Neill Wallis

DR. NEILL WALLIS, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, was awarded funding in July 2017 to aid research on “Sourcing Mississippian Pottery among the Complex Maritime Cultures of Florida’s Peninsular Gulf Coast.” The project aimed to better understand the relationship of the hierarchical maritime societies of the peninsular Gulf coast to the greater Mississippian phenomenon that spread across the American Southeast and Midwest ca. 1000 to 1500 CE. Using a range of analytical methods, the research investigated where, when and by whom Mississippian-style vessels were made, how they were used, and ultimately how they figured into strategies of authority and power. Results demonstrated that Mississippian vessels were made locally beginning in the 11th century CE all along the peninsular Gulf coast of Florida. While at the largest administrative centers vessels were exclusively local, secondary centers were more likely to obtain vessels from the larger centers or from distant agricultural polities. This pattern indicates that increasing political power at this time may have been associated with appropriation of ‘international’ Mississippian symbols through local control of pottery production and that connections to distant polities forged by exchange of exotic vessels did not bolster regional influence.