The Zooarchaeology of four Gulf Coast prehistoric sites

The Gulf coast prehistoric sequence includes a series of cultural phases that reflect at the onset simple, highly mobile hunter—gatherer societies and at the end complex, sedentary, agricultural societies. The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of animal exploitation in three of these phases: Deptford, Santa Rosa—Swift Creek, and Swift Creek. Faunal samples from four prehistoric sites were used in this analysis. The faunal assemblages reveal a heavy reliance on estaurine resources at all four sites. Pelecypod and fish remains dominate the assemblages. Season of occupation at the Santa Rosa-Swift Creek sites is warm season only, suggesting that these sites were seasonal fishing camps. The single Swift Creek site with seasonality data was occupied year-round. The fish represented at the Swift Creek sites were considerably larger than those seen at contemporaneous sites in other regions, suggesting the use of weirs, and were apparently processed for storage and/or removal from these sites. Turtles dominate the reptile remains and deer are most common of the mammals. Deer bones associated with the Swift Creek phase appear to be more extensively smashed than those of the Deptford or Santa Rosa-Swift Creek phases. The results of this analysis indicate that there was relative continuity in subsistence practices from Deptford to Santa Rosa-Swift Creek. The sites in the Apalachee Bay area show increasing cultural complexity by the early Swift Creek phase. Evidences of this rising complexity include burial mounds, sedentism, horticulture, improved methods of fish capture, and food storage.