PALEOCLIMATE AND THE POTENTIAL FOOD RESERVES OF MISSISSIPPIAN SOCIETIES - A CASE-STUDY FROM THE SAVANNA RIVER VALLEY

Precipitation reconstructions based on bald cypress (Taxodium distichu m L. Rich) annual growth ring data collected from locations near the S avannah River valley, coupled with a series of simple models of storag e capability, are used to calculate the agricultural food reserves pot entially available each year from A.D. 1005 to 1600 to local prehistor ic Mississippian populations. The resulting food reserve estimates sug gest that interannual variation in rainfall during the growing season may have resulted in both extended periods of food surplus and food sh ortfall. We hypothesize that prolonged episodes of agricultural food s urplus and shortfall had a pronounced impact on the historical traject ories of these chiefdom societies. This argument is supported by histo rical accounts describing the impact of drought during the period of S panish settlement at Santa Elena (A.D. 1565-1587), and offers a possib le explanation for some of the major changes observed in the late preh istoric archaeological record in the Savannah River valley, including the emergence, expansion, and decline of several mound centers and the eventual abandonment of a large portion of the basin. The study indic ates the value and potential, of analyses linking archaeological, hist orical, and dendrochronological data in the southeastern United Slates .