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Protohistoric Fort Ancient Social and Climatic Adaptation at the Wynema Site (33Ha837)

Shaffer, Joseph C.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1397734874

Abstract Details

2014, MA, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Anthropology.
Wynema (33Ha837) is a significant Late Fort Ancient, Madisonville Horizon habitation site recently discovered in a shovel testing, solid sediment coring, and geophysical survey of the floodplain of the Lower Little Miami River in Hamilton County, Ohio. Chronometrically, Wynema site dates to a period of catastrophic social and climatic change for indigenous populations in North America. The Little Ice Age (ca 1350-1850 C.E.) coincided with European conquest and colonization, which resulted in genocide, ethnocide, ecocide, and a suite of new and deadly diseases. Late Fort Ancient artifacts and features exposed in a recent excavation are used to test hypotheses derived from human evolutionary ecology and optimal foraging theory. Laboratory analysis of vertebrate and invertebrate food remains, flaked-stone artifacts, and indigenous and European trade goods provide economic information about the underlying mechanisms of how Late Fort Ancient people adapted and sustained their livelihood during a period of social and climatic stress. The inhabitants of the Wynema site maximized caloric intake and minimized caloric loss by dispatching a wide range of large and small vertebrates as well as vulnerable juvenile, aged, and sick individuals. Extensive butchering and food processing activity of both vertebrate and invertebrate species further maximized caloric intake. Caloric loss was also minimized in the primary procurement and heat-treatment of poor-quality local lithic raw material resources. Long distance trade with indigenous and European populations likely helped to reduce risk of caloric loss and increase social ties.
Kenneth Tankersley, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Vernon Scarborough, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
186 p.
Archaeology
floodplain; Wynema; Little Miami River; Hamilton County

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Shaffer, J. C. (2014). Protohistoric Fort Ancient Social and Climatic Adaptation at the Wynema Site (33Ha837) [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1397734874

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Shaffer, Joseph. Protohistoric Fort Ancient Social and Climatic Adaptation at the Wynema Site (33Ha837). 2014. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1397734874.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Shaffer, Joseph. "Protohistoric Fort Ancient Social and Climatic Adaptation at the Wynema Site (33Ha837)." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1397734874

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1397734874
410
© 2014, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Protohistoric Fort Ancient Social and Climatic Adaptation at the Wynema Site (33Ha837) by Joseph C. Shaffer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.