Matthew C Sanger
Biographic Data
| ID | 75494 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Matthew C Sanger |
| GIVEN NAMES | Matthew C |
| FAMILY NAME | Sanger |
| SIGNATURE | SANGER M C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Binghamton University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0553-8809 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 36 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 181 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 36 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Recent middle and late Holocene transition research along the South Atlantic coastline
Recent middle and late Holocene transition research along the northern and eastern Gulf of Mexico shoreline
Following community guidelines in publishing Native American archaeological collections online
Multiple sources of pressure are impacting museum professionals who steward Native American collections as they decide what should be made available to the public. This includes sharing imagery of collections through online portals – a cornerstone of the Open Museums movement, but something many Native American communities have concerns over. A systematic program reviewing the archaeological collections from North America held at the National Mus…
Sequential villages and settling down on the southeast U.S. coast
The adoption of more sedentary residential practices is a long process in which groups shift in size, permanence, makeup, and even location in response to the social, demographic, ecological, and subsistence pressures associated with settling down. Coastal peoples living in the Southeast U.S. are among the first to adopt more sedentary lifeways in North America as evidenced by their creation of dozens of large circular or arcing shell middens dur…
Copper on the Mississippi coast: Assessing provenance of a copper bead at the Claiborne site (22HA501) through LA-ICP-MS compositional analysis
Bathymetric LiDAR and Semi‐Automated Feature Extraction Assist Underwater Archaeological Surveys
Critical data concerning key developments in global human history now lie submerged on continental shelves where investigations confront significant challenges. Whereas underwater excavations and surveys are expensive and weather dependent and require specialized training and equipment, remote sensing methods can improve chances for success offshore. A refinement in one method, a semi‐automated analysis protocol that can help to identify Pleistoc…
The Archaeology of Awe: Monumental Architecture, Communal Ritual, and Community Formation at Poverty Point, USA
Evaluating the Archaeological Efficacy of Bathymetric LiDAR across Oceanographic Contexts: A Case Study from Apalachee Bay, Florida
This study presents preliminary results from recent bathymetric LiDAR-guided surveys of submerged archaeological landscapes in the Apalachee Bay off the coast of Florida. We show how bathymetric LiDAR can re-identify previously recorded archaeological sites and identify new cultural deposits at shallow depths and help aid SCUBA surveys of submerged environments. While most prior archaeological applications of bathymetric LiDAR have focused on shi…
Cross-mended ceramic sherds as a proxy for depositional processes at two Late Archaic shell rings in coastal Georgia
Characterizing the depositional and temporal nature of sediments lends insight into the construction of monuments and midden accumulation. Identifying discrete deposits at Late Archaic shell rings can be challenging due to the seemingly homogenous nature of shell deposits. Data from cross-mended artifacts can help identify surfaces and determine whether deposits are contemporaneous. We present cross-mend results from the St. Catherines Shell Ring…
Air and sound: Indigenous wind instruments made of bone in the Southeast United States
By studying the distribution of wind instruments made of bone, we investigate the presence of musical traditions in the American Southeast and nearby regions during the last few centuries prior to European arrival. Our findings show that southeastern Indigenous peoples used bone instruments far less than their neighbors, suggesting that they almost exclusively made whistles and flutes from reeds, wood, and other materials that do not survive in t…
Anarchy, institutional flexibility, and containment of authority at Poverty Point (USA)
Monumental architecture has long been associated with the rise of the State and societal inequality, yet recent studies have shown some small and relatively egalitarian societies also built large-scale architecture. This study posits that some of these groups utilized 'institutional flexibility' – a strategy of creating and then dismantling hierarchical power systems during limited periods of time – as a means of harnessing group labor, establish…
Recentering the Turn: Bringing Native Philosophy into Ontological Studies
Remote Sensing and Indigenous Communities: Challenges and Opportunities
Although remote sensing techniques are increasingly becoming ubiquitous within archaeological research, their proper and ethical use has rarely been critically examined, particularly among Native American communities. Potential ethical challenges are outlined, along with suggested changes to archaeological frameworks that will better address Native American concerns. These changes center on a revised view of remote sensing instruments as being po…
Dedication
An abstract is not available for this content. As you have access to this content, full HTML content is provided on this page. A PDF of this content is also available in through the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Ethical challenges in the practice of remote sensing and geophysical archaeology
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study
Deep learning reveals extent of Archaic Native American shell-ring building practices
In the mid-Holocene (5000 - 3000 cal B.P.), Native American groups constructed shell rings, a type of circular midden, in coastal areas of the American Southeast. These deposits provide important insights into Native American socioeconomic organization but are also quite rare: only about 50 such rings have been documented to date. Recent work using automated LiDAR analysis demonstrates that many more shell rings likely exist than are currently re…
Joining the Circle: Native American Philosophy Applied to the Study of Late Archaic Shell Rings of the Southeast United States
Revelatory locales: The ritual reuse of a Late Archaic shell ring in South Carolina
Anarchist Theory and Archaeology
The Integration of Lidar and Legacy Datasets Provides Improved Explanations for the Spatial Patterning of Shell Rings in the American Southeast
Archaeologists have struggled to combine remotely sensed datasets with preexisting information for landscape-level analyses. In the American Southeast, for example, analyses of lidar data using automated feature extraction algorithms have led to the identification of over 40 potential new pre-European-contact Native American shell ring deposits in Beaufort County, South Carolina. Such datasets are vital for understanding settlement distributions,…
Addressing the problem of disappearing cultural landscapes in archaeological research using multi-scalar survey
Climate change and anthropogenic activities are actively destroying the archaeological record. The dramatic disappearance of archaeological landscapes becomes particularly problematic when they are also unrecorded. Hidden from view and eroding, these disappearing landscapes likely hold answers to important anthropological questions. As such, disappearing landscapes present a major challenge for 21st century archaeology. Left unchecked, this pheno…
Public archaeology at Baynard-Zion: Bringing life back to an antebellum cemetery
Heritage tourism is a driving economic force in much of the coastal southeastern United States, including on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, one of the most popular destinations for vacationers in the country. Working with local community members in developing a diverse and multipronged public archaeology program, we helped facilitate research and develop programing at the Baynard Mausoleum and Zion Chapel of Ease and Cemetery (Baynard-Zion).…
Cultural spaces and climate change: Modeling Holocene archaeological settlement patterns on the coastal plain of the southeastern United States
Elemental analysis of Late Archaic copper from the McQueen Shell Ring, St. Catherine's Island, Georgia
Multiple-Proxy Seasonality Indicators: An Integrative Approach to Assess Shell Midden Formations from Late Archaic Shell Rings in the Coastal Southeast North America
Multiple-proxy seasonality studies, in combination with stratigraphic reconstructions, provide data critical to understanding how Late Archaic residents of the Georgia Bight created shell middens. Deposited as large circular rings, these middens in part contain fishes caught year-round, clams and oysters harvested seasonally, and tree nuts gathered in the fall and potentially consumed during other portions of the year. These findings highlight th…
Automated mound detection using lidar and object-based image analysis in Beaufort County, South Carolina
The study of precontact anthropogenic mounded features—earthen mounds, shell heaps, and shell rings—in the American Southeast is stymied by the spotty distribution of systematic surveys across the region. Many extant, yet unidentified, archaeological mound features continue to evade detection due to the heavily forested canopies that occupy large areas of the region, making pedestrian surveys difficult and preventing aerial observation. Object-ba…
Deep learning reveals extent of Archaic Native American shell-ring building practices
In the mid-Holocene (5000 - 3000 cal B.P.), Native American groups constructed shell rings, a type of circular midden, in coastal areas of the American Southeast. These deposits provide important insights into Native American socioeconomic organization but are also quite rare: only about 50 such rings have been documented to date. Recent work using automated LiDAR analysis demonstrates that many more shell rings likely exist than are currently re…
Anarchy, institutional flexibility, and containment of authority at Poverty Point (USA)
Monumental architecture has long been associated with the rise of the State and societal inequality, yet recent studies have shown some small and relatively egalitarian societies also built large-scale architecture. This study posits that some of these groups utilized 'institutional flexibility' – a strategy of creating and then dismantling hierarchical power systems during limited periods of time – as a means of harnessing group labor, establish…
Coils, slabs, and molds: Examining community affiliation between Late Archaic shell ring communities using radiographic imagery of pottery
Radiographic imaging is used to determine the techniques used to form vessels from two contemporaneous Late Archaic shell rings in coastal Georgia. These data, in concert with decorative and technofunctional data, suggest that different potting communities occupied each ring. The presence of different communities at each ring corresponds with larger regional patterns in which localized socio-political bodies developed during the Late Archaic. The…
Joining the Circle: Native American Philosophy Applied to the Study of Late Archaic Shell Rings of the Southeast United States
Determining the use of Late Archaic shell rings using lithic data: “Ceremonial Villages” and the Importance of Stone
Late Archaic shell rings have been the focus of archaeological research for decades, yet their history, use, and function are debated. Relying on an evidentiary line rarely used in shell ring studies – the analysis of stone tools and debitage – we test prevailing theories and find that models describing the rings as circular dams intended to hold freshwater are incorrect. Instead, by tracing the origins of stone and its distribution within two sh…
Determining depositional events within shell deposits using computer vision and photogrammetry
Multiple-Proxy Seasonality Indicators: An Integrative Approach to Assess Shell Midden Formations from Late Archaic Shell Rings in the Coastal Southeast North America
Multiple-proxy seasonality studies, in combination with stratigraphic reconstructions, provide data critical to understanding how Late Archaic residents of the Georgia Bight created shell middens. Deposited as large circular rings, these middens in part contain fishes caught year-round, clams and oysters harvested seasonally, and tree nuts gathered in the fall and potentially consumed during other portions of the year. These findings highlight th…
Remote Sensing and Indigenous Communities: Challenges and Opportunities
Although remote sensing techniques are increasingly becoming ubiquitous within archaeological research, their proper and ethical use has rarely been critically examined, particularly among Native American communities. Potential ethical challenges are outlined, along with suggested changes to archaeological frameworks that will better address Native American concerns. These changes center on a revised view of remote sensing instruments as being po…
Post-marital Residence Patterns in the Late Archaic Coastal Southeast USA: Similarities in Stone Tools Revealed by Geometric Morphometrics
Ethical challenges in the practice of remote sensing and geophysical archaeology
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study
Revelatory locales: The ritual reuse of a Late Archaic shell ring in South Carolina
Evidence for Significant Subterranean Storage at Two Hunter-Gatherer Sites: The Presence of a Mast-Based Economy in the Late Archaic Coastal American Southeast
Excavations at two Late Archaic shell rings on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, revealed evidence of significant amounts of subterranean storage. Based on botanical evidence, ethonographic analogies, and interpretations of other Late Archaic sites, hickory nuts and acorns are the most likely resource being stored, and quantifying the capacity found at each ring highlights the prevalence and importance of mast storage. These findings are important …
Investigating pottery vessel manufacturing techniques using radiographic imaging and computed tomography: Studies from the Late Archaic American Southeast
Cultural spaces and climate change: Modeling Holocene archaeological settlement patterns on the coastal plain of the southeastern United States
Addressing the problem of disappearing cultural landscapes in archaeological research using multi-scalar survey
Climate change and anthropogenic activities are actively destroying the archaeological record. The dramatic disappearance of archaeological landscapes becomes particularly problematic when they are also unrecorded. Hidden from view and eroding, these disappearing landscapes likely hold answers to important anthropological questions. As such, disappearing landscapes present a major challenge for 21st century archaeology. Left unchecked, this pheno…
Great Lakes Copper and Shared Mortuary Practices on the Atlantic Coast: Implications for Long-Distance Exchange during the Late Archaic
Analysis of human remains and a copper band found in the center of a Late Archaic (ca. 5000-3000 cal BP) shell ring demonstrate an exchange network between the Great Lakes and the coastal southeast United States. Similarities in mortuary practices suggest that the movement of objects between these two regions was more direct and unmediated than archaeologists previously assumed based on 'down-the-line' models of exchange. These findings challenge…
A comparison of automated object extraction methods for mound and shell-ring identification in coastal South Carolina
Life among the tides: Recent archaeology on the Georgia Bight : proceedings of the Sixth Caldwell Conference, St. Catherines Island, Georgia, May 20-22, 2011
494 pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 26 cm. Conference sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History and the St. Catherines Island Foundation
Bathymetric LiDAR and Semi‐Automated Feature Extraction Assist Underwater Archaeological Surveys
Critical data concerning key developments in global human history now lie submerged on continental shelves where investigations confront significant challenges. Whereas underwater excavations and surveys are expensive and weather dependent and require specialized training and equipment, remote sensing methods can improve chances for success offshore. A refinement in one method, a semi‐automated analysis protocol that can help to identify Pleistoc…
Cross-mended ceramic sherds as a proxy for depositional processes at two Late Archaic shell rings in coastal Georgia
Characterizing the depositional and temporal nature of sediments lends insight into the construction of monuments and midden accumulation. Identifying discrete deposits at Late Archaic shell rings can be challenging due to the seemingly homogenous nature of shell deposits. Data from cross-mended artifacts can help identify surfaces and determine whether deposits are contemporaneous. We present cross-mend results from the St. Catherines Shell Ring…
Recentering the Turn: Bringing Native Philosophy into Ontological Studies
The Integration of Lidar and Legacy Datasets Provides Improved Explanations for the Spatial Patterning of Shell Rings in the American Southeast
Archaeologists have struggled to combine remotely sensed datasets with preexisting information for landscape-level analyses. In the American Southeast, for example, analyses of lidar data using automated feature extraction algorithms have led to the identification of over 40 potential new pre-European-contact Native American shell ring deposits in Beaufort County, South Carolina. Such datasets are vital for understanding settlement distributions,…
Evaluating the Archaeological Efficacy of Bathymetric LiDAR across Oceanographic Contexts: A Case Study from Apalachee Bay, Florida
This study presents preliminary results from recent bathymetric LiDAR-guided surveys of submerged archaeological landscapes in the Apalachee Bay off the coast of Florida. We show how bathymetric LiDAR can re-identify previously recorded archaeological sites and identify new cultural deposits at shallow depths and help aid SCUBA surveys of submerged environments. While most prior archaeological applications of bathymetric LiDAR have focused on shi…
Public archaeology at Baynard-Zion: Bringing life back to an antebellum cemetery
Heritage tourism is a driving economic force in much of the coastal southeastern United States, including on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, one of the most popular destinations for vacationers in the country. Working with local community members in developing a diverse and multipronged public archaeology program, we helped facilitate research and develop programing at the Baynard Mausoleum and Zion Chapel of Ease and Cemetery (Baynard-Zion).…
Life among the tides: Recent archaeology on the Georgia Bight : proceedings of the Sixth Caldwell Conference, St. Catherines Island, Georgia, May 20-22, 2011
494 pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 26 cm. Conference sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History and the St. Catherines Island Foundation
Determining depositional events within shell deposits using computer vision and photogrammetry
Investigating pottery vessel manufacturing techniques using radiographic imaging and computed tomography: Studies from the Late Archaic American Southeast
Determining the use of Late Archaic shell rings using lithic data: “Ceremonial Villages” and the Importance of Stone
Late Archaic shell rings have been the focus of archaeological research for decades, yet their history, use, and function are debated. Relying on an evidentiary line rarely used in shell ring studies – the analysis of stone tools and debitage – we test prevailing theories and find that models describing the rings as circular dams intended to hold freshwater are incorrect. Instead, by tracing the origins of stone and its distribution within two sh…
Coils, slabs, and molds: Examining community affiliation between Late Archaic shell ring communities using radiographic imagery of pottery
Radiographic imaging is used to determine the techniques used to form vessels from two contemporaneous Late Archaic shell rings in coastal Georgia. These data, in concert with decorative and technofunctional data, suggest that different potting communities occupied each ring. The presence of different communities at each ring corresponds with larger regional patterns in which localized socio-political bodies developed during the Late Archaic. The…
Evidence for Significant Subterranean Storage at Two Hunter-Gatherer Sites: The Presence of a Mast-Based Economy in the Late Archaic Coastal American Southeast
Excavations at two Late Archaic shell rings on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, revealed evidence of significant amounts of subterranean storage. Based on botanical evidence, ethonographic analogies, and interpretations of other Late Archaic sites, hickory nuts and acorns are the most likely resource being stored, and quantifying the capacity found at each ring highlights the prevalence and importance of mast storage. These findings are important …
Anarchist Theory and Archaeology
A comparison of automated object extraction methods for mound and shell-ring identification in coastal South Carolina
Automated mound detection using lidar and object-based image analysis in Beaufort County, South Carolina
The study of precontact anthropogenic mounded features—earthen mounds, shell heaps, and shell rings—in the American Southeast is stymied by the spotty distribution of systematic surveys across the region. Many extant, yet unidentified, archaeological mound features continue to evade detection due to the heavily forested canopies that occupy large areas of the region, making pedestrian surveys difficult and preventing aerial observation. Object-ba…
Elemental analysis of Late Archaic copper from the McQueen Shell Ring, St. Catherine's Island, Georgia
Multiple-Proxy Seasonality Indicators: An Integrative Approach to Assess Shell Midden Formations from Late Archaic Shell Rings in the Coastal Southeast North America
Multiple-proxy seasonality studies, in combination with stratigraphic reconstructions, provide data critical to understanding how Late Archaic residents of the Georgia Bight created shell middens. Deposited as large circular rings, these middens in part contain fishes caught year-round, clams and oysters harvested seasonally, and tree nuts gathered in the fall and potentially consumed during other portions of the year. These findings highlight th…
Post-marital Residence Patterns in the Late Archaic Coastal Southeast USA: Similarities in Stone Tools Revealed by Geometric Morphometrics
Great Lakes Copper and Shared Mortuary Practices on the Atlantic Coast: Implications for Long-Distance Exchange during the Late Archaic
Analysis of human remains and a copper band found in the center of a Late Archaic (ca. 5000-3000 cal BP) shell ring demonstrate an exchange network between the Great Lakes and the coastal southeast United States. Similarities in mortuary practices suggest that the movement of objects between these two regions was more direct and unmediated than archaeologists previously assumed based on 'down-the-line' models of exchange. These findings challenge…
Anarchist Theory and Archaeology
The Integration of Lidar and Legacy Datasets Provides Improved Explanations for the Spatial Patterning of Shell Rings in the American Southeast
Archaeologists have struggled to combine remotely sensed datasets with preexisting information for landscape-level analyses. In the American Southeast, for example, analyses of lidar data using automated feature extraction algorithms have led to the identification of over 40 potential new pre-European-contact Native American shell ring deposits in Beaufort County, South Carolina. Such datasets are vital for understanding settlement distributions,…
Addressing the problem of disappearing cultural landscapes in archaeological research using multi-scalar survey
Climate change and anthropogenic activities are actively destroying the archaeological record. The dramatic disappearance of archaeological landscapes becomes particularly problematic when they are also unrecorded. Hidden from view and eroding, these disappearing landscapes likely hold answers to important anthropological questions. As such, disappearing landscapes present a major challenge for 21st century archaeology. Left unchecked, this pheno…
Public archaeology at Baynard-Zion: Bringing life back to an antebellum cemetery
Heritage tourism is a driving economic force in much of the coastal southeastern United States, including on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, one of the most popular destinations for vacationers in the country. Working with local community members in developing a diverse and multipronged public archaeology program, we helped facilitate research and develop programing at the Baynard Mausoleum and Zion Chapel of Ease and Cemetery (Baynard-Zion).…
Cultural spaces and climate change: Modeling Holocene archaeological settlement patterns on the coastal plain of the southeastern United States
Remote Sensing and Indigenous Communities: Challenges and Opportunities
Although remote sensing techniques are increasingly becoming ubiquitous within archaeological research, their proper and ethical use has rarely been critically examined, particularly among Native American communities. Potential ethical challenges are outlined, along with suggested changes to archaeological frameworks that will better address Native American concerns. These changes center on a revised view of remote sensing instruments as being po…
Dedication
An abstract is not available for this content. As you have access to this content, full HTML content is provided on this page. A PDF of this content is also available in through the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Ethical challenges in the practice of remote sensing and geophysical archaeology
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study
Deep learning reveals extent of Archaic Native American shell-ring building practices
In the mid-Holocene (5000 - 3000 cal B.P.), Native American groups constructed shell rings, a type of circular midden, in coastal areas of the American Southeast. These deposits provide important insights into Native American socioeconomic organization but are also quite rare: only about 50 such rings have been documented to date. Recent work using automated LiDAR analysis demonstrates that many more shell rings likely exist than are currently re…
Joining the Circle: Native American Philosophy Applied to the Study of Late Archaic Shell Rings of the Southeast United States
Revelatory locales: The ritual reuse of a Late Archaic shell ring in South Carolina
Anarchy, institutional flexibility, and containment of authority at Poverty Point (USA)
Monumental architecture has long been associated with the rise of the State and societal inequality, yet recent studies have shown some small and relatively egalitarian societies also built large-scale architecture. This study posits that some of these groups utilized 'institutional flexibility' – a strategy of creating and then dismantling hierarchical power systems during limited periods of time – as a means of harnessing group labor, establish…
Archaeology (31 works) · Geography (29 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (24 works) · History (17 works) · Geology (15 works) · History (13 works) · Archaeological Research and Protection (11 works) · Computer Science (9 works) · Ecology (9 works) · Remote sensing (8 works)