Geoarchaeology of St. Catherines Island, Georgia: Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History Number 94

front matter......Page 1
CONTENTS......Page 3
FIGURES......Page 8
ABSTRACT......Page 13
Participants......Page 14
PREFACE......Page 15
A WORD ABOUT RADIOCARBON DATING......Page 22
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 23
NOTES......Page 24
WHAT IS GEOARCHAEOLOGY, ANYWAY?......Page 25
Thomas Jefferson: Third President and First Geomorphologist?......Page 27
The Index Fossil Concept......Page 30
Diagnostic Artifacts, Archaeology’s Version of Index Fossils......Page 31
Horizontal Stratigraphy......Page 32
SECOND GENERATION GEOARCHAEOLOGY AND BEYOND......Page 34
FIRST QUESTION: HOW DID CHANGING SEA LEVELS AND LANDFORMS IMPACT ANCIENT ST. CATHERINES ISLANDERS?......Page 35
Current Thinking......Page 63
Holocene Sea Level Change: Fallacies of Misplaced Concreteness?......Page 38
Contemporary Approaches to Sea Level Change......Page 41
Sea Level Research in the  Gulf of Mexico......Page 43
Some Potential New Directions in Geoarchaeology......Page 55
Current Thinking about  Reservoir Effects......Page 50
THIRD QUESTION: WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HYDROLOGY AND LACUSTRINE ADAPTATIONS ON ST. CATHERI......Page 53
Current Thinking about Occupational Continuity......Page 57
Potential New Directions in Geoarchaeology: Paleotempestology......Page 58
FIFTH QUESTION: WHAT HAPPENED TO WHITE-TAILED DEER OF THE GEORGIA BIGHT?......Page 60
NOTES......Page 64
The Most Ancient Deposits......Page 67
Floras of the Full Glacial......Page 69
The Early to Late Archaic......Page 73
Holocene paleofauna......Page 75
Little Ice Age (LIA)......Page 76
NOTES......Page 77
chapter 3......Page 79
Sea Level History of St. Catherines Island......Page 83
Boundaries......Page 85
Constraints on Historical Speculation......Page 87
Sea Turtles, Sea LevelS, and Geology......Page 90
Observational Results......Page 94
Constructing a Scenario of Island History......Page 95
Conclusions......Page 98
Allogenic and Autogenic Genetic Units......Page 99
Application of Genetic Stratigraphy to Pedogenic Sequences......Page 100
METHODOLOGY AND PRACTICE OF GENETIC STRATIGRAPHY......Page 101
PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM ST. CATHERINES ISLAND......Page 102
SUMMARY DISCUSSION OF PETROGRAPHIC AND SOIL GRAIN SIZE ANALYSES......Page 108
CONCLUSIONS......Page 109
Overview of Modern-Ancient Storm-washover Fans and Ichnology......Page 113
Stratigraphic Description of Yellow Banks Bluff......Page 116
Comparison of Modern and Ancient Storm-washover fans......Page 123
SUMMARY OF WASHOVER FAN ICHNOLOGY......Page 127
METHODS......Page 129
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION......Page 130
St. Catherines Shell Ring......Page 131
Cracker Tom Transect......Page 132
Beach Pond......Page 134
The Central Depression......Page 136
QUATERNARY VEGETATION HISTORY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF ST. CATHERINES ISLAND......Page 138
chapter 7......Page 143
RESULTS......Page 144
DISCUSSION......Page 147
CONCLUSIONS......Page 149
ST. CATHERINES ISLAND......Page 151
METHODOLOGY......Page 152
BEACH RIDGE CONSTRUCTION FOLLOWING HURRICANE HUGO......Page 154
DISCUSSION......Page 156
NOTES......Page 159
chapter 9......Page 163
SILVER BLUFF STRANDLINES......Page 165
OSSABAW SOUND......Page 166
SAPELO SOUND AND BLACKBEARD ISLAND......Page 168
ST. CATHERINES SOUND AND GUALE ISLAND......Page 171
ST. CATHERINES SPIT......Page 172
AGE RELATIONS......Page 174
MECHANISM OF BREACHING......Page 177
THE OGEECHEE......Page 179
CONCLUSIONS......Page 181
NOTES......Page 182
VIBRACORE PROTOCOLS ON ST. CATHERINES ISLAND......Page 183
THE VIBRACORE EVIDENCE FROM ST. CATHERINES ISLAND......Page 184
Cracker Tom Hammock......Page 191
The Scarps of St. Catherines Island......Page 193
St. Catherines Shell Ring......Page 195
Gator Pond......Page 203
St. Catherines and Sapelo Sounds......Page 204
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS......Page 205
NOTES......Page 207
chapter 11......Page 209
GPR APPLICATIONS ON ST. CATHERINES ISLAND......Page 210
Exploring the Subsurface Structure and Stratigraphy......Page 211
Holocene-Pleistocene Terrain Boundaries......Page 213
GPR Transects across the Island Core......Page 218
Structural Features and Island Hydrology......Page 229
SUMMARY......Page 235
DYNAMIC REPOPULATION OF ESTUARINE HABITATS OF ST. CATHERINES ISLAND BY ADULT MERCENARIA MERCENARIA......Page 237
DISCUSSION......Page 240
NOTES......Page 245
chapter 13......Page 247
GEORGIA BEACHES......Page 248
The Forebeach......Page 249
SEA TURTLE NESTING TRACES......Page 250
SEA TURTLE NESTS ON ST. CATHERINES ISLAND......Page 252
Loggerhead Sea Turtle Crawlways......Page 255
Positions of Nests Relative to the Beach......Page 257
Obstructed and Unobstructed Nests......Page 260
SUMMARY OF GEORGIA LOGGERHEAD NEST MORPHOLOGY......Page 261
SEA TURTLE NESTS AND THE FOSSIL RECORD......Page 263
Fossil Sea Turtle Nesting Structures......Page 264
Comparison of Fossil and Recent Sea Turtle Nest Structures......Page 265
NOTES......Page 269
chapter 14......Page 271
Habitat Description......Page 274
Depositional Habitats......Page 279
Methodology......Page 281
Habitat Assessment Results......Page 282
St. Catherines Sea Turtle Nurturies......Page 291
Georgia Barrier Island Erosion Index......Page 292
Conclusions......Page 294
NOTES......Page 295
THE Modern Human Sea Turtle Take......Page 297
Anticipating the Archaeological Record......Page 299
Field Processing/Transport Models......Page 300
Actualistic Research on Sea Turtle Egg Harvesting: st. catherines island......Page 301
Locating the Eggs......Page 305
Experimental Egg Exploitation......Page 307
Economics of Egg Gathering......Page 312
Harvesting Sea Turtle Meat: St. Catherines Island......Page 313
THE Observed Archaeological Record......Page 315
Sea Turtle Exploitation along the Georgia Bight......Page 316
NOTES......Page 318
Overview of Late Pleistocene Sea Level Change Along the Georgia Coast......Page 319
Overview of Holocene Geomorphology and Sea Level Change......Page 320
Ecological Dimensions of Shellfish Resources......Page 322
Mercenaria mercenaria (quahog)......Page 323
Crassostrea virginica (Eastern Oyster)......Page 324
Geukensia demissa (Atlantic ribbed mussel)......Page 326
Busycon carica, Busycotypus canaliculatus, and Busycon contrarium (whelks)......Page 327
Wave versus Tidal Dominance......Page 328
Proximity to Hinterland: Foraging and the Degree of Resource Separation......Page 329
Onshore/offshore Variability......Page 330
Ecosystem Changes......Page 331
Rising versus Falling Sea Level: Resource Asymmetry?......Page 335
4300-3600 cal b.p.......Page 336
NOTES......Page 337
REFERENCES......Page 339
APPENDIX 1......Page 379
APPENDIX 2......Page 383