A Historical Ecological Analysis of Paleoindian and Archaic Subsistence and Landscape Use in Central Tennessee
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From Colonization to Domestication: A Historical Ecological Analysis of Paleoindian and Archaic Subsistence and Landscape Use in Central Tennessee Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Miller, Darcy Shane Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 28/09/2021 09:33:21 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/320030 From Colonization to Domestication: A Historical Ecological Analysis of Paleoindian and Archaic Subsistence and Landscape Use in Central Tennessee by Darcy Shane Miller __________________________ Copyright © Darcy Shane Miller 2014 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF ANTHROPOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2014 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Darcy Shane Miller, titled From Colonization to Domestication: A Historical Ecological Analysis of Paleoindian and Archaic Subsistence and Landscape Use in Central Tennessee and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _______________________________________________________________________ Date: (4/29/14) Vance T. Holliday _______________________________________________________________________ Date: (4/29/14) Steven L. Kuhn _______________________________________________________________________ Date: (4/29/14) Mary C. Stiner _______________________________________________________________________ Date: (4/29/14) David G. Anderson Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: (4/29/14) Dissertation Director: Vance T. Holliday ________________________________________________ Date: (4/29/14) Dissertation Director: Steven L. Kuhn 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Darcy Shane Miller 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS If you know anything about me, it should be apparent that I’m going to start by thanking my Mom. We’ve been through a lot, and she’s always been in my corner. She’s my hero. I’m also pretty lucky in that I have a very supportive family, including my Step-Dad, Jim, and little brother, Jesse. I could write an entire dissertation on how my relatives are great, but I would be remiss if I didn’t single out three individuals in particular. My uncle Mike passed on his love of history, my aunt Chris made me want to travel the world, and I discovered as a teenager that my aunt Robin is a great person to talk to about life. I have them to thank for my intellectual curiosity. As soon as I got to Tucson, I felt as though I was in good hands. So much so, that when it came time to pick an advisor, I had multiple options. Vance Holliday and Steve Kuhn agreed to co- chair my committee, and they have been fantastic mentors. Whether it was stone tools, soils, theory, music, or life, they have been everything I could have asked for and more. I can walk into either of their offices and talk to them about anything. I am proud to be one of their students. There was a time I was really struggling with finding a dissertation topic, and questioning if what I was doing was worthwhile. Then I took my comprehensive exams, and Mary Stiner asked me a question that launched me on a much more fulfilling path. She pushed me to be creative, and I can’t thank her enough for that. If there has been one constant throughout my graduate career, it’s been David Anderson. From my very first day as a Master’s student at Tennessee to the completion of my dissertation at Arizona, he’s been there for me. He made Southeastern Archaeology interesting, fun, and something that I wanted to pursue with reckless abandon. There are a whole host of professors at Arizona who have left an intellectual imprint on me. In no particular order, they include Mark Aldenderfer, Nieves Zedeno, Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman, Steve Lansing, Dani Triadan, Greg Hodgins, David Killick, Lars Fogelin, J.J. Reid, John Olsen, C. Vance Haynes, and Mike Schiffer. They all tolerated me bugging them about archaeology at one time or another. It is not possible to go through a graduate program without the help of the departmental administrative staff. Catherine Lehman, Norma Maynard, Ben Benshaw, Ann Samuelson, and Veronica Peralta are the bureaucratic ninjas that can find a way to cut through even the thickest of red tape. My research was funded through a dissertation improvement grant from the SRI Foundation, and with help from the McClung Museum and the Tennessee Division of Archaeology. In particular, I’d like to thank Carla Van West, Jeff Chapman, Lynne Sullivan, Bobby Braly, Jessica Dalton Carriger, Mike Moore, Suzanne Hoyal, John Broster, Aaron Deter-Wolf, Tedd Wells, and Scott Meeks for all of their help. 5 Two other individuals helped me get my dissertation research off the ground. Tom Pertierra gave me much-needed advice on my budget, and DuVal Lawrence spent several days with me measuring projectile points in the basement of the McClung Museum. I would call them the gold standard for the phrase “avocational archaeologists.” I’m glad they call me their friend. I firmly believe in the old adage “you are who you hang with.” Sometimes you have control over this. Other times, you just happen to be surrounded by the right people in the right place at the right time. The latter happened to me when I started graduate school at the University of Arizona in 2007, where I found myself in a classroom with Derek Anderson, Randy Haas, Adam Foster, Liye Xie, Meagan Trowbridge, Meredith Reifschneider, Lauren Hayes, Angela Storey, and a bunch of other folks. They challenged me intellectually and made it all fun. I consider these folks some of my closest, dearest friends. As I was starting the doctoral program at Arizona, Thad Bissett and Stephen Carmody were beginning the doctoral program at Tennessee. Coincidentally, I was the graduate student who showed them around South Stadium Hall when they were visiting Knoxville the last semester I was there. We stayed in touch, continued to talk about archaeology, eventually began doing projects together, and they were more than supportive when my interests shifted from the end of Ice Age to the Mid-Holocene. I hope to pester them with questions about Archaic hunter- gatherers for a very long time. The number of people studying Paleoindians in eastern North America is rather small, and thankfully that group includes Ashley Smallwood, Doug Sain, Jesse Tune, and Steve Yerka. I’ve shared a lot of data and field stories with these guys, and they were instrumental in helping me with all kinds of different projects over the years, including this dissertation. Also, having Ashley Smallwood ask me to be a “Bride’s dude” (aka a male bridesmaid) in her wedding was one of greatest honors bestowed upon me during my time as a graduate student. The people who have helped me over the years are legion, and I feel like it would take me at least five additional pages to list them all. This is largely a product of me going to grad school at Tennessee and Arizona, which are both populated with great people. I consider myself very lucky to have made so many wonderful friends at both places. You know who you are. I love you all. 6 DEDICATION To my Mom, for all of those trips to the public library. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ 9 LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ 13 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. 14 CHAPTER 1 HISTORICAL ECOLOGY AND THE ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA .................................................................................................. 15 Introduction............................................................................................................................... 15 Why Agriculture? ...................................................................................................................... 17 Plant Domestication in Eastern North America ....................................................................... 19 Human Behavioral Ecology and Complex Systems Theory .....................................................