Collects 15 essays concerning the archaeological culture of the Swift Creek people, a culture centered in Georgia and surrounding states from AD 100 to 700. While little is known of the Swift Creek culture's language and social rules, their social interactions are documented using analysis of the stamps used to decorate their intricately patterned pots, as well as through their extraordinary wood carvings. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
A Dan Josselyn Memorial Publication The first comprehensive and systematic investigation of a Woodland period ceremonial center. Kolomoki, one of the most impressive archaeological sites in the southeastern United States, includes at least nine large earthen mounds in the lower Chattahoochee River valley of southwest Georgia. The largest, Mound A, rises approximately 20 meters above the terrace that borders it. From its flat-topped summit, a visitor can survey the string of smaller mounds that form an arc to the south and west. Archaeological research had previously placed Kolomoki within the Mississippian period (ca. A.D. 1000-1500) primarily because of the size and form of the mounds. But this book presents data for the main period of occupation and mound construction that confirm an earlier date, in the Woodland period (ca. A.D. 350-750). Even though the long-standing confusion over Kolomoki’s dating has now been settled, questions remain regarding the lifeways of its inhabitants. Thomas Pluckhahn's research has recovered evidence concerning the level of site occupation and the house styles and daily lives of its dwellers. He presents here a new, revised history of Kolomoki from its founding to its eventual abandonment, with particular attention to the economy and ceremony at the settlement. This study makes an important contribution to the understanding of middle range societies, particularly the manner in which ceremony could both level and accentuate status differentiation within them. It provides a readable overview of one of the most important but historically least understood prehistoric Native American sites in the United States.
Essays on photography and the medium's history and evolving identity. In Each Wild Idea, Geoffrey Batchen explores a wide range of photographic subjects, from the timing of the medium's invention to the various implications of cyberculture. Along the way, he reflects on contemporary art photography, the role of the vernacular in photography's history, and the Australianness of Australian photography. The essays all focus on a consideration of specific photographs—from a humble combination of baby photos and bronzed booties to a masterwork by Alfred Stieglitz. Although Batchen views each photograph within the context of broader social and political forces, he also engages its own distinctive formal attributes. In short, he sees photography as something that is simultaneously material and cultural. In an effort to evoke the lived experience of history, he frequently relies on sheer description as the mode of analysis, insisting that we look right at—rather than beyond—the photograph being discussed. A constant theme throughout the book is the question of photography's past, present, and future identity.
The goal of this project was to carry out an intensive documents review of military sites associated with the Trail of Tears in Georgia. This research was followed by a reconnaissance-level archaeological field survey of those sites on the ground. The results of the documents review and field surveys were then used to develop recommendations for certification by the National Park Service (NPS) Long Distance Trails Office, as well as recommendations for further, more intensive archaeological field study. The project was completed under a Challenge Cost Share Agreement between the NPS and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Historic Preservation Division.
