Abstract:
In this thesis, Woodland-stage interaction and sedentism in central Alabama are addressed as they relate to the Armory site, a Late Middle Woodland mound center and village located in Dallas County, Alabama. These topics are examined along a chronological dimension by quantifying and comparing the stylistic diversity and dissimilarity of ceramic assemblages through time. Following these analyses, I suggest that the Armory site may have functioned as a nexus of inter-regional interaction during the Late Middle Woodland subperiod and that temporal fluctuations in mean ceramic dissimilarity may be the product of aggregation rather than sedentism.
