The case for a Late Lamar polity on the lower Ocmulgee River in Georgia

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper develops the case for an indigenous polity on the lower Ocmulgee River in Georgia. Doing so enhances understanding of the late prehistoric–early historic indigenous cultural landscape in the Atlantic coastal plain. It also allows for refined interpretation of indigenous responses to European colonial activities. Two lines of evidence, a ceramic attribute analysis and a European artifact analysis, are the principal new bases for establishing the polity’s history. These results indicate that three chiefly centers were sequentially occupied. Ultimately, under colonial-era stresses, the polity changed from having more to less interaction with external groups and it became more strongly oriented to the Atlantic coastal zone.