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Birds of Summer Solstice: World-Renewal Rituality on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2019

Joshua M. Goodwin Open the ORCID record for Joshua M. Goodwin [Opens in a new window] ,
Kenneth E. Sassaman Open the ORCID record for Kenneth E. Sassaman [Opens in a new window] ,
Meggan E. Blessing  and
David W. Steadman
Joshua M. Goodwin
Affiliation:
Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research, 1001 De Soto Park Drive, Tallahassee, FL32301, USA Email: Joshua.Goodwin@dos.myflorida.com
Kenneth E. Sassaman
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 1112 Turlington Hall, P.O. Box 117305, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL32611-7305, USA Email: sassaman@ufl.edu
Meggan E. Blessing
Affiliation:
Florida Museum of Natural History, 1659 Museum Road, Gainesville, FL32611, USA Email: mblessng@ufl.edu
David W. Steadman
Affiliation:
Florida Museum of Natural History, 1659 Museum Road, Gainesville, FL32611, USA Email: dws@flmnh.ufl.edu
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Abstract

Prevalent as bird imagery is in the ritual traditions of eastern North America, the bony remains of birds are relatively sparse in archaeological deposits and when present are typically viewed as subsistence remains. A first-millennium ad civic-ceremonial centre on the northern Gulf Coast of Florida contains large pits with bird bones amid abundant fish bone and other taxa. The avian remains are dominated by elements of juvenile white ibises, birds that were taken from offshore rookeries at the time of summer solstices. The pits into which they were deposited were emplaced on a relict dune with solstice orientations. The timing and siting of solstice feasts at this particular centre invites discussion of world-renewal rituality and the significance of birds in not only the timing of these events but also possibly as agents of balance and rejuvenation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , May 2020 , pp. 275 - 293
Copyright
Copyright © McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 2019

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