Deptford culture

The Deptford culture (2500 BCE—100 BCE) was characterized by the appearance of elaborate ceremonial complexes, increasing social and opolitical complexity, mound burial, permanent settlements, population growth, and an increasing reliance on cultigens.

1 Origins
2 Population sites
3 Artifacts
4 Sources

Origins

Deptford is named for the Deptford area of south Savannah, Georgia. Origins of the Deptford culture are not established though most archaeologists argue for stationary (situ) development. Views differ on the chronological divisions for Deptford but most concur with three phases of Early Deptford, Middle Deptford, and Late Deptford (W.H. Sears, 1962)

Population sites

The Deptford sites can be found from eastern North Carolina along the east coast to Florida.

Tar River, North Carolina^[1]
Brewton Hill site, eastern Savannah, Georgia
Dulany site, eastern Savannah
Irene site, northwest of Savannah
Refuse site, north of Savannah
Meldrim site, southeast of Savannah
Haven Home site, southwest of Savannah
The Block-Sterns site, Lake Lafayette, Tallahassee, Florida^[2]
Site 8LE484 on the northern shore of Lake Miccosukee, Leon County, Florida.^[3]

Both Florida locations represent significant inland Deptford period sites.

Artifacts

Early Deptford ceramics appear to have been developed in Georgia around 2,600 years ago out of the Early Woodland Refuge phase (near Savannah) some 3,200 to 2,600 BCE years ago, and spread north into South Carolina and North Carolina and south into Florida. Deptford ceramics continued to be made and found on Middle Woodland sites in the southeastern U.S. until about 600 BCE. Occupation for the Atlantic coastal plain of Georgia and the Carolinas seems to have followed a seasonal pattern of winter shellfish camps on the coast, then inland occupation during the spring and summer for deer hunting, and fall for nut gathering.^[4]

From the Early through the Middle Woodland periods, the extensive, low-lying coastal environment of the South Atlantic coast, stretching from North Carolina to northern Florida, was used by numerous Deptford hunter-gatherer bands who lived seasonally within a variety of ecosystems and took advantage of seasonally available foods.

Along the Gulf Coast, the Deptford culture continued the seasonal existence throughout the Middle Woodland. Settlements in this geographical area lacked permanence of occupation, although the cultures here participated in the Hopewellian trading network to a limited extent and constructed numerous low sand burial mounds. These sand burial mounds along coastal Georgia and Florida (noted at Canaveral National Seashore and Cumberland Island National Seashore, for instance), as well as in the Carolinas, are believed to represent local lineage burial grounds rather than the resting place of an elite individual.

In northwestern Florida, the Early Woodland Deptford culture evolved in place to become the Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture. Trade items recovered from burial mounds include copper panpipes, ear ornaments, stone plummets, and stone gorgets. These show this area's incorporation within the Hopewellian Interaction Sphere by about 1,900 years ago.

Sources

Hopewellian peoples

Woodland period · List of Hopewell sites · Mound builder (people) · List of archaeological periods (North America)

Ohio Hopewell	Beam Farm · Benham Mound · Cary Village Site · Cedar-Bank Works · Dunns Pond Mound · Ellis Mounds · Ety Enclosure · Ety Habitation Site · Fort Ancient · Fortified Hill Works · Great Hopewell Road · High Banks Works · Hopeton Earthworks · Hopewell Culture National Historical Park · Indian Mound Cemetery · Keiter Mound · Marietta Earthworks · Moorehead Circle · Mound of Pipes · Nettle Lake Mound Group · Newark Earthworks · Oak Mounds · Perin Village Site · Portsmouth Earthworks · Seip Earthworks and Dill Mounds District · Shawnee Lookout · Tremper Mound and Works · Williamson Mound Archeological District

Crab Orchard culture	Mann Site · O'byams Fort site · Rockwell Mound

Goodall Focus	Goodall Site · Norton Mound Group

Havana Hopewell culture	Albany Mounds State Historic Site · Dickson Mounds · Mound House site · Naples Mound 8 · Rockwell Mound · Sinnissippi Mounds · Toolesboro Mound Group

Kansas City Hopewell	Cloverdale archaeological site · Renner Village Archeological Site · Trowbridge Archeological Site

Marksville culture	Crooks Mound · Grand Gulf Mound · Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site · Mott Archaeological Preserve

Miller culture	Bynum Mound and Village Site · Ingomar Mound · Miller Site · Pharr Mounds · Pinson Mounds

Point Peninsula Complex	Lewiston Mound · Serpent Mounds Park · LeVescounte Mounds

Swift Creek culture	Etowah Indian Mounds · Leake Mounds · Kolomoki Mounds Historic Park · Miner's Creek site, · Nacoochee Mound · Swift Creek mound site · Yearwood site

Other Hopewellian peoples	Armstrong culture · Copena culture · Fourche Maline culture · Laurel Complex · Saugeen Complex · Old Stone Fort (Tennessee)

Exotic trade items	Copper · Galena · Mica · Fresh water pearls · Obsidian · Pipestone · Sea shells

Related topics · Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley · Black drink · burial mound · Calumet (pipe) · Effigy mound · Hopewell pottery · Horned Serpent · Eastern Agricultural Complex · Underwater panther

Pre-Columbian North America

Archaeological cultures	North American pre-Columbian chronology – Adena – Alachua – Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) – Baytown – Belle Glade – Buttermilk Creek Complex – Caborn-Welborn – Calf Creek – Caloosahatchee – Clovis – Coles Creek – Deptford – Folsom – Fort Ancient – Fort Walton – Fremont – Glades – Glacial Kame – Hopewell (List of Hopewell sites) – Hohokam – Leon-Jefferson – Mississippian (List of Mississippian sites) – Mogollon – Monongahela – Old Cordilleran – Oneota – Paleo-Arctic – Paleo-Indians – Patayan – Plano – Plaquemine – Poverty Point – Prehistoric Southwest – Red Ocher – Santa Rosa-Swift Creek – St. Johns – Steed-Kisker – Tchefuncte – Tocobaga – Troyville

Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds – Bandelier National Monument – The Bluff Point Stoneworks – Cahokia – Chaco Canyon – Casa Grande – Coso Rock Art District – Eaker – Effigy Mounds National Monument – Etowah Indian Mounds – Eva – Folsom Site – Fort Ancient – Fort Center – Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument – Holly Bluff Site – Hopewell Culture National Historical Park – Kincaid Mounds – Kolomoki – Manitou Cliff Dwellings – Marksville – Meadowcroft Rockshelter – Mesa Verde – Moorehead Circle – Moundville – Mummy Cave – Nodena Site – Ocmulgee National Monument – Old Stone Fort – Parkin Park – Pinson Mounds – Portsmouth Earthworks – Poverty Point – Pueblo Bonito – Rock Eagle – Rock Hawk – Salmon Ruins – Serpent Mound – Spiro Mounds – SunWatch – Taos Pueblo – Toltec Mounds – Town Creek Indian Mound – Winterville

Miscellaneous	Ballgame – Black drink – Buhl woman – Calumet – Chunkey – Clovis point – Container Revolution – Eastern Agricultural Complex – Eden point – Effigy mound – Falcon dancer – Folsom point – Green Corn Ceremony – Horned Serpent – Kennewick man – Kiva – Metallurgy – Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing – Medicine wheel – Mound builders – N.A.G.P.R.A. – Norse colonization of the Americas – Piasa – Pueblo dwellings – Southeastern Ceremonial Complex – Three Sisters agriculture – Thunderbird – Underwater panther

Related: Genetic history · Indigenous Portal of North America · Pre-Columbian era

Deptford culture

Contents

Origins

Population sites

Artifacts

Sources