Stalling Culture

Words: 1352
Pages: 6

Was drag-and-jab pottery design synonymous to matrilocal post marital residence? Did the cluster of shell rings and pits features associate to close community settlement among natives? These topics remain prevalent and are explored in Kenneth Sassaman’s book People of the Shoals. People of the Shoals reveal the story of the Stalling Culture, an American Indian civilization that resided in the Savannah River Valley near the Tennessee River almost 4,000 years ago. Kenneth Sassaman provides an intricate yet engaging perspective to the “rise and fall of the Stallings” Island culture as well as illustrate the “archaeology that brings Stalling history to life” (Sassaman 26). Sassaman tells the story of the shoals people in a manner that engages the …show more content…
Stalling culture served a dual purpose in organizational marriage and residency. Housing patterns and communities in classic stalling showed similarities in the living arrangement of different cultures. Clusters of pits features arranged in a circle showed habitation association among compound members in a community. Pottery was a huge factor in the connection between cultures. The use of various patterns and pottery design as means of eating or celebration where seen throughout Stalling island. One of the most popular pottery design technique was the drab-and-jab technique found in Ed Marshall, Mill Branch and Early Stalling culture. Pottery was a hobby of women and it led to the introduction of stylish elements in pottery. These stylish elements and design even after marriage, generally never left the maternal community and it was assumed that matrilocal post marital residence was the reason for this. Being that the women never left their community after marriage and the men moved into their tribe, intercommunity use of vessel and vessel design was used to demonstrate hierarchy and status in the tribe. Sassaman viewed that Mill Branch ancestry likely assimilated into Stallings culture via marriages, but, resistant factions of Mill Branch culture survived in the area for generations by means of their separation and reinvention in dispersed, mobile settlements of the adjoining uplands. The relationship of Mill Branch to Stallings groups is unknown as they abandoned their area and relocated to central Georgia. The elaboration of these Stallings pottery was emphasis on their design being used as a way to interact with others. Carinated vessels are a great example of this as it was essential to the progress of intercommunity social relationship in Stallings Island. Carinated vessels were used in special occasion