Early Horizons in the Southeast

Abstract

The Southeastern archaeological area has never been clearly defined but has tacitly been considered that part of North America south of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi. By some archaeologists it has been thought a rather homogeneous culture area, but no other portion of the continent presents a more varied content. With several types of topography represented, it is logical that many kinds of aboriginal sites are to be found within its scope; the number of seemingly unrelated tribes that claimed this area as their home connotes a varied past. In early historic times it was one of the first sections of the continent to be explored by Europeans. In recent years intensive archaeological investigations have thrown new light on the history of the region and its inhabitants. Tremendous shell midden deposits along river and creek courses and on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, rock shelters and caves showing occupation, and a few inland sites of demonstrable antiquity all indicate an earlier population entirely different from that encountered by the first visitors from Europe.

Synthesis and Assessment of the Folsom Record in Illinois and Wisconsin

“…Comparable, earlier encounters with "Folsom" points in more recent contexts were summarily dismissed as the result of mixing (e.g., Howard 1934, 15;1935, 120-121, 149;Shetrone 1936, 245), and by the time his article appeared in print (December 1942) most archaeologists in the East had agreed that "Folsom" points were roughly contemporary with analogous types on the Plains (e.g., Fischel 1939;Haag 1942). In fact, serious debate about the Folsom problem was over by about 1941 (Meltzer 2015, 404-405).…”

A Comparative Study of the Preceramic Occupations of North America

“…Several of these traits apparently had the same ultimate origin as some of those of cultural complexes in eastern North America. These include such traits as red ocher in graves, use of asphaltum for cement, adzes, steatite vessels, affixing beads on objects with asphalt, and quartz crystals with burials, as Haag and Beardsley have noted (Haag, 1942;Beardsley, 1948). None of these traits have been found in the Southwest-Great Basin-Shellfish also were added to the diet of the older hunting groups along the coast.…”