University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 6-30-2016 Sifting Through The aS nd: Adaptive Flexibility In The iddM le Archaic Occupations Of The aS ndhills Province Of South Carolina Audrey Rachel Dawson University of South Carolina Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Anthropology Commons, and the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Dawson, A. R.(2016). Sifting Through The Sand: Adaptive Flexibility In The Middle Archaic Occupations Of The Sandhills Province Of South Carolina. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/3412 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SIFTING THROUGH THE SAND : ADAPTIVE FLEXIBILITY IN THE MIDDLE ARCHAIC OCCUPATIONS OF THE SANDHILLS PROVINCE OF SOUTH CAROLINA by Audrey Rachel Dawson Bachelor of Arts West Virginia University, 2001 Master of Arts University of South Carolina, 2004 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2016 Accepted by: Kenneth G. Kelly, Major Professor Charles R. Cobb, Major Professor Gail E. Wagner, Committee Member Thomas Leatherman, Committee Member Mark J. Brooks, Committee Member Lacy Ford, Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies © Copyright by Audrey Rachel Dawson, 2016 All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION To Eleanor and Amelia, never give up on your dreams. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am incredibly thankful for the support, advice, and assistance provided by so many individuals. First, and foremost, I would like to thank my committee for their comments, criticisms, input, and patience. To Dr. Charles Cobb, I thank you for seeing me through to the end of this journey even though you are no longer with the University of South Carolina. Your advice and rich knowledge of southeastern prehistory, lithic technology, and anthropology has been invaluable throughout this entire project. To Dr. Kenneth Kelly, I thank you for agreeing to co-chair my committee even though the prehistory of the southeastern United States is not one of your research interests. With that said, I also thank you for reading and commenting on my drafts. To Dr. Gail Wagner, I could not have finished this dissertation without you! Your encouraging words and motivational comments pushed me through some very dark periods of writer’s block. In addition, your comments and attention to detail have made this dissertation what it is today. To Dr. Mark Brooks, I thank you for sharing your knowledge of the Archaic period. Your comments and encouragement make me excited to continue down this research avenue. I hope you enjoy your retirement! iv To Dr. Thomas Leatherman, I thank you for providing a bio-cultural perspective on a very archaeology-heavy dissertation. Your comments forced me to expand by ideas into the broader field of anthropology. To those individuals responsible for the data recovery project at the Three Springs site, I am thankful. The project was initiated by Mark Dutton and Chan Funk of the Fort Jackson Environmental Division in consultation with Dr. Christopher Ohm Clement, formerly of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, and Charles Cantley, formerly of the South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Field and laboratory work for this project were conducted by the Applied Research Division of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. I am grateful for the hard work of both the field and laboratory technicians, specifically Andrea (Summers) Brock, Rick Fogle, Meg Gaillard, Heathley Johnson, Alaina (Williams) McDaniel, David Rigtrup, Jon Rood, Nate Smith, Jonathan Whitlatch, Joesph Wilkinson, Tamara Wilson, and Chris Young. The geomorphology was also conducted as part of this data recovery project by Dr. Andrew Ivester, Dr. Mark J. Brooks, and Dr. Christopher R. Moore. Analysis of the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) samples was funded in part by a generous grant from the Archaeological Research Trust (ART) and in part by the author. OSL samples were analyzed by Michelle Summa Nelson and Dr. Tammy Rittenour of the Utah State University Luminescence Laboratory. To Mr. Andrew Bradbury, Mr. Tommy Charles, Dr. Albert Goodyear, Dr. Christopher R. Moore, and Mr. Sean G. Taylor, I thank you for sharing your knowledge and answering my endless questions about lithic artifacts and lithic analysis methods. v To my friend, colleague, and mentor Dr. Steven Smith, I thank you for being the voice of reason in suggesting I switch to prehistoric archaeology and use the data recovery data in my dissertation. I am also grateful to you and Dr. Christopher Ohm Clement for teaching me so much about cultural resource management, field methods, report writing, and on and on. You have both helped shape me as the archaeologist I am today. To my 24/7 cheerleaders, Catherine Keegan and Jessica Boulware, I thank you for your constant encouragement. I truly would not have finished this dissertation without your support and motivation. I owe you both so much and I will try to repay it with cake. Lots of cake. To Catherine Keegan, I am also incredibly thankful for all the assistance you provided in dealing with the University of South Carolina. To Bri Farber, Molly Hopkins, Victoria McClure, and Catherine Keegan, I thank you for hanging out with sweet Nora so that I could steal a few hours to write, run to the library, or go to a meeting. To my family: my parents, George W. and Amy Dawson; my sisters, Brenda and Amy Georgiana; my husband, Greg Croft; and my daughters, Eleanor and Amelia, I thank you for your unwavering support and love. And, last but certainly not least, to whomever is reading this, I thank you. vi ABSTRACT Based on a sample of Coastal Plain Middle Archaic sites in addition to lithic debitage data from three Morrow Mountain (7,500-5,500 BP) occupation clusters at the Three Springs site (38RD837/841/842/844), Richland County, South Carolina, this dissertation explores the applicability of a model of Adaptive Flexibility to the Morrow Mountain occupations of the South Carolina Sandhills Province. The model of Adaptive Flexibility was developed to explain the redundant, low-density scatters of lithic debitage and generalized, expedient tools made of locally available raw materials that characterize the Middle Archaic, specifically Morrow Mountain, archaeological record of the South Carolina Piedmont. Multiple lines of lithic debitage analysis (i.e., mass analysis, aggregate trend analysis, and individual attribute analysis) were employed to understand the technological strategies, economy, and mobility of the Morrow Mountain peoples in the Sandhills Province through the organization of technology concept. These analyses suggest that within the Sandhills Province the key characteristics of Adaptive Flexibility—a reliable resource base, high levels of residential mobility, generalized and unspecialized expedient toolkits, and equal access to lithic raw materials—were present during the Morrow Mountain cultural horizon. Moving beyond Adaptive Flexibility, this dissertation speculates that an expedient tool technology and use of readily-available, local lithic raw materials would have provided the Morrow Mountain peoples free time for the deliberate modification of the Sandhills vegetation. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ iv ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... X LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. xi CHAPTER 1: ADAPTIVE FLEXIBILITY IN THE SANDHILLS PROVINCE .....................................1 GEOGRAPHY OF THE SOUTH ATLANTIC SLOPE ............................................................4 THE ARCHAIC PERIOD ON THE SOUTH ATLANTIC SLOPE ...........................................12 MODELLING MIDDLE ARCHAIC SETTLEMENT ON THE INNER COASTAL PLAIN ...............................................................................................................17 THE THREE SPRINGS SITE ..........................................................................................26 DISSERTATION ORGANIZATION .................................................................................36 CHAPTER 2: CULTURAL CONTEXT FOR THE ARCHAIC PERIOD ON THE SOUTH ATLANTIC SLOPE .......................................................................................................................39 CULTURAL CONTEXT FOR THE SOUTH ATLANTIC SLOPE ..........................................39 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................70 CHAPTER 3: THE ORGANIZATION OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF ACTIVITY AREAS ......................................................................................................................74