Testing the Seep Spring Hypothesis: Paleoclimate and Settlement Patterns of the Mississippian to Protohistoric Periods in the Mississippi Black Prairie

Author

Sarah Skibinski

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Peacock, Evan

Committee Member

Rafferty, Janet E.

Committee Member

Miller, Darcy Shane

Committee Member

Schmitz, Darrel W.

Date of Degree

12-9-2016

Original embargo terms

MSU Only Indefinitely

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Campus Access Only

Major

Applied Anthropology

Degree Name

Master of Arts

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures

Abstract

Late prehistoric to Protohistoric (ca. A.D. 1200 – 1700) agricultural settlement in the Black Prairie uplands of Mississippi may have been enabled by “seep springs,” water features fed by groundwater discharge in certain geological settings. Ceramic seriation and GIS analysis of archaeological site location shows that over time, sites clustered around areas most likely to have supported springs, a finding supported by the presence of specimens of a moist-ground snail genus at a number of sites. These data indicate that Native settlement in the Oktibbeha County area was influenced by the presence of seep springs.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/18950

Comments

settlement patterns||mississippian||protohistoric||archaeology||anthropology

Recommended Citation

Skibinski, Sarah, "Testing the Seep Spring Hypothesis: Paleoclimate and Settlement Patterns of the Mississippian to Protohistoric Periods in the Mississippi Black Prairie" (2016). Theses and Dissertations. 4252.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/4252