essay
A Story of plants, fire, and people: the paleoecology and subsistence of the Late Archaic and Early Woodland in Virginia
late archaic and early woodland research in virginia : a synthesis • (23) • Published In 1991 • Pages: 185-220
By: Stevens, J. Sanderson.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Stevens '…provides a biref overview of the paleoenvironment and human subsistence strategies during the Late Archaic and Early Woodland periods in Virginia … The discussion of the paleoenvironment … includes alternative explanations of existing environmental data and the impact of environmental conditions on Late Archaic and Early Woodland populations. … The paper presents two models to explain these events. Under one model … the events are environmentally induced; under the other … they are culturally induced.' (page 185). One interesting hypothesis presented accounts for aeolian deposition or discontinuities in alluvial sequences. Many researchers see this as evidence for a drier climate. Stevens proposed the rise in sea level created more floodplains which were defoliated by humans for living space and to encourage the growth of plants with high seed yeilds. They may have also burned hillsides to encourage nut production. Stevens writes about the changes that occurred in the Late Archaic and the Early Woodland, but only the material that pertains to the Early Woodland were indexed for OCM (Outline of Cultural Materials) subjects.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Theoretical orientation in research and its results
- Climate
- Topography and geology
- Soil
- Fauna
- Flora
- Post depositional processes in archaeological sites
- Environmental quality
- Settlement patterns
- traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Eastern Early Woodland
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2000
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Eastern Woodlands
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Sarah Berry ; 2005
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- Late Archaic-Early Woodland; 4500 BP-2500 BP
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Virginia, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- J. Sanderson Stevens
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 212-220)
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Indians of North America--Antiquities