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Abstract
This dissertation explores the application of anthropological archaeology to submerged prehistoric archaeological sites. The study area is the Big Bend, within Apalachee Bay, Florida, along the northeastern edge of the Gulf of Mexico. Prior scholars have thoroughly demonstrated the existence and preservation of these sites, and now the focus of this research turns to documenting and interpreting the human behaviors that created these sites, particularly coastally focused occupations prior to the establishment of modern sea levels. Post-depositional changes in these sites are also a critical aspect for studies in these contexts. The primary methods are well accepted geoarchaeological and geospatial techniques drawn from traditional archaeological studies. The findings are interpreted using a hybrid theoretical framework that incorporates human behavioral archaeology and human behavioral ecology. This extension of anthropological theoretical frameworks into the offshore thus moves the sub-discipline beyond documentation of sites and artifacts, placing human activities back into the now-submerged landscape.Chapter 2 updates predictive models for sites within this area by testing which environmental variables are correlated with site occurrences across time and space. As expected, variables are not consistent even within the same cultural period, suggesting that different resources were used at different sites. Some correlations could not be explained by environmental variables alone, arguing that these sites were chosen for reasons not directly based solely in ecological conditions. Chapter 3 explores these findings further by examining one site showing prominent use of coastal resources, the Econfina Channel site (8TA129). I use geoarchaeological studies to assess this site for both discrete activity areas and evidence for post-depositional erosion that can affect site integrity. The theoretical model is also used to place the site into a regional context by comparing it to three other known sites nearby within the bay. Certain aspects of all sites suggest that human occupations were again based on detectable cultural choices and not simply ecological conditions. Chapter 4 concerns post depositional corrosion in lithic remains, which examined in detail using additional geoarchaeological techniques; a new set of criteria for the evaluation as artifacts is proposed. Application of these updated criteria allow corroded artifacts to be integrated into the lithic landscape of Apalachee Bay, and the findings that these items were made of non-chert, local carbonate rock, argues that human choices for raw stone materials were more nuanced than previously thought.