Eastern Middle Archaic

By Kenneth E. Sassaman and Sarah Berry

Eastern North American Middle Archaic, Middle Eastern Archaic

8000 B.P. - 6000 B.P.

Follows the Early Eastern Archaic tradition, precedes the Late Eastern Archaic tradition.

Eastern woodlands of North America.

Stemmed hafted bifaces, cylindrical and semilunate spearthrower weights, and plummets, semilunar knives, and gouges in limited areas. Subsistence economy included shellfish exploitation late in the period.

Interior Riverine, Great Lakes, New England, Morrow Mountain, Peninsular Florida.

Doershuk, Eva, Icehouse Bottom, Indian Knoll, L'Anse Amour, Koster, Neville, Sharrow/Brigham, Stanfield-Worley, Windover.

The Eastern Middle Archaic tradition coincides with a period of maximum postglacial warming referred to in North America variously as the Climatic Optimum, Hypsithermal, and Altithermal. Average annual temperatures a few degrees higher than today were accompanied by reduced precipitation in the midcontinent and perhaps the Northeast, whereas wet conditions prevailed in portions of the Southeast.

In their seasonal settlement rounds, Eastern Middle Archaic populations made use of a wide variety of topographic settings. Seasonal transhumance between riverine and upland sites characterized many subregional traditions, while others maintained more generalized land-use patterns, particularly in the piedmont province. Inter-riverine wetlands offered alternatives to riverine sites in the coastal plain and peninsular Florida. Sea levels during the period were five to 15 m below present level, inundating coastal landforms and any possible evidence for their use.

The geology of the Eastern Middle Archaic is the geology of the eastern woodlands: glacial terrain in the Northeast; an extensive Appalachian mountain chain flanked by the Mississippi Valley and interior low plateau of the midcontinent and the dissected peneplain of the piedmont; unconsolidated sediments of the coastal plain; and the now-inundated coastal zone. Geological sources of cryptocystalline quartz were available in outcrops throughout the mountain zone, and in the glacial till of the Northeast. The piedmont was rich in vein quartz and metavolcanic rocks such as rhyolite and argillite. The generally lithic-poor south Atlantic coastal plain offered marine cherts in formations stretching from South Carolina to Florida.

Forest communities of the Eastern Middle Archaic Period continuously responded to postglacial climatic change. Deciduous forests were well established from southern New England southward by 8000 B.P., advancing gradually northward into coniferous forests over the subsequent two millennia. Southern pine began to dominate forests of the southern coastal plain after 8000 B.P., as oak and hickory remained relatively stable elements of the southern piedmont. Deciduous forest cover in the uplands of the midcontinent was reduced by encroaching prairie habitat as river bottoms provided microhabitats for broadleaf vegetation and its associated fauna. Maturing river floodplains of the midcontinent improved habitat for certain species of fish and shellfish, as well as aquatic vegetation. Similarly, water tables in the lower coastal plain became increasingly charged through rising sea level, promoting the development of new, productive wetlands in low-lying areas from Cape Cod to Florida.

Most, if not all, Eastern Middle Archaic populations practiced some degree of settlement mobility, usually relocating habitations seasonally to take advantage of changes in the availability of food resources, as well as for social reasons. The frequency and distance of settlement moves varied considerably among groups, as did the redundancy of land use and the size of home ranges. Subregional traditions of the interior lowlands and peninsular Florida included groups that focused settlement along major rivers, creating thick deposits of domestic refuse, including middens of freshwater shell. Those of the interior lowlands likely dispersed into adjacent uplands for the cold season. Certain groups in New England appear to have targeted river sites near the coast for spring runs of anadromous fish, and then migrated into the interior for the fall and winter. In contrast, the Morrow Mountain tradition of the southern piedmont maintained a seemingly undifferentiated settlement pattern, moving camps frequently throughout river and upland zones.

Information on community organization is scant, but judging from the size of most habitation sites, co-resident groups consisted of some 30 to 50 individuals, subdivided into several households. Some region subtraditions probably involved periodic social aggregation for purposes of ritual, marriage, and other alliances.

Evidence for Eastern Middle Archaic housing is limited to occasional posthole stains at a few sites, and prepared clay floors at one site in the midsouth. Posthole patterns suggest circular to subrectangular structures about four meters in size. The limited evidence implies that structures were simple and impermanent, although preservation bias should not be overlooked. Given the occurrence of pithouses during the preceding Early Eastern Archaic, and abundant evidence for substantial architecture at the onset of the Late Eastern Archaic period, better examples of structures during the intervening period await discovery.

Judging from the large number of sites across much of the eastern woodlands, Eastern Middle Archaic populations grew appreciably from those of the preceding period. However, some areas, such as the south Atlantic coastal plain, appear to have been largely abandoned or underpopulated. Skeletal populations from the midsouth show that life expectancy at birth was about 20 years; those surviving to age 15 could expect to live an additional 15 to 20 years. Very few individuals survived past their sixth decade. Relatively high rates of skeletal trauma (i.e., broken bones) reflect rigorous lifestyles, occupational stress, and some interpersonal violence. Indications of nutritional status reflect well-balanced, diverse diets: dental caries were few, and metabolic disorders rare. Nonspecific infectious diseases express low to moderate rates compared to agricultural groups.

Eastern Middle Archaic subsistence economies revolved around the seasonal exploitation of wild plant and animal resources. Long-term trends include increasing reliance on aquatic resources in certain subregions, along with overall diversification. Other regions reflect remarkably stable subsistence patterns. Economies across the board appear to have been locally self-sufficient, with little to no reliance on intergroup exchange of foodstuffs. Food storage, if at all practiced, was likely limited to fall and winter caches by families or small co-resident groups. Division of labor for subsistence purposes was probably restricted to age and sex.

The specific mix of resources varied with local availability, although white- tailed deer, smaller mammals, and nuts (acorn, hickory, walnut) were staples throughout much of the eastern woodlands. In the Midwest, open-habitat species and aquatic resources became increasingly important with eastern expansion of prairie habitat. Notably, shellfish began to be utilized late in the period along several major rivers of the Midwest and midsouth. Freshwater fish and shellfish may have also become important resources in northeast Florida by 6000 B.P. Anadromous fish (i.e., shad, alewife) apparently formed an important seasonal resource in the Northeast. Inundated shorelines have obscured evidence for coastal subsistence, which likely consisted of fish and shellfish along the entire eastern seaboard, as well as marine mammals in the Northeast.

Wild forms of gourd and squash began to be manipulated during the Middle Eastern Archaic period to become more economically useful for and dependent on humans. However, these native species appear to have served as containers and perhaps other nonfood purposes before they became viable food resources in the subsequent period.

Technology in the Eastern Middle Archaic tradition continues to involve a variety of flaked stone tools, along with an increasing variety of ground and polished stone items. Raw materials for various industries were usually obtained locally in the course of routine settlement rounds. Where preservation allows, bone and antler tools reflect heavy reliance on organic media.

The hallmark of Eastern Middle Archaic flaked stone is the hafted biface technology. A variety of stemmed biface forms supplant the notched forms of the preceding tradition. Some functioned expressly as spear tips, others as knives, while most served multiple functions, reflecting the overall flexibility and limited specificity of the flaked stone industry. Many of the specialized tools of the preceding tradition are absent, notably the formal unifaces. In general, flaked stone raw materials expand over the preceding period to include a wide variety of low-grade, but ubiquitous sources such as vein quartz. Added to the tool inventory are a variety of spearthrower weights or bannerstones as they are sometimes called. These polished and perforated objects have been found in positions between antler spearthrower handles and hooks, verifying their role in weapon technology. Other polished stone includes plummets in Florida that probably served as bolas stones for capturing waterfowl and other small game. Groundstone items include nutting stones, pestles, and mortars for processing plant foods throughout the study area, and semilunate knives, celts, notched netsinkers, and gouges in the Northeast. Grooved axes made from hard igneous rock are added late in the period after being preceding in limited locales by double-bitted flaked-stone axes. Bone and antler utensils include socketed projectiles, scrapers, fish hooks, and spearthrower parts. Extensive use of shell and other organic media likely occurred on the coast, where lithic raw materials are scarce, at least in the Southeast.

Few examples of purely ornamental items are noted for Eastern North American Middle Archaic assemblages. Examples of elaborate spearthrower weights may have functioned expressly as ceremonial items, as connoted by the term bannerstone. Occasional polished stone and organic beads and small pendants have been found in assemblages from sites scattered widely across the study area, while turtle shell rattles, beads, and other organic objects have been recovered from burials in the midsouth. Generally, Eastern Middle Archaic artifact assemblages are noted for their lack of elaborate material culture.

Long-distance exchange did not figure prominently in Eastern North American Middle Archaic economies until the very end of the period. Occasional importation of marine shell into the midsouth and lower midwest may have preceded 6000 B.P. by a few centuries. Likewise, bannerstones and plummets, or at least the raw materials to make them, may have been traded occasionally from interior Southeast groups to those in peninsular Florida. Greater flows of raw materials and finished goods after 6000 B.P. across much of the study area attest to interregional interactions not apparent during Eastern North American Middle Archaic times.

The assumed division of labor by age and sex has not been well established with evidence. Mortuary associations of functionally specific tools with particular genders are often ambiguous, although functioning atlatls (as opposed to intentionally broken ones) were most often associated with men, supporting the widespread assumption that men were primarily responsible for hunting. Limited analysis of work-related stress in skeletal tissue indicates that women routinely conducted repetitive one-handed tasks for processing plant foods.

Eastern Middle Archaic populations undoubtedly varied in their internal organization and relations with others, although they are generally viewed as egalitarian societies, meaning that they lacked institutionalized differences in status and power that would affect access to key resources. Still, the existence of apparent territorialism in certain subregions implies a level of cultural inequality among neighboring populations which may have affected access to potential mates, if not material resources per se.

Direct evidence for forms of descent, marriage patterns, and postmarital residence has never been sought in archaeological studies of the Eastern North American Middle Archaic. If we allow that certain material traits are gender- specific, patterns to their geographical distribution permit some tentative inferences about marriage and residence patterns. For instance, if hafted bifaces are primarily male technology, the spatial circumscription of certain forms in the midsouth, Midwest, and Northeast suggest that groups practiced patrilocal postmarital residence. Conversely, the widespread distribution of biface forms in the southern piedmont implies that these groups had more flexible co-residence rules, perhaps coupled with bilateral descent. In any event, social organization likely varied considerably among subregional traditions.

Embedded projectile points occur with some regularity in the skeletal remains of Eastern Middle Archaic individuals. Also, occasionally documented are traumas attributed to violent confrontation. Whether this evidence points to intergroup strife, domestic violence, or both remains to be seen, but nothing in the record of Eastern Middle Archaic conflict points to endemic, organized warfare.

Unequivocal evidence for ritual is limited to mortuary practices, which are described below. Hunting ritual might be inferred from the manufacture and use of elaborate spearthrower weights (bannerstones). Also, turtle-shell rattles may have been used for ritual purposes.

The few expressions of "art" observed on nonperishable media suggest that images centered on zoomorphic motifs.

Individuals generally were buried at sites of habitation, often in domestic refuse, although a few dedicated cemeteries have been observed in several subregions. Individuals were interred in a variety of positions (partially flexed, tightly flexed, seated), and in varying conditions (in flesh, bundled, cremated), even within subregional traditions. Grave goods were generally few and not routinely distributed differentially among age and sex groups.

Documents referred to in this section are included in the eHRAF collection and are referenced by author, date of publication, and eHRAF document number.

The Eastern Middle Archaic collection consists of 27 documents, all in English. The collection covers the time period of 8500 B.P. to 4500 B.P. that is outside the absolute time period of 8000 B.P. to 6000 B.P. as listed in the major tradition summary in the Encyclopedia of Prehistory. The reason for this discrepancy is the Middle Archaic began and ended at different times in different places depending on the local ecology and culture. The area discussed by these documents is the eastern half of the United States, primarily the Midwest and the Southeast. None of the documents presents an over-all comprehensive overview of the Middle Archaic in eastern North America. Coe (1964, no. 1) helped define the phases and diagnostic artifacts of the Middle Archaic in the piedmont of the Carolinas and Virginia through his excavations at four stratified sites. The mid-Atlantic states (centering on Virginia) are discussed in papers published from a Virginia conference. They are Custer (1990, no. 3), Egloff (1990, no. 5), Geier (1990, no. 6), Parker (1990, no. 7), Whyte (1990, no. 8), and Hantman (1990, no. 9).

Archaic sites in the Midwest are the subject of documents numbered 12-18. These documents are a series of papers from a symposium held at the Midwest Archaeological Conference. O'Brien (1983, no. 12) discusses projectile points from Pigeon Roost Creek site. Lewis (1983, no. 13) reviews the archaeology of the Salt Creek region in Illinois. Charles (1983, no. 14) examines Archaic mortuary sites along the Mississippi drainage. Wiant (1983, no. 15) and Brown (1983, no. 16) both discuss the Koster site in Illinois. Styles (1983, no. 17) discusses additional excavations at Modoc Rock Shelter in Illinois. Jeffries (1983, no. 18) summarize the findings from the Black Earth site in Illinois. Document number 4 (Anonymous, 1996) is the bibliography for documents numbered 19-31. These documents are from a collection of articles on the mid-Holocene of the southeast. Tools and tool technologies are discusses by Amick (1996, no. 19) and Sassaman (1996, no. 20). Sassaman (1996, no. 21) discusses architecture and Russo (1996, no. 29) discusses mounds. Floral and faunal remains are discusses by Gremillion (1996, no. 22) and Styles (1996, no. 23). Mortuary remains are the subject of Smith (1996, no. 24). Settlement patterns are discusses in Anderson (1996, no. 25), Russo (1996, no. 26), and Blanton (1996, no. 27). Jeffries discusses long distance exchange (1996, no. 28). Claassen (1996, o. 30) reviews the Shell Mound Archaic, a culture that occurred during the Middle and Late Archaic periods.

For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in this collection, see the abstract in the citations preceding each document.

The major tradition summary is from the article, "Eastern North American Middle Archaic," by Kenneth E. Sassaman , in the Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Peter N. Peregrine and Melvin Ember, eds. New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation, forthcoming. We thank Kenneth E. Sassaman and Peter N. Peregrine for bibliographic suggestions. The synopsis was written by Sarah Berry in 2000.

Caldwell, Joseph R. Trend and Tradition in the Prehistory of the Eastern United States. Menasha, Wisc.: American Anthropological Association, Memoir 88, 1958.

Chapman, Jefferson. Archaeology and the Archaic Period in the Southern Ridge-and-Valley Province. In: Structure and Process in Southeastern Archaeology, edited by R. S. Dickens and H. T. Ward. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1985.

Coe, Joffre L. The Formative Cultures of the Carolina Piedmont. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Association, Transactions 54(5), 1964.

Milanich, Jerald T. Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1994.

Phillips, James L. and James A. Brown. Archaic Hunter-Gatherers in the American Midwest. New York: Academic Press, 1983.

Reinhart, T. R. and M. E. Hodges. Early and Middle Archaic Research in Virginia: A Synthesis. Richmond: Council of Virginia Archaeologists, 1990.

Sassaman, Kenneth E. and David G. Anderson. Archaeology of the Mid-Holocene Southeast. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1996.

Snow, Dean R. The Archaeology of New England. New York: Academic Press, 1980.