History
Scholars believe that the Weeden Island cultures emerged from the Hopewell tradition-based Swift Creek culture during the Middle Woodland Period (ca. 200 - 500 CE) in the lower Chattahoochee-Apalachicola river drainage, where Alabama, Florida and Georgia meet. It persisted in some areas until the end of the Woodland period ca. 1200 CE. Weeden Island sites have been found from Mobile Bay to the Okefenokee Swamp, and from south of Tampa Bay to the fall line on the Chattahoochee River at Columbus, Georgia.
Weeden Island cultures are defined by ceramics, which fall into two categories, sometimes called secular and sacred. Sacred ceramics are found primarily in mounds, while secular ceramics are found primarily in middens and house sites. The two types of ceramics have separate histories, and the secular ceramics show considerable variation between regions. Milanich, et al. compare the Weeden Island sacred complex to the Hopewell and Mississippian complexes, i.e., a ceremonial complex practiced by several cultures.
The current subsistence model for the Late Woodland Period of Florida shows that the Weeden Island peoples primarily occupied coastal areas and large river basins, exploiting local marine and terrestrial resources. They used upland interior regions almost exclusively for resource extraction, although some scholars contest this. Although the multiple geographic variants of Weeden Island groups used slightly different subsistence strategies dictated by local environment (including small-scale agriculture in some areas), a trend toward the semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer exploitation of hardwood hammock areas and coastal/riverine marine resources accurately characterizes Weeden Island subsistence activities in general.
The Weedon Island site was excavated by Smithsonian Institution archaeologist J. Walter Fewkes in 1923 and 1924. Recent archaeological work places the Weedon Island site outside the "heartland region" of the Weeden Island Culture in northern and northwestern Florida.
Scholars now classify the site excavated on Weedon Island as belonging to the Manasota time period, a " 'Weeden Island-related culture' in which typical Weeden Island pottery is found in mounds, but not in village middens."
Read more about this topic: Weeden Island Culture
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