Firefly synchronicity and platform mound building by indigenous peoples of the Florida Peninsula, USA
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3919805 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas J Pluckhahn (0000-0001-7810-5361, University of South Florida, corresponding author), Kendal Jackson (0000-0001-6789-4924, University of South Florida), J A Rogers (0000-0002-4096-9954, University of South Florida), Victor D Thompson (0000-0003-1389-2979), Carey J Garland (0000-0002-0823-5571, University of Georgia), M Schwadron (0000-0003-4973-7321, Pacific and South Pacific Regions, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Portland, OR, USA), Chandler O Burchfield (University of South Florida) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 139-166 |
| Publication date | 2023-03-15 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | World Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0043-8243 • E-ISSN: 1470-1375 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00438243.2024.2383740 |
| OpenAlex | W4401547099 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 66 |
Although archaeologists often highlight the capacity of our field to identify broad-scale patterning in human societies, critiques of social evolution led many to focus on shorter-term, local histories. Drawing from a recent review of alternative models, we employ firefly synchronicity – the rhythmic coordination of flashing observed in some species of bioluminescent fireflies – as a model for understanding patterning in the timing of platform mound construction by Indigenous peoples of Tampa Bay, on the western coast of the Florida peninsula, USA. Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates and isotopic studies of oyster shells from three neighbouring sites reveals rhythmic coordination in the construction of platform mounds across the first millennium CE. We relate this patterning to interaction in seasonal and longer-term ritual cycles which may have facilitated collective management of zero-sum common property resources. Firefly synchronicity provides a useful model for identifying patterning in archaeological phenomena without much of the baggage of social evolution
Archaeology · Biology · Firefly protocol · Geography · Indigenous · Peninsula · Synchronicity · Zoology · Bryophyte Studies and Records · Ecology · Marine and environmental studies · Tardigrade Biology and Ecology
Maize at the margins of Mississippian
Testing Oxygen Isotope Analysis and Mg/Ca Ratios for the Investigation of Oyster ( Crassostrea virginica ) Harvesting in Ancient Tampa Bay, Florida, USA
Multidimensional Experiences of Oystering
Investigating shellfish harvesting and provisioning in Florida’s largest open-water estuary, Tampa Bay, Florida, USA (ca. AD 200–1000)
Political structure and change in the prehistoric southeastern United States
Feasting and the Emergence of Platform Mound Ceremonialism in Eastern North America
Feasts
Hidden in Plain Sight
Light on the Path
The Nature of Mississippian Regional Systems
Certain Antiquities of the Florida West-Coast [1900]
Coastal shell middens in Florida
Radiocarbon dating the pace of monument construction and village aggregation at Garden Patch
Early platform mound communalism and co-option in the American Southeast
Woodland-period mound building as historical tradition
Coastal subsistence and platform mound feasting on Florida’s northern Gulf Coast
Exploring Oyster ( Crassostrea virginica ) Habitat Collection via Oxygen Isotope Geochemistry and its Implications for Ritual and Mound Construction at Crystal River and Roberts Island, Florida
Building Bundles, Building Memories
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The History and Future of Migrationist Explanations in the Archaeology of the Eastern Woodlands with a Synthetic Model of Woodland Period Migrations on the Gulf Coast
Local and “Global” Perspectives on the Middle Woodland Southeast
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Dating the Construction of Early Late Woodland Earthen Monuments at the Jackson Landing Site in Coastal Mississippi
Exploring the season of mound building through oxygen isotope geochemistry at the Garden Patch site, Gulf Coast Florida, USA
The Biltmore Mound and Hopewellian Mound Use in the Southern Appalachians
Geochemical Analysis of as a Method to Determine Season of Capture
A New and Extended Case for Lunar (and Solar) Astronomy at the Newark Earthworks
Bayesian Analysis of Radiocarbon Dates
Variation in Radiocarbon Age Determinations from the Crystal River Archaeological Site, Florida
The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curve (0–55 cal kBP)
Evaluating Mobility, Monumentality, and Feasting at the Sapelo Island Shell Ring Complex
The Great Tradition versus the Great Divide
Cherokee Archaeology, A Study of the Appalachian Summit
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A future of archaeology
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An Integrated Geoarchaeology of a Late Woodland Sand Mound
Middle Woodland Ceremonialism at Pinson Mounds, Tennessee
Cherokee Archaeology
Some Archaeological Correlates of Ranked Societies
The Mandeville Site in Southwest Georgia
The Enigmatic Crystal River Site
Greenhouse
Behavioral Archaeology
An Interpretation of the Prehistory of the Eastern United States
Geoarchaeology and Coastal Morphodynamics of Harbor Key (8MA15)
Maritime Ritual Economies of Cosmic Synchronicity
The Temporal Distribution and Duration of Mississippian Polities in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee
The Myths and Realities of Bayesian Chronological Modeling Revealed
Understanding multi-sited early village communities of the American Southeast through categorical identities and relational connections
Emplacement and path dependence in the American Midsouth
The temporality of shell-bearing landscapes at Crystal River, Florida
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |