An ethnohistorical perspective on hunter-gatherer complexity in South Florida

Worth, John E. (author)

73rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia, 2008

2008

Although South Florida was neither fully explored or assimilated during the Spanish colonial era (1513-1760), ethnohistorical records from this era provide tantalizing clues as to the nature of hunter-gatherer complexity in this broad region. Detailed examination of Spanish sources reveal both similarities and differences between South Florida groups and the more well-documented agricultural chiefdoms to the north. Though variations in both space and time are apparent, South Florida as a whole displays an internal coherence that distinguishes it as a regional subset of the broader pattern of sociopolitical complexity across the Southeastern United States. geography of this unique nonagricultural region sandwiched between the agricultural peoples of northern Florida and Cuba.

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