People of the shoals : Stallings culture of the Savannah River Valley /

This work starts and ends with two fictive vignettes. One, set in 1843 BCE, has the Stallings Island natives, creators of Classic Stallings culture, leaving their 300-year-old home island, while the second vignette, in 1439 CE, has a Mississippian father burying his young daughter in the island's ancient cemetery midden with some of its 3,500-year-old artifacts. The core of the book summarizes knowledge of the Late Archaic cultural phases in the Savannah River valley. These ancient "people of the shoals" created the finest examples of the earliest ceramic tradition in the US. Sassaman (Univ. of Florida) argues that the culture was probably matrilineal in social structure, with a high incident of left-handedness. He documents the interplay of Classic Stallings people occupying South Carolina's Fall Zone linking and interacting with the peoples of the archaeological complexes of the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions in the state. This study is written for the general public, and its author acknowledges that some of his interpretations are speculative. However, they are well argued and represent an attempt to "humanize" the archaeological record. Artifact illustrations and maps will be important for the public, too. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. P. J. O'Brien emeritus, Kansas State University