Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T02:18:20.576Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dating and Explaining Soapstone Vessels: A Comment on Truncer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kenneth E. Sassaman
Kenneth E. Sassaman*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Box 117305, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A recent paper by Truncer (2004) perpetuates the recalcitrant misconception that soapstone vessel technology uniformly predates the inception of pottery across eastern North America. Whereas soapstone vessels indeed preceded the local adoption of pottery in limited areas, the bulk of stratigraphic and independent radiometric data supports the conclusion that soapstone vessels either accompanied or postdated the inception of pottery in many parts of the Eastern Woodlands. I reiterate here my criticism of benchmark studies that have been uncritically accepted to support the greater antiquity of soapstone. Given the coincidence of pottery and soapstone in many areas of the Eastern Woodlands, any explanation for the use of soapstone vessels must consider the relative costs and benefits of alternative container technology. Moreover, evidence for use of soapstone vessels in mortuary contexts, caches, and in locations far from geological sources of soapstone suggests that their significance resided not simply in the domestic economy of nut processing, as suggested by Truncer, but in the political economy of group formation and alliance.

Résumé

Résumé

Un reciente escrito de Tuncer (2004) se continua perpetuando el recalcitrante error de argumentar que la techonología de vasijas de piedra jabonosa es anterior a la incepción de la ceramica en el este de Norte America. Mientras que las vasijas de piedra jabonosa preciden la adopción local de cerámica en areas limitadas, el grueso de la estratigrafia y de los datos radiométrícos apoyan la conclusión que las vasijas de piedra jabonosas acompañan o son posteriores a la introducción de la cerámica en muchas partes del este de las Woodlands. Yo reitero aquí mi criticismo de estudios que son aceptados sin ninguna crítica que dan soporte a la antígüedad de la piedra jabonosa. Dada las coincidencias de la cerámica y la piedra jabonosa en muchas areas del este de las Woodlands, cualquier explicación sobre el uso de la piedra jabonosa debe cosiderar el relativo costo y beneficio de tecnologías de almacenamiento alternativos. Ademas, la evidencia para el uso de las vasijas de piedra jabonosa en contextos mortuarios, caches y en otras localizaciones lejanas de las fuentes de piedra jabonosa sugiere que su significado no reside en la economía domestica del procesamiento, como sugiere Truncer, pero en la economía política de la formación de grupos y alianzas.

Type
Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 71 , Issue 1 , January 2006 , pp. 141 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Bense, Judith A. (editor) 1987 Final Report: The Midden Mound Project. Report of Investigations 6. University of West Florida, Office of Cultural and Archaeological Research, Pensacola.Google Scholar
Bentz, Charles 1988 The Late Archaic Occupation of the Bailey Site (40GL26), Giles County, Tennessee. Tennessee Anthropological Association Newsletter 13(5): 1–20.Google Scholar
Bullen, Ripley P. 1972 The Orange Period of Peninsular Florida. In Fiber-Tempered Pottery in the Southeastern United States and Northern Colombia: Its Origins, Contexts, and Significance, edited by R. P. Bullen and J. B. Stoltman, pp. 9–33. Florida Anthropological Society Publications No. 6. Florida Anthropologist 25(2), part 2.Google Scholar
Cabak, Melanie A., Sassaman, Kenneth E., and Christopher Gillam, J. 1996 Distributional Archaeology in the Aiken Plateau: Intensive Survey of E Area, Savannah River Site, South Carolina. Savannah River Archaeological Research Papers 8. South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina.Google Scholar
Caldwell, Joseph R. 1958 Trend and Tradition in the Prehistory of the Eastern United States. American Anthropological Association Memoir 88. Menasha, Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Chapman, Jefferson 1981 The Bacon Bend and Iddins Sites: The Late Archaic Period in the Lower Little Tennessee River Valley. Report of Investigations 31. Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.Google Scholar
Coe, Joffre L. 1964 The Formative Cultures of the Carolina Piedmont. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 54(2), Philadelphia.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dincauze, Dena F. 1968 Cremation Cemeteries in Eastern Massachusetts. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 59, No. 1. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Dincauze, Dena F. 1972 The Atlantic Phase: A Late Archaic Culture in Massachusetts. Man in the Northeast 4:40–61.Google Scholar
Dincauze, Dena F. 1974 An Introduction to the Archaeology of the Greater Boston Area. Archaeology of Eastern North America 2:39–67.Google Scholar
Dunnell, Robert C. 1999 The Concept of Waste in Evolutionary Archaeology. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 18:243–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliott, Daniel T. 1986 Two Years Before the Bear: The Savannah River Watershed. Paper presented at the 12th Annual Conference of the Archaeological Society of South Carolina, Columbia.Google Scholar
Elliott, Daniel T. 1989 Falcon Field and Line Creek: Two Archaic and Wood-land Period Sites in West Central Georgia. Southeastern Archaeological Services, Athens, Georgia.Google Scholar
Elliott, Daniel T., and Sassaman, Kenneth E. 1995 Archaic Period Archaeology of the Georgia Coastal Plain and Coastal Zone. Georgia Archaeological Research Design Paper No. 11. Report Number 35, Laboratory of Archaeology Series, University of Georgia, Athens.Google Scholar
Funk, Robert E. 1993 Archaeological Investigations in the Upper Susquehanna Valley, New York State, Vol. 1. Persimmon Press, Buffalo, New York.Google Scholar
Gibson, Jon L. 1996 The Culture That Did Not Fit: Poverty Point and Greater Southeastern Prehistory. In Archaeology of the Mid-Holocene Southeast, edited by K. E. Sassaman and D. G. Anderson, pp. 288–305. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Gibson, Jon L., and Melancon, Mark A. 2004 In the Beginning: Social Contexts of First Pottery in the Lower Mississippi Valley. In Early Pottery: Technology, function, Style, and Interaction in the Lower Southeast, edited by R. A. Saunders and C. T. Hays, pp. 169–192. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar
Hally, David J. 1983 Use Alteration of Pottery Vessel Surfaces: An Importance Source of Evidence for the Identification of Vessel Function. North American Archaeologist 4:3–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, Fran E. 1999 Southeastern Archaic Mounds: Examples of Elaboration in a Temporally Fluctuating Environment? Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 18:344–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemphill, Keith, Janice Campbell, L., and Morehead, James R. 1995 Completing the Evaluation Process at Eglin Air Force Base, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton Counties: Volume XXII: Testing and Evaluation of the Stone Vessel Site -8Wl1005. Report of Investigations No. 290. Prentice Thomas and Associates, Mary Esther, Florida.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Curtiss 1998 Pottery and Steatite in the Northeast: A Reconsideration of Origins. Northeast Anthropology 56:43–68.Google Scholar
Keel, Bennie C. 1976 Cherokee Archaeology: A Study of the Appalachian Summit. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville.Google Scholar
Klein, Michael J. 1997 The Transition from Soapstone Bowls to Marcey Creek Ceramics in the Middle Atlantic Region: Vessel Technology, Ethnographic Data, and Regional Exchange. Archaeology of Eastern North America 25:143–158.Google Scholar
Markham, Virginia M., and Holland, Jeffrey L. 2000 Fort Stewart Site Testing D.O. #3 and 4 Archaeological Testing at Fort Stewart in Evans, Liberty, and Long Counties, Georgia. Submitted to the National Park Service, Atlanta by TRC Garrow Associates, Atlanta.Google Scholar
McCollough, Major C. R., and Faulkner, Charles 1978 Sixth Report of the Normandy Archaeological Project. Report of Investigations 21. Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.Google Scholar
Phelps, David S. 1980 Archaeological Salvage of the Thorpe Site and Other Investigations along the U.S. 64 Bypass, Rocky Point, North Carolina. Archaeological Research Report 1. Archaeology Laboratory, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, East Carolina University, Greenville.Google Scholar
Poplin, Eric C., Huddleston, Connie M., and McMakin, Todd A. 1997 Archaeological Date Recovery at 38BK984, U.S. 52 Widening Project in Berkeley County, South Carolina. Report submitted to South Carolina Department of Transportation by Brockington and Associates, Atlanta.Google Scholar
Ritchie, William A. 1965 The Archaeology of New York State. Natural History Press, Garden City, New York.Google Scholar
Rooney, Clete A. 1998 Archaeological Monitoring at Site 1Mg300 in Association with a Proposed Hydrogen Generating Plant Site in Morgan County, Alabama. Report submitted to Carbonyl, Baton Rouge by the Office of Archaeological Services, University of Alabama Museums, Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar
Sassaman, Kenneth E. 1993a Early Pottery in the Southeast: Tradition and Innovation in Cooking Technology. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar
Sassaman, Kenneth E. 1993b Early Woodland Settlement in the Aiken Plateau: Archaeological Investigations at 38AK157, Savannah River Site, Aiken County, South Carolina. Savannah River Archaeological Research Papers 3, South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina.Google Scholar
Sassaman, Kenneth E. 1997 Refining Soapstone Vessel Chronology in the South-east. Early Georgia 25(1):1–20.Google Scholar
Sassaman, Kenneth E. 1999 A Southeastern Perspective on Soapstone Vessel Technology in the Northeast. In The Archaeological Northeast, edited by M. A. Levine, K. E. Sassaman, and M. S. Nassaney, pp. 75–95. Bergin and Garvey, Westport, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Sassaman, Kenneth E. 2000 Agents of Change in Hunter-Gatherer Technology. In Agency in Archaeology, edited by M. A. Dobres and J. Robb, pp. 148–168. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Sassaman, Kenneth E. 2003a New AMS Dates on Orange Fiber-Tempered Pottery from the Middle St. Johns River Valley and Their Implications for Culture History in Northeast Florida. The Florida Anthropologist 56:5–14.Google Scholar
Sassaman, Kenneth E. 2003b Crescent Lake Archaeological Survey 2002, Flagler and Putnam Counties, Florida. Technical Report 5. Laboratory of Southeastern Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Sassaman, Kenneth E. 2004 Structure and Practice in the Archaic Southeast. In North American Archaeology, edited by T. R. Pauketat and D. D. Loren, pp. 79–107. Blackwell, London.Google Scholar
Sassaman, Kenneth E., and Anderson, David G. 1995 Middle and Late Archaic Archaeological Records of South Carolina: A Synthesis for Research and Resource Management. Savannah River Archaeological Research Papers 6. Occasional Papers of the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program, South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia.Google Scholar
Saunders, Rebbecca, and Mikell, Gregory 2003 Coastal Dynamics and Cultural Complexity on Choctawhatchee Bay. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Florida Anthropological Society.Google Scholar
Saunders, Rebbecca, and Mikell, Gregory 2004 Coastal Dynamics and Cultural Complexity on Choctawhatchee Bay. Report submitted to National Science Foundation, Award 0003933.Google Scholar
Skibo, James M. 1992 Pottery Function: A Use-Alteration Perspective. Plenum Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Bruce D. 1986 The Archaeology of the Southeastern United States: From Dalton to de Soto, 10,500–500 B.P. In Advances in World Prehistory, Vol. 5, edited by F. Wendorf and A. Close, pp. 1–92. Academic Press, Orlando.Google Scholar
South, Stanley A. 1959 A Study of the Prehistory of the Roanoke Rapids Basin. Unpublished M. A. thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.Google Scholar
Stanyard, William F. 1997 The Big Haynes Reservoir Archaeological Project: A Perspective on Native American History of North-Central Georgia between 8,000 B.C. and A.D. 1838. Report submitted to Conyers-Rockdale-Big Haynes Impoundment Authority by Garrow and Associates, Atlanta.Google Scholar
Stuiver, Minze, Reimer, Paula J., Bard, Edouard, Warren Beck, J., Burr, G. S., Hughen, Konrad A., Kromer, Bernd, Gerry McCormac, F., Plicht, Johannes van der, and Spurk, Marco 1998 INTCAL 98 Radiocarbon Calibration 24,000-0 cal. BP. Radiocarbon 40:1041–1083.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, P. M. Jr., and Campbell, L. J. 1991 The Elliott’s Point Complex: New Data Regarding the Localized Poverty Point Expression on the Northwest Florida Gulf Coast, 2000 B.C–500 B.C. In The Poverty Point Culture: Local Manifestations, Subsistence Practices, and Trade Networks, edited by K. M. Byrd, pp. 102–120. Geoscience and Man 29, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.Google Scholar
Truncer, James 1997 Steatite Vessel Function. Paper presented at the 62nd annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Nashville, Tennessee.Google Scholar
Truncer, James 2004 Steatite Vessel Age and Occurrence in Temperate Eastern North America. American Antiquity 69:487–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Versaggi, Nina M., and Knapp, Timothy D. 2000 Steatite, Interaction, and Persistence: The Transitional Period of New York’s Upper Susquehanna. Paper presented at the 65th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Webb, Robert S. 1997 Archaeological Investigations at Three Prehistoric Sites(9CK713, 9DW64, and 9DW77), Cherokee and Dawson Counties, Georgia, Cherokee County Raw Water Supply Reservoir. Report submitted to Cherokee County Water and Sewage Authority by R. S. Webb and Associates, Holly Springs, Georgia.Google Scholar
Wheeler, Ryan J., Newman, Christine L., and McGee, Ray 2000 A New Look at the Mount Taylor and Bluffton Sites, Volusia County, with an Outline of the Mount Taylor Culture. The Florida Anthropologist 53:132–157.Google Scholar
Yates, William Brian 2000 Implications to Late Archaic Exchange Networks in the Southeast as Indicated by the Archaeological Evidence of Prehistoric Soapstone Vessels throughout Florida. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Department of Anthropology, Florida State University, Tallahassee.Google Scholar