Deptford Culture - Definition and Range

Definition and Range

Deptford is named for the Deptford area near Savannah, Georgia. The culture is defined by the presence of sand-tempered pottery decorated with the impressions of carved wooden paddles that were pressed against the vessels before they were fired. The sand-tempering distinguishes Deptford ceramics from the fiber-tempered ceramics of the late-Archaic Stallings Island/St. Simons, Orange, and Norwood cultures that preceded it. Other contemporary cultures of the southeastern United States also produced paddle decorated ceramics.(Milanich 1973, p. 51)(Milanich 1994, pp. 111–12)

The Deptford culture was oriented to the coast. From northern Georgia it spread along the Atlantic coast, reaching Cape Fear, North Carolina to the north and the mouth of the St. Johns River to the south. The Deptford culture also spread along the Gulf of Mexico coast, reaching from the Perdido River on the western border of Florida to Tampa Bay on the lower west coast of Florida. Deptford culture appeared in Florida around 500 BCE. The Deptford culture in the Gulf region (Florida Panhandle, southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia) evolved into the Swift Creek and Santa Rosa-Swift Creek cultures around 200 CE, while the culture in the Atlantic coastal region continued until about 700.(Milanich 1973, p. 51)(Milanich 1994, pp. 112, 114–15, 142–44)

In the eastern Florida Panhandle the Deptford culture has been divided into an early Deptford period, in which fiber-tempered and Deptford series ceramics are found together, a middle Deptford period, with only Deptford series ceramics present, and a late Deptford period with both Deptford series and Swift Creek series ceramics present.(Milanich 1994, p. 114)

Archaeological sites associated with the Deptford culture include:

• Tar River, North Carolina
• Brewton Hill site, eastern Savannah, Georgia
• Dulany site, eastern Savannah
• Irene site, northwest of Savannah
• Refuse site, north of Savannah
• Meldrim site, southeast of Savannah
• Haven Home site, southwest of Savannah
• Crystal River site, Florida
• The Block-Sterns site, Lake Lafayette, Tallahassee, Florida
• Site 8LE484 on the northern shore of Lake Miccosukee, Leon County, Florida.
• Hawkshaw site, in Pensacola, Florida

The sites in Leon County represent significant inland Deptford period sites.

Many Deptford culture sites along the Gulf coast may now be under water, or eroded by rising water levels, as the sea level along the coast of the Florida Panhandle has risen approximately 80 inches (2.0 m) in the last 2,000 years.(Milanich 1994, p. 115)