In the 16th century, the Calusa, a fisher-gatherer-hunter society, were the most politically complex polity in Florida, and the archaeological site of Mound Key was their capital. Based on historic documents, the ruling elite at Mound Key controlled surplus production and distribution. The question remains exactly how such surplus pooling occurred and when such traditions were elaborated on and reflected in the built environment. Our work focuses on the “watercourts” and associated areas at Mound Key. These subrectangular constructions of shell and other sediments around centralized inundated areas have been variously interpreted. Here, we detail when these enclosures were constructed and their engineering and function. We argue that these structures were for large surplus capture and storage of aquatic resources that were controlled and managed by corporate groups.

Circular shell rings along the South Atlantic Coast of North America are the remnants of some of the earliest villages that emerged during the Late Archaic (5000–3000 BP). Many of these villages, however, were abandoned during the Terminal Late Archaic (ca 3800–3000 BP). We combine Bayesian chronological modeling with mollusk shell geochemistry and oyster paleobiology to understand the nature and timing of environmental change associated with the emergence and abandonment of circular shell ring villages on Sapelo Island, Georgia. Our Bayesian models indicate that Native Americans occupied the three Sapelo shell rings at varying times with some generational overlap. By the end of the complex’s occupation, only Ring III was occupied before abandonment ca. 3845 BP. Ring III also consists of statistically smaller oysters harvested from less saline estuaries compared to earlier occupations. Integrating shell biochemical and paleobiological data with recent tree ring analyses shows a clear pattern of environmental fluctuations throughout the period in which the rings were occupied. We argue that as the environment became unstable around 4300 BP, aggregation at villages provided a way to effectively manage fisheries that are highly sensitive to environmental change. However, with the eventual collapse of oyster fisheries and subsequent rebound in environmental conditions ca. post-3800 BP, people dispersed from shell rings, and shifted to non-marine subsistence economies and other types of settlements. This study provides the most comprehensive evidence for correlations between large-scale environmental change and societal transformations on the Georgia coast during the Late Archaic period.

The purpose of this article is to discuss the challenges and opportunities for integrating archaeological information in landscape-scale conservation design while aligning archaeological practice with design and planning focused on cultural resources. Targeting this opportunity begins with statewide archaeological databases. Here, we compare the structure and content of Pennsylvania's and Florida's statewide archaeological databases, identifying opportunities for leveraging these data in landscape conservation design and planning. The research discussed here was part of a broader project, which was working through the lens of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives in order to develop processes for integrating broadly conceived cultural resources with natural resources as part of multistate or regional landscape conservation design efforts. Landscape Conservation Cooperatives offer new ways to think about archaeological information in practice and potentially new ways for archaeology to contribute to design and planning. Statewide archaeological databases, in particular, offer transformative potential for integrating cultural resource priorities in landscape conservation design. Targeted coordination across state boundaries along with the development of accessible derivative databases are two priorities to advance their utility.

key w ords: Seminole, historical ecology, landscape, warfare, coalescence, human ecology, land-use patterns The Seminole Indians o f Florida are the descendants o f a great number o f prehistoric cultural groups from throughout the southeastern United States and have thus inherited a rich diversity o f traditions. They were not passive receivers o f these traditions, however; changing historical contexts enabled them to innovatively build upon their cultural repertoire to fit new ecological and social situations. The coalescence o f the Seminoles provides a useful framework fo r historical ecologists to study rapid changes in the way a cultural group adapts to an environment and, concomitantly, adapts an environment to its culture. During the course o f their history, the Seminoles faced an exceptionally long period o f warfare with the United States. The continual practice o f specific combat behaviors drastically changed their patterns o f land use and settlement. Moreover, they adapted their mode o f combat to the environment while adapting the environment to their specific tactical strategies.T h r o u g h o u t t h e c o u r se o f t h e six t e e n t h t h r o u g h n in e t e e n t h c e n tu r iesindigenous populations in the Americas suffered from devastating historical processes wrought by Europeans and, later, Americans. Diseases to which they had no immunity raged throughout the Americas, decimating populations (warfare followed on the heels of the sixteenth-century military entradas (expeditions into unknown territories) and charted the course for eighteenth-and nineteenthcentury American expansionism (Clayton et al.

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