The evolution of the Calusa : a non-agricultural chiefdom on the southwest Florida coast / Randolph J. Widmer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Widmer, Randolph J.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Calusa Indians.

Paleoecology--Florida.

Paleoecology.

Human ecology--Florida.

Human ecology.

Florida--Antiquities.

Florida.

Antiquities.

Physical Description:

xv, 334 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, [1988]

Summary:

The Evolution of the Calusa attempts to explain how, why, and under what circumstances a complex chiefdom evolved on the southwest Florida coast, apparently without an agricultural subsistence base, and how far back in time it developed. The aims of this study are twofold: compile, for the first time, all the archaeological, environmental, and geological data pertinent to the evolution of the aboriginal inhabitants of southwest Florida; and, using this basis, develop a specific, integrated, and dynamic model of cultural adaptation that will serve as a stimulus for hypotheses that go beyond simple culture-historical concerns for future archaeological research in this region.

Contents:

2 Theoretical and Methodological Considerations in a Study of Coastal Adaptation 12

3 The History of Archaeological Research in Southwest Florida 36

4 The Prehistory of Southwest Florida 55

5 The Environment and Ecology of Southwest Florida 98

6 The History of Environmental Change in South Florida 138

7 A Dynamic Model of the Prehistoric Coastal Adaptation in Southwest Florida 189

8 The Subsistence and Settlement Characteristics of the Calusa Adaptation 224

9 The Sociopolitical Evolution of the Calusa Chiefdom 261

Appendix Radiocarbon Determinations for the Middle and Late Holocene Sea-Level Position 311.

Notes:

Bibliography: pages [282]-310.

Includes index.

ISBN:

0817303588

OCLC:

14932811