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Title
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The Mississippian-Historic Transition in Central Alabama
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Date
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1974
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Bibliographic Citation
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Sheldon, Craig T. 1974. The Mississippian-Historic Transition in Central Alabama. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene.
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annotates
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• A processual-era dissertation rooted in environmental adaptation, typological classification, and culture-historical modeling across the Tombigbee, Alabama, and Black Warrior River basins, focusing on cultural development and material culture from the Paleoindian to early Historic periods.
o Constructs a ceramic typology, charts lithic transitions, and evaluates settlement pattern changes in light of geography and contact history.
o Also documents shifts in subsistence, settlement form, and mortuary practice as native groups adopted or resisted colonial influences.
o Includes a substantial section on ethnohistorical identifications, which is largely based on Swanton’s work, mapping precontact and early historical archaeological cultures onto Indigenous Nations.
o He pays particular attention to the transition from Mississippian to Postcontact societies and the impact of European intrusions, particularly in the sixteenth century.
• Choctaw are discussed and attributed directly:
o Described as linguistically and culturally linked to the Moeli (Mobila Nation), Tohomi (Tohome), and Napochl groups of southwest Alabama
o Sheldon notes that these groups are linguistic relatives of the Choctaw, with overlapping cultural practices, particularly in burial customs and subsistence strategies
• Describes Choctaw territorial presence in the lower Tombigbee River and coastal southwest Alabama, stating their range extended “marginally” into this region
• Ethnohistorical discussions of subsistence and settlement adaptation, including European livestock adoption and the deerskin trade. Comparisons of cultural continuity in ceramic styles show that post-Mississippian pottery is culturally continuous with “historical Choctaw.” Choctaw presence is framed primarily in the “Protohistoric–Historic” transition, particularly post-1700, alongside Alabama and Moeli (Mobila Nation).
o 1WX1 (McQuorquodale site): This site is referenced in Sheldon’s work and identified elsewhere as part of the Lower Tombigbee Mississippian complex, a cultural antecedent of the Moeli (Mobila Nation)/Tohomi (Tohome)/Choctaw.
o Bottle Creek (1BA2) is referenced as a key mound center tied to postcontact polities, possibly connected to Choctaw linguistic ancestors.
o The Black Warrior River region is associated with the Napochi, who are explicitly noted as Choctaw-affiliated, “though poorly documented.”
o Sheldon also mentions "mixed settlements" involving the Moeli (Mobila Nation), Tohomi (Tohome), and Alabama groups, 1MN1, 1MN4, and others in Monroe County, although Choctaw attributions are not specified.
o Site data are generalized or unnamed, making it difficult to tie observations and findings to trinomial-specific locations.
• Tribal identifications are presented cautiously, often drawing from Swanton but paired with archaeological context to avoid overstatement.
• Burial customs and cultural traits are discussed with relative respect, but human remains are described in technical detail (reflecting the norms of the period).
• A decolonizing rereading would:
o Emphasize the need for Choctaw and descendant involvement in interpreting components.
o Re-center Indigenous perspectives on trade, adaptation, and continuity, particularly in light of Sheldon’s own evidence for cultural persistence.
o Call attention to the tendency to treat “Choctaw” as a historic label rather than an active cultural framework with ongoing ties to ancestral land and traditions.
• Useful background source for CRM in Choctaw-related areas of southwest Alabama:
o Provides essential culture-historical scaffolding for evaluating Mississippian and Postcontact sites.
o Choctaw relevance is well contextualized within regional linguistic and cultural networks, especially in the Mobile-Tombigbee corridor.
o The work pre-dates ethical guidelines regarding NAGPRA, descendant consultation, or data sensitivity around human remains.
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owner
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sprice@wiregrassarchaeology.com