BiblioVault - Books about Griffin, James B.

Alabama and the Borderlands

From Prehistory To Statehood

Edited by R. Reid Badger and Lawrence A. Clayton

University of Alabama Press, 1985

Brings together the nation's leading scholars on the prehistory and early history of Alabama and the southeastern US

This fascinating collection was born of a concern with Alabama's past and the need to explore and explain that legacy, so often hidden by the veils of time, ignorance, or misunderstanding. In 1981 The University of Alabama celebrated its 150th anniversary, and each College contributed to the celebration by sponsoring a special symposium. The College of Arts and Sciences brought together the nation's leading scholars on the prehistory and early history of Alabama and the Southeastern United States, and for two memorable days in September 1981 several hundred interested listeners heard those scholars present their interpretations of Alabama's remarkable past.

The organizers of the symposium deliberately chose to focus on Alabama's history before statehood. Alabama as a constituent state of the Old South is well known. Alabama as a home of Indian cultures and civilizations of a high order, as an object of desire, exploration, and conquest in the sixteenth century, and as a borderland disputed by rival European nationalities for almost 300 years is less well known. The resulting essays in this collection prove as interesting, enlightening, and provocative to the casual reader as to the professional scholar, for they are intended to bring to the general reader artifacts and documents that reveal the realities and romance of that older Alabama.

Topics in the collection range from the Mississippian Period in archaeology and the de Soto expedition (and other early European explorations and settlements of Alabama) to the 1780 Siege of Mobile.

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Archaeological Survey in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, 1940–1947

Philip Phillips, James A. Ford, and James B. Griffin; edited and with a new introduction by Stephen Williams

University of Alabama Press, 2003

Documents prehistoric human occupation along the lower reaches of the Mississippi River

A Dan Josselyn Memorial Publication

The Lower Mississippi Survey was initiated in 1939 as a joint undertaking of three institutions: the School of Geology at Louisiana State University, the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Michigan, and the Peabody Museum at Harvard. Fieldwork began in 1940 but was halted during the war years. When fieldwork resumed in 1946, James Ford had joined the American Museum of Natural History, which assumed co-sponsorship from LSU. The purpose of the Lower Mississippi Survey (LMS)—a term used to identify both the fieldwork and the resultant volume—was to investigate the northern two-thirds of the alluvial valley of the lower Mississippi River, roughly from the mouth of the Ohio River to Vicksburg. This area covers about 350 miles and had been long regarded as one of the principal hot spots in eastern North American archaeology.

Phillips, Ford, and Griffin surveyed over 12,000 square miles, identified 382 archaeological sites, and analyzed over 350,000 potsherds in order to define ceramic typologies and establish a number of cultural periods. The commitment of these scholars to developing a coherent understanding of the archaeology of the area, as well as their mutual respect for one another, enabled the publication of what is now commonly considered the bible of southeastern archaeology. Originally published in 1951 as volume 25 of the Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, this work has been long out of print.

Because Stephen Williams served for 35 years as director of the LMS at Harvard, succeeding Phillips, and was closely associated with the authors during their lifetimes, his new introduction offers a broad overview of the work’s influence and value, placing it in a contemporary context.

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The Burial Complexes of the Knight and Norton Mounds in Illinois and Michigan

James B. Griffin, Richard E. Flanders and Paul F. Titterington

University of Michigan Press, 1970

In this volume, the authors collect data from various sources on the excavations of two groups of prehistoric burial mounds: the Knight Mound Group in Calhoun County, Illinois, and the Norton Mound Group in Kent County, Michigan. Includes more than 200 b&w maps, illustrations, and photographs.

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The Chronological Position of the Hopewellian Culture in the Eastern United States

James B. Griffin

University of Michigan Press, 1958

James B. Griffin reports on a series of radiocarbon dates from sites thought to be part of the Hopewellian complex. Material tested came from a broad area, including Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, Canada.

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Essays on Archaeological Methods

Edited by James B. Griffin

University of Michigan Press, 1951

James B. Griffin edited this collection of essays, written by leading archaeologists of the time, on best practices for field and laboratory work. The hope was to improve the practice of archaeology and stimulate further research. Contributions by Albert C. Spaulding, Junius Bird, Frederick R. Matson, and others.

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Lake Superior Copper and the Indians

Miscellaneous Studies of Great Lakes Prehistory

Edited by James B. Griffin

University of Michigan Press, 1951

In this classic work, editor James B. Griffin presents research on the prehistoric inhabitants of the Lake Superior region. Griffin and Roy W. Drier report on Isle Royale excavations and archaeological finds; Griffin and George I. Quimby write about prehistoric copper pits and related artifacts in Ontario and Manitoba; William C. Root reports on copper artifacts from southern Michigan; and Tyler Bastian writes a review of metallographic studies of prehistoric copper artifacts in North America.

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The Snodgrass Site of the Powers Phase of Southeast Missouri

James E. Price and James B. Griffin

University of Michigan Press, 1979

In this volume, the authors report on the complete excavation of the Snodgrass site, a prehistoric Mississippian village in southeast Missouri. More than 30 structures were completely excavated over seven years of fieldwork. Price and Griffin present descriptions and analyses of the structures, artifacts (primarily lithics and ceramics), and burials found at the site. Their work provides a look at the social complexity and patterned lifeways that existed within a prehistoric village population.

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The Snyders Mounds and Five Other Mound Groups in Calhoun County, Illinois

David P. Braun, James B. Griffin and Paul F. Titterington

University of Michigan Press, 1982

In the 1940s, Paul F. Titterington, a doctor and avocational archaeologist, excavated several prehistoric burial mounds in Calhoun County, Illinois. He did not publish the results of his research, but he did donate his notebooks, photographs, and artifact collection to the University of Michigan in 1955. In this report, David Braun and James Griffin present Titterington’s research.

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Towns and Temples Along the Mississippi

Edited by David H. Dye and Cheryl Anne Cox

University of Alabama Press, 1990

A Dan Josselyn Memorial Publication

Specialists from archaeology, ethnohistory, physical anthropology, and cultural anthropology bring their varied points of view to this subject in an attempt to answer basic questions about the nature and extent of social change within the time period. The scholars' overriding concerns include presentation of a scientifically accurate depiction of the native cultures in the Central Mississippi Valley prior and immediately subsequent to European contact and the need to document the ensuing social and biological changes that eventually led to the widespread depopulation and cultural reorientation. Their findings lead to three basic hypotheses that will focus the scholarly research for decades to come.

Contributors include:

George J. Armelagos, Ian W. Brown, Chester B. DePratter, George F. Fielder, Jr., James B. Griffin, M. Cassandra Hill, Michael P. Hoffman, Charles Hudson, R. Barry Lewis, Dan F. Morse, Phyllis A. Morse, Mary Lucas Powell, Cynthia R. Price, James F. Price, Gerald P. Smith, Marvin T. Smith, and Stephen Williams

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