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.

Stalling's Island, located in the Savannah River eight miles above Augusta, Georgia, is the site of a large, deep shell midden. Jones mentions the Stalling's Island midden, but the principal source of information has been the report of Clafiin's work. The present report deals with an excavation intended to obtain additional information on the cultural affiliation of this material. Interest was aroused by Clafiin's statement that sherds were absent from the lower levels. It was hoped that some evidence of vertical change would be found and that it would be possible to demonstrate the cultural affiliations of this group. Three stratigraphic blocks were excavated, two in arbitrary six-inch levels, the third in arbitrary one-foot levels.

The northwestern part of Florida is a strip of land about 225 miles long, extending from Pensacola Bay to Apalachee Bay, in which are recognized two physiographic regions, “Flatwoods and Hammock Lands,” along the coast, and “Southern Pine Hills,” inland. The coastal region, in which are located most of the sites to be considered, is quite flat and of uniformly low elevation, and includes several contrasting types of landscape. The greater part of the land is occupied by the flatwoods or open groves of longleaf and other pines interspersed with grassy meadows and the hammock lands, which support a denser vegetation characterized by palmetto and hardwoods. Along the major rivers are swamps through which wind creeks and bayous.

Recent excavations and laboratory analyses by the Statewide Archaeological Survey of Louisiana have provided the means for a better definition of the Natchezan culture type and its antecedents. Comparative ethnological data were obtained from Dr. John R. Swanton and Dr. Andrew C. Albrecht.

The archaeological data were obtained from six excavated sites and several surface collections. Only two of these sites were documented; the Fatherland Plantation near Natchez, Mississippi, and the Bayou Goula site in Iberville Parish, Louisiana. The undocumented sites were the Angola Farm in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana; the Laborde site in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana; the Ring site in Warren County, Mississippi; and the Glass site also in Warren County, Mississippi. With the exception of Bayou Goula and Laborde these sites have been mentioned by Ford.

The Ozark Uplift of northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri has been a fertile field for archaeological investigation. Natural conditions have greatly facilitated research here, for despite the humidity of the region, there are numerous dry shelters or caves formed by the weathering of shale beds beneath limestone strata in bluffs along White River, its tributaries, and the Cowskin River. Debris, burials, and pictographs show that the Indians had used the shelters as combined homes, cemeteries, and places for ceremonials. In contrast to village sites in the lowlands of Arkansas, the bluff shelters afford more than a fragmentary picture of Indian life. Here, the burials are complemented by remains fortuitously preserved through absence of moisture, and the entire cave floor is comparable to the middens of the lowlands. The archaeological materials illustrate the complete life cycle of the aborigines. Cradleboards and burial wrappings, foodstuff and human feces all contribute to a reconstruction of Bluff-Dweller life.

The village site, which is the subject of this report, has been known for at least three-quarters of a century. Its large size, the abundance of surface materials, and the nearby presence of a conspicuous earthwork, combined to attract attention to the site. Prof. G. C. Broadhead, of the University of Missouri, explored the region in 1872, and gathered a number of sherds which form part of the present archaeological collection at the University. During the '70's and '80's there were quite a few pseudo-scientific excavations on the site, the published reports of which are more tantalizing than illuminating to the modern student. Fowke was there in 1907; and local amateurs have long made a practice of gathering specimens there, and sending them to scientific institutions.

In order to secure accurate information on the distribution of artificial cranial deformation, both in time and in space, as an aid to cultural reconstructions, and to the allocation of burials and archaeological features associated with burials, a series of diagrams illustrating six types of deformation found in the eastern United States are given in Fig. 37. Another type, the lambdoid deformation of the Chaco Canyon region of New Mexico, is merely included for comparison with natural lambdoid flattening and obelionic deformation. All these finer distinctions of types of artificial deformation and a number of others have been previously recognized and have appeared in print, but only those that were found to be characteristic of groups of people have been accepted, thereby eliminating individual variations. No distinction has been made between unintentional and intentional deformation since it is often difficult to decide this question in series of crania of groups of people who deformed the skulls only mildly, nor are the various cradling practices producing the different types of deformation considered here.

In the Edwards Plateau and Trans-Pecos regions of southwestern Texas are a large number of archaeological sites which have been referred to as “burnt rock mounds.” Although this name is now well established in the archaeological literature of Texas, one looks in vain for a satisfactory statement concerning the origin and nature of these rather unusual sites. Quite a number have been excavated, but as yet few detailed reports on individual sites have appeared. The authors of recent reports assume that the term “burnt rock mound” is well understood and, although implying that it represents a distinct culture trait, do not explain what it means. It is evident that many archaeologists do not understand its meaning, for at recent archaeological meetings outside of Texas the writers of this paper have frequently been asked, “Just what is a burnt rock mound?” In view of this, it seems advisable to put on record a brief summary of what is known at present about the formation of these sites.

Contra Costa County lies east of San Francisco Bay, between the southern shores of San Pablo Bay, Carquinez Straits, Suisun Bay and the San Joaquin River, on the north, and Mount Diablo on the south. This peak, the highest of the many ranges of hills, reaches an altitude of 3800 feet. The terrain is very diversified. As to prehistoric inhabitants, Kroeber places the entire area in Costanoan territory, while Schenck mentions the Yachicomnes, etc., names, perhaps of Spanish invention, which mean nothing.

The article, “An Interpretation of the Prehistory of the Eastern United States,” by J. A. Ford and G. R. Willey in the 1941 American Anthropologist inauguratesan epoch. At last we have an interpretation of the archaeology of most of our East which is definite, evidential, and sequential.

Eastern archaeology has developed its generalized findings very slowly. It is almost a century since Squier and Davis published. The cultures are undoubtedly hard to interpret. Their remains are such as to call both for quantities of finds and for fine discriminations in relatively low-quality material. Nevertheless, venture at broader but substantiated understanding has been less than the difficulties warranted. The systematic or McKern classification has been extremely valuable; but at its rate of progress, a quarter century or more might have elapsed before classification was converted into chronology.