native American remains were discovered inside, buried just inches under the concrete slab that had been used as a dance floor for many years. Reconnaissance, monitoring, and salvage work have been on-going by the authors since 2011. Here we present the results of these efforts including radiocarbon dates associated with the Archaic occupation and on-going efforts to protect and preserve the site.
The Cumberland River Emergency Archaeological Survey
Catastrophic flooding throughout Middle Tennessee in May of 2010 resulted in substantial damage t... more Catastrophic flooding throughout Middle Tennessee in May of 2010 resulted in substantial damage to the numerous prehistoric sites situated along the Cumberland River. The force of the flood waters eroded large sections of bank line, severely truncating and in some cases completely destroying many riverbank sites. Immediately after the floodwaters receded, a number of sites began to suffer from widespread and systematic looting activity targeting newly-exposed midden deposits. In June, MTSU and the Tennessee Division of Archaeology were awarded a Rapid Response Research Grant from the National Science Foundation to fund a survey and assessment of natural and anthropogenic damage to more than 120 previously recorded prehistoric sites located between Cheatham and Old Hickory Dams. In addition to documenting site disturbances and collecting critical and endangered site data, the survey and ongoing site monitoring have provided an opportunity to integrate undergraduates into an active research program.
Poster Presented at the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Baton Rouge, LA, 2012
The MTSU Middle Cumberland Archaeology Project (MCAP) investigated a multi-component shell-bearin... more The MTSU Middle Cumberland Archaeology Project (MCAP) investigated a multi-component shell-bearing site occupied between 7000 BC and AD 1400, along a terrace of the Cumberland River west of Nashville in May and June, 2012. The primary goals of the project were to: determine site boundaries, depth, and nature of deposits; locate the edge of the shell deposits; and train MTSU students in field survey and excavation techniques. Through the use of deep testing with bucket augers, GPR, and excavation units and collaborations between academics, state and federal archaeologists, and CRM firms we met these goals.
A Potential Earth Oven: Lithic and Faunal Analysis of Feature 3 from Magnolia Valley (40RD314) Rutherford County, Tennessee.
The Rutherford County Archaeology Research Program (RCARP) was launched in 2014 to identify preh... more The Rutherford County Archaeology Research Program (RCARP) was launched in 2014 to identify prehistoric archaeological sites in Rutherford County. The 2014 MTSU Archaeological Field School was held at the Magnolia Valley site (40RD314)
in western Rutherford County. Geophysical survey, shovel-testing, and unit and feature excavation were all completed during the seven-week field season. During the geophysical survey portion of the field school a number of large anomalies were located and a select number excavated. Feature 3
was chosen for further investigation. This rock-lined pit yielded carbonized plant materials, faunal remains, lithic flakes and a partial projectile point. Its location adjacent to a larger circular feature is also intriguing. Analysis of the remains from Feature 3 are used to identify the feature’s function at this Archaic Period habitation site.
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Zooarchaeology and Paleoethnobotany by Tanya M Peres
Southeastern Zooarchaeology - general by Tanya M Peres
lack of large quantitative datasets on such sites that allow us to look at long-term occupations. Recent surveys and excavations of shellfish-bearing sites along the Middle Cumberland River in Tennessee have yielded temporal and spatial data that allow us to re-evaluate the role of shellfishing in the lifeways of people occupying these sites from the middle to late Archaic through Mississippian periods.
These essays, by leading practitioners in this developing field, highlight the differences between the archaeological focus on animals as the food source of their time and the belief among zooarchaeologists that animals represent a far more complex ecology. With broad methodological and interpretive analysis of sites throughout the region, the essays range in topic from the enduring symbolism of shells for more than 5,000 years to the domesticated dog cemeteries of Spirit Hill in Jackson County, Alabama, and to the subsistence strategies of Confederate soldiers at the Florence Stockade in South Carolina.
Ultimately challenging traditional concepts of the roles animals have played in the social and economic development of southeastern cultures, this book is a groundbreaking and seminal archaeological study.
Southeastern Archaic Period - general by Tanya M Peres
Southeast.
in western Rutherford County. Geophysical survey, shovel-testing, and unit and feature excavation were all completed during the seven-week field season. During the geophysical survey portion of the field school a number of large anomalies were located and a select number excavated. Feature 3
was chosen for further investigation. This rock-lined pit yielded carbonized plant materials, faunal remains, lithic flakes and a partial projectile point. Its location adjacent to a larger circular feature is also intriguing. Analysis of the remains from Feature 3 are used to identify the feature’s function at this Archaic Period habitation site.