Sherds With Style: A Ceramic Analysis From A Protohistoric Site In Oktibbeha County, Mississippi.

A key part of understanding the lesser known contact period in the Southeastern United States is studying the effects of contact on Mississippian chiefdoms and their descendant population. The Starkville Archaeological Complex is an archaeological pattern of a distinct clustering of contact-era sites in the Blackland Prairie physiographic district of northeast Mississippi. Atkinson (1979) defined these sites as a dispersed settlement pattern with distinct ceramic assemblages associated with European metal. The ceramics are characterized as sandy historic Chickasaw pastes with Mississippian-like distinct curvilinear or angular surface decorations. This thesis is an analysis of the ceramic assemblage excavated in 2016 from the Protohistoric Stark Farm Site (22OK778) located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi. This site is part of the Starkville Archaeological Complex and it features ceramics indicative of both pre- and post-contact periods. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the chronological position of the Stark Farm Site and to further define the Starkville Archaeological Complex using ceramic seriation and radiocarbon dating.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. in Anthropology

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology and Anthropology

Year dc:date.available

2017

Author dc:creator

• Smith, Allison

Contributors dc:contributor

• Maureen Meyers
• Robbie Ethridge
• Edmond A. Boudreaux III

• Archaeological Anthropology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/366

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:egrove.olemiss.edu:etd-1365