Date of Award
8-2024
Degree Type
Masters Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
School
Social Science and Global Studies
Committee Chair
Dr. Daniel A. LaDu
Committee Chair School
Social Science and Global Studies
Committee Member 2
Dr. Bridget Hayden
Committee Member 2 School
Social Science and Global Studies
Committee Member 3
Dr. Marie Danforth
Committee Member 3 School
Social Science and Global Studies
Abstract
Material culture plays a fundamental role in memory processes. Artifacts are an important means of both connecting with and cutting ties with a real or imagined past. They can be reminders or symbols of connection to other people, places, things, powers, or memories, making them key components within networks and relations. The way materials are deposited or destroyed often follows specific customs or responds to environmental factors. Specific situations, like interactions with outside groups or socio-political changes, prompt particular depositional events. During the Mississippi period, such circumstances were prevalent throughout the Southeast. By treating artifacts in specific ways during deposition, Florida societies either chose to remember and build upon Mississippian foundations or to reject and forget their connections to the Mississippian world, emphasizing their own identity instead. Using C.B. Moore’s expeditions in Florida, I expected to find that Mississippi period societies would have more instances of forgetting deposits associated with increased involvement with Mississippian practices and institutions at the expense of Woodland traditions. Instead, I found that Mississippian-influenced societies featured more remembering practices, which I argue to mean certain groups focused on integrating and reinforcing Mississippian identity, while others were attempting to resist and forget these new institutions. This research explores a novel area in archaeological and memory studies, showing its potential to offer significant insights into past cultures. A new archaeological methodology focused on memory and deposition is proposed and tested to address broader anthropological questions about how materials influence the proliferation and transformation of practices and memories.
Copyright
Andrew Seth Bowen, 2024
Recommended Citation
Bowen, Andrew, "Remembering, Forgetting, and Artifact Deposition in Late Prehistoric Florida" (2024). Master's Theses. 1053.
https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1053
Included in
Archaeological Anthropology Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons