An Archaeology of Woodland Transformation

Southern Anthropological Society 2025 James Mooney Award, Honorable Mention

Exploring a period of transformative change for the Woodland-era societies of Florida’s Lower Suwannee region

In this book, Jessica Jenkins provides a detailed look at the transition from the Middle to Late Woodland periods in the Lower Suwannee region of Florida’s Gulf Coast. Drawing on ceramic analysis techniques, Jenkins argues that this time of transformative change, often interpreted as a societal collapse, instead should be seen as a purposeful shift brought about by emerging social movements.

Beginning around 650 CE, the region’s Indigenous inhabitants dispersed from civic-ceremonial centers, moved away from places associated with the dead, changed their burial practices, and adopted new pottery surface treatments and designs. Examining ceramic vessels from 12 sites located on islands near the present-day town of Cedar Key, Jenkins catalogs these shifts. Jenkins explores how people shared social identities that connected them through relational networks and laid the foundation for these changes.

An Archaeology of Woodland Transformation is the first book to synthesize information on the villages, networks, and identities of this time and place. Offering rich datasets and new perspectives on sociocultural transformation in and around the lower Suwannee River Estuary, this book represents a breakthrough in current understandings of the Woodland period.