Material culture plays a fundamental role in memory processes. Artifacts are an important means of both connecting with and cutting ties with a real or imagined past. They can be reminders or symbols of connection to other people, places, things, powers, or memories, making them key components within networks and relations. The way materials are deposited or destroyed often follows specific customs or responds to environmental factors. Specific situations, like interactions with outside groups or socio-political changes, prompt particular depositional events. During the Mississippi period, such circumstances were prevalent throughout the Southeast. By treating artifacts in specific ways during deposition, Florida societies either chose to remember and build upon Mississippian foundations or to reject and forget their connections to the Mississippian world, emphasizing their own identity instead. Using C.B. Moore’s expeditions in Florida, I expected to find that Mississippi period societies would have more instances of forgetting deposits associated with increased involvement with Mississippian practices and institutions at the expense of Woodland traditions. Instead, I found that Mississippian-influenced societies featured more remembering practices, which I argue to mean certain groups focused on integrating and reinforcing Mississippian identity, while others were attempting to resist and forget these new institutions. This research explores a novel area in archaeological and memory studies, showing its potential to offer significant insights into past cultures. A new archaeological methodology focused on memory and deposition is proposed and tested to address broader anthropological questions about how materials influence the proliferation and transformation of practices and memories.
","abstract_html":"<p>Material culture plays a fundamental role in memory processes. Artifacts are an important means of both connecting with and cutting ties with a real or imagined past. They can be reminders or symbols of connection to other people, places, things, powers, or memories, making them key components within networks and relations. The way materials are deposited or destroyed often follows specific customs or responds to environmental factors. Specific situations, like interactions with outside groups or socio-political changes, prompt particular depositional events. During the Mississippi period, such circumstances were prevalent throughout the Southeast. By treating artifacts in specific ways during deposition, Florida societies either chose to remember and build upon Mississippian foundations or to reject and forget their connections to the Mississippian world, emphasizing their own identity instead. Using C.B. Moore’s expeditions in Florida, I expected to find that Mississippi period societies would have more instances of forgetting deposits associated with increased involvement with Mississippian practices and institutions at the expense of Woodland traditions. Instead, I found that Mississippian-influenced societies featured more remembering practices, which I argue to mean certain groups focused on integrating and reinforcing Mississippian identity, while others were attempting to resist and forget these new institutions. This research explores a novel area in archaeological and memory studies, showing its potential to offer significant insights into past cultures. A new archaeological methodology focused on memory and deposition is proposed and tested to address broader anthropological questions about how materials influence the proliferation and transformation of practices and memories.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Bowen, Andrew"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Daniel A. LaDu","Dr. Bridget Hayden","Dr. Marie Danforth"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:47Z","subjects":["Memory","Forgetting","Florida","Mississippian","Archaeological Anthropology","Politics and Social Change","Social and Cultural Anthropology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1053","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Daniel A. 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Artifacts are an important means of both connecting with and cutting ties with a real or imagined past. They can be reminders or symbols of connection to other people, places, things, powers, or memories, making them key components within networks and relations. The way materials are deposited or destroyed often follows specific customs or responds to environmental factors. Specific situations, like interactions with outside groups or socio-political changes, prompt particular depositional events. During the Mississippi period, such circumstances were prevalent throughout the Southeast. By treating artifacts in specific ways during deposition, Florida societies either chose to remember and build upon Mississippian foundations or to reject and forget their connections to the Mississippian world, emphasizing their own identity instead. Using C.B. Moore’s expeditions in Florida, I expected to find that Mississippi period societies would have more instances of forgetting deposits associated with increased involvement with Mississippian practices and institutions at the expense of Woodland traditions. Instead, I found that Mississippian-influenced societies featured more remembering practices, which I argue to mean certain groups focused on integrating and reinforcing Mississippian identity, while others were attempting to resist and forget these new institutions. This research explores a novel area in archaeological and memory studies, showing its potential to offer significant insights into past cultures. A new archaeological methodology focused on memory and deposition is proposed and tested to address broader anthropological questions about how materials influence the proliferation and transformation of practices and memories.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Remembering, Forgetting, and Artifact Deposition in Late Prehistoric Florida"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Daniel A. LaDu","Dr. Bridget Hayden","Dr. Marie Danforth"],"dc:creator":["Bowen, Andrew"],"dc:date.available":["2024-08-02T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Material culture plays a fundamental role in memory processes. Artifacts are an important means of both connecting with and cutting ties with a real or imagined past. They can be reminders or symbols of connection to other people, places, things, powers, or memories, making them key components within networks and relations. The way materials are deposited or destroyed often follows specific customs or responds to environmental factors. Specific situations, like interactions with outside groups or socio-political changes, prompt particular depositional events. During the Mississippi period, such circumstances were prevalent throughout the Southeast. By treating artifacts in specific ways during deposition, Florida societies either chose to remember and build upon Mississippian foundations or to reject and forget their connections to the Mississippian world, emphasizing their own identity instead. Using C.B. Moore’s expeditions in Florida, I expected to find that Mississippi period societies would have more instances of forgetting deposits associated with increased involvement with Mississippian practices and institutions at the expense of Woodland traditions. Instead, I found that Mississippian-influenced societies featured more remembering practices, which I argue to mean certain groups focused on integrating and reinforcing Mississippian identity, while others were attempting to resist and forget these new institutions. This research explores a novel area in archaeological and memory studies, showing its potential to offer significant insights into past cultures. A new archaeological methodology focused on memory and deposition is proposed and tested to address broader anthropological questions about how materials influence the proliferation and transformation of practices and memories.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1053"],"dc:subject":["Memory","Forgetting","Florida","Mississippian","Archaeological Anthropology","Politics and Social Change","Social and Cultural Anthropology"],"dc:title":["Remembering, Forgetting, and Artifact Deposition in Late Prehistoric Florida"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:47Z"}