Apalacha-Creek: Cultural Hybridization Reflected in 18th Century Apalachee Ceramics

Apalacha-Creek CULTURAL HYBRIDIZATION REFLECTED IN 18TH CENTURY APALACHEE CERAMICS

MICHELLE PIGOTT

UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA

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“Apalacha-Creek” Cultural Hybridization Reflected in 18th century Apalachee Ceramics Introduction

By the early 18th century, the American Southeast had developed into a nexus of cultural

exchange between Native Americans and Europeans colonists, traders and soldiers. The resulting

landscape of various interacting cultures provided a unique stage to study the creolization of the

cultural identities of all involved. The history of the Apalachee, one of several displaced

Southeastern Indian groups, presents a dramatic example of cultural hybridization as a result of

the volatile environment contact created. In particular, the ceramics of two contemporaneous

Apalachee villages from the Northern Gulf Coast have been examined to provide insight into this

time period and its effect. Through a heavily detailed ceramic analysis, this continuing study

attempts to determine the both the extent to which the Apalachee’s culture developed, adapted,

and borrowed, and from where those influences originated.

Brief History

Flourishing in the fertile uplands of the Tallahassee red hills, the Apalachee developed

out of the prehistoric into a large amalgamation of chiefdoms supported by intensive agriculture.

By the middle of the 17th century, the Apalachee had become successfully integrated into the

Franciscan-led Spanish Mission System, supporting the colony of La Florida through labor and

food, in return for European trade goods, and political influence. The largest mission in the

province, San Luis de Talimali, located just outside of modern downtown Tallahassee, was home

to an estimated 1,500 people by 1700. As both the seat of power for the indigenous chiefs and

the Spanish Crown in the large Apalachee Province, San Luis was a major economic center at

the height of the mission system, and had several Spanish residents including friars, soldiers, and

civilian families. Fueled by a booming Indian slave trade and deteriorating relationships amongst

St. Augustine

Mobile

Pensacola

San Luis

Charleston Creek Country

The Southeast in the late 17th century

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European colonial powers, the Floridian missions became targets of Creek, Yamasee and Westos

Indian slavers at the end of the 17th century. These raids reached a zenith in June of 1704 when a

large invading band of Creek warriors and English soldiers, roused by English Governor James

Moore, terrorized and ultimately destroyed the Spanish mission system, triggering a panicked

mass abandonment of the region. San Luis, one of the few remaining missions, was burned to the

ground by the Spanish themselves before officials authorized the complete abandonment of

Apalachee Province in July of the same year.

After the destruction of their homeland in Tallahassee, the remaining Apalachee

dispersed across the Southeast as refugees, captives and exiles. They can be traced through

history into three major groups; one retreating east with the Spanish to St. Augustine, another

west towards Pensacola and Mobile, and a final group of Apalachee slaves and exiles that

traveled northward to live amongst the Creeks in the English-controlled Carolinas.

The western band of Apalachee, estimated to have been over 800 people, made their way

through Pensacola in August of 1704. After a final dispute with Spanish officials over inadequate

supplies and protection, many Apalachee eventually chose to settle among the French in Mobile.

French Governor Bienville cordially welcomed the displaced Christian Indians, who settled in

two villages upriver from colonial Mobile amongst the various petites nations of the Mobile-

Tensaw Basin, including various Choctaw, Tensaw, Mobilian, Pascagoula, Chacato, Chickasaw

and Biloxi villages. The French-allied Apalachee quickly became involved in the local economy;

supporting French colonists during rough harvests, assisting in the construction of French forts,

as well as operating a ferry from a popular trade road to Mobile.

After Bienville moved Mobile to its present location along the northwestern shore of

Mobile Bay, the Apalachee relocated their settlements to a final village on the eastern edge of the

Creek Country

San Luis St. Augustine

Charleston

Pensacola

Mobile

Apalachee Migrations in 1704

de Crenay 1733

Sartine 1778

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bay, in modern Blakeley State Park. The French Apalachee notably continued their Catholic

traditions, requesting a French priest to perform mass every Sunday, as well as celebrating the

feast of Saint Louis annually with an extravagant festival open to French colonists and

neighboring Indians. These Apalachee remained in Mobile Bay with the French and the petites

nations until the colony was ceded to the English in 1763. Various diseases, especially yellow

fever, decimated all the Indian populations in Mobile Bay, and as a result, by the time the

Apalachee fled west to settle along the Red River in Louisiana, only 80 remained. After 1763,

the Apalachee appeared in historic documents through the 1860s, before dissolving into the

historic record. A small descendant community of the Red River Apalachee exists today in

Louisiana and are known as the Talimali Band of Apalachee Indians.

The several thousand Apalachees that found themselves north, in South Carolina, after

1704 lived amongst Creek Indians along the Savannah River as glorified captives, their

movements and interactions closely monitored by the English-allied Creeks. In the fallout of the

Yamasee War of 1715, as the Creeks retreated, the territory was opened up to Spanish officials

who were reaching out to their former allies, the Apalachee. A young chief, Juan Marcos Ysfani,

arrived in Pensacola in 1717 with a Creek chief as part of a diplomatic mission that eventually

led them all the way to Veracruz, Mexico that year. Returning with the newly granted title

“Governor of the Apalachees,” Juan Marcos led a group of Apalachee exiles from Creek country

to Pensacola in 1718 to establish a new settlement, Nuestra Señora de Soledad y San Luis, for his

people north of Pensacola’s Santa Maria Presidio. A brief incursion of the French in 1719

destroyed Santa Maria, prompting the construction of the new Presidio Santa Rosa, after the

Spanish and Apalachee returned in 1722. During the occupation of Santa Rosa, Juan Marcos and

Creek Country

San Luis St. Augustine

Charleston

Pensacola

Mobile

Apalachee Migrations in 1704

Spanish Pensacola and Apalachee Settlements 1718 - 1763

Mission San Joseph de Escambe 1741 - 1763

Santa Maria de Galve 1698 - 1719 Santa Rosa 1722 - 1756

San Miguel 1756 - 1763

Nuestra Señora de Soledad y San Luis 1718 - 1741

San Antonio de Punta Rasa 1740-1763 (Yamasee Mission)

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the Apalachee remained at the Soledad settlement until various devastating hurricanes prompted

the Spanish to begin construction on a new presidio, San Miguel, on the mainland.

In response to this, and the arrival of a new community of Christian Yamassee Indians,

the Apalachee moved their settlement further upriver, to the edge of Spanish colonial power, in a

new mission known as San Joseph de Escambe, in 1741. The village contained a small church,

and at times a Spanish friar who performed regular Catholic rites, as well as a small contingent

of Spanish soldiers who moved in after 1750. The settlement was located along a popular trade

route, frequented by Alabama Creeks heading to Pensacola for trading. The mission itself was

also a small nexus of trade amongst visiting Creeks, resident Apalachee and Spanish soldiers. A

nearby Tawasa Creek village, some 10 miles upriver, facilitated further trade relationships

between the Apalachee and the Creeks. Unfortunately, by the end of 1759, deteriorating relations

between the Creeks and Spanish officials led to the fortification of the small mission and the

arrival of a more substantial contingent of Spanish soldiers and cavalry. Ultimately, these

preparations did not prevent the village from being attacked and burned to the ground by

Alabama Indian warriors in April of 1761. All surviving the encounter, the Apalachee villagers

fled back to Pensacola and resided just outside the presidio until 1763, when Florida was handed

over to Great Britain. The remaining Apalachee, still led by Juan Marcos, evacuated Pensacola

with the Spanish to Veracruz, where the last historic documentation of these people mention

them settling a small village outside the Mexican city. Their descendants may reside there today,

although none are known to identify themselves as Apalachee.

The experiences of the Apalachee after the destruction of their homeland mirror the trials

of many other contemporaneous Native American groups. Traveling across the Southeast, the

Apalachee interacted with several cultures, including French and Spanish colonials as well as the

Taitt 1771

Gauld 1764

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Upper Creek and several other Indian groups scattered about Mobile Bay. While they were still

labeled as “Apalachee,” the two villages located in the Pensacola-Mobile borderlands would

have been inhabited by people who may have looked somewhat different culturally from their

ancestors living in San Luis in the 17th century. Extended relationships with new Indian

neighbors led to culture change evident in their ceramic assemblages.

Assemblages and Methodology

To examine and interpret cultural change in the past, archaeologists have only a few

resources at their disposal. Ceramic remains tend to be the most robust and well preserved

portions of these assemblages, and became central in defining the Apalachee’s cultural

transformation. Mission Escambe and the Blakeley Park settlement have been recently identified

by archaeologists, and substantial collections have been produced through their ensuing

excavations. Representing the last Apalachee settlements in the 18th century, these assemblages

have the greatest potential to illustrate what changes the Apalachee experienced, and how they

presented it (consciously or otherwise) in their daily practices.

Between 2001 and 2004, the Mobile Bay Apalachee settlement, located today in Blakeley

State Park, was excavated as part of a field methods class by the University of South Alabama

under the direction of Gregory Waselkov. The Blakeley Park site, which was first excavated in

1977, was known to have several components including prehistoric shell mounds, an Early

American Period town, and trenches from a Civil War era skirmish. The recent investigation by

the University of South Alabama was conducted to locate the Apalachee village, which

consequently produced a sizable collection of 18th century aboriginal and European ceramics.

Mission San Joseph de Escambe was rediscovered in 2009, and excavations by the University of

West Florida led by John Worth commenced the same summer. Escambe, located near the

Mission Escambe Blakeley Park

Creek Country Choctaw

Fusihatchee

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rural town of Molino, Florida, is another multi-component site, with at least one prehistoric

settlement, the mission and village, and a late 19th century lumber mill complex all located

within a few hundred meters of each other. The UWF summer field school excavations between

2009 and 2012 have recovered substantial Native American sherds, as well as European

ceramics.

In addition to these large assemblages, I was recently able to collect data from a Historic

Upper Creek site, Fusihatchee, located in central Alabama, and first excavated under the

direction of Gregory Waselkov, John Cottier, and Craig Sheldon. The collections housed at

University of Auburn Montgomery’s campus included artifacts from two major Creek

occupations, the latter of which, (c. 1750-1780), fell neatly within the time window of the two

Apalachee settlements. This assemblage was examined to as a comparative data set of ceramics

manufactured by an outside group known to have extensive trading relationships with the

Apalachee, and likely facilitated the hybridization of the Apalachee. Since the data was so

recently collected, a complete analysis of the Fusihatchee ceramics has not yet been completed

for this paper, and as a result they’re only included anecdotally.

Inspired by earlier studies of Apalachee ceramics, notably work by Jennifer Melcher of

UWF, and Ann Cordell’s work with Apalachee pottery from San Luis and Old Mobile , I

developed with the help of John Worth and Jennifer Melcher, a detailed methodology intended to

draw as many significant characteristics from ceramics as possible. This included a heavy focus

on rim styles, vessel forms, surface decorations and temper types. Undecorated sherds were

excluded from the study unless they were rim sherds. Rim modes were examined with great

detail, recording when present, the length of folds on rims, as well as the relative thickness and

location of pinches, incisions, appliques, and folds. Particular attention was given to quantitative

“Excurvate Rounded Folded and Pinched”

“Incurvate Rounded Thickened (Interior)”

Modified Rim Descriptions

“Excurvate Rounded Simple”

“Incurvate Rounded Overhang (Exterior)”

Folded Rims- Escambe

Grog no Shell 59.3%

Sand/Grit no Shell/ no Grog 9% Shell and

Grog 5.6%

Shell no Grog 7.9%

Folded Rims - Blakeley Park

Sand/Grit no Shell/ no Grog 12.5%

Shell and Grog 2%

Shell no Grog 6.4%

Grog no Shell 51.4%

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measurements of surface decorations, including incision style, incision width, width between

incisions, the depth of incisions, and thickness of slips. These measurements were intended to

prove if styles of surface decoration varied significantly amongst different historic cultures on a

quantifiable scale, and if a model could be produced for similar studies.

During the course of my analysis, new elements were added to the series of ceramic

characteristics as new categories became necessary. For example, it became clear that in order to

differentiate significant disparities in rim modes, I had to develop a simple, but informative,

method to identify various rim forms. This led to a series of chained descriptive words that could

visually identify rim forms. By breaking down the names of rim types into simple phrases, I

could avoid the cultural implications of labelling a sherd a “pinched rim” in case the other

characteristics of the vessel were anomalous to the expected cultural style. This method also

allowed for accessible comparisons between collections and, for example, revealed the

correlation between folded rims, a traditional Apalachee rim mode, and grog tempering, an

Apalachee mainstay, amongst ceramics in Blakeley Park and Mission Escambe. This persistence

of grog tempered folded rims represents a singular conservative element to the hybridized

Apalachee ceramics of the 18th century.

Results and Discussion

As more data was collected from the two Apalachee villages, it quickly became apparent

the ceramics revealed influences from a few historic native groups, aside from the Apalachee.

The two major groups included the Creek and various “western” groups including the Choctaw

and Mobilians. Two broad proto-historic ceramic styles can be traced to these historic

populations; the descendants of the western Plaquemine Complex of the Lower Mississippi River

Valley, and the huge Lamar Complex stretching across all of Georgia, into Alabama, South and

Lamar

Plaquemine

San Luis de Talimali Escambe

Blakeley Park

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North Carolina, Tennessee and Florida. The Lamar tradition adopted by 18th century Creeks, as

illustrated by the Fusihatchee assemblage, involves grit temper, pinched applique or folded rims,

pine needle brushing and an incision tradition known as Ocmulgee Fields. Traditional Apalachee

ceramics evolved out of the prehistoric with influences also from the Lamar Complex that

included folded rims, red slips and some incising similar to Ocmulgee Fields. In addition,

traditional Apalachee ceramics, as defined by sherds recorded at San Luis in Tallahassee were

unique in their heavy grog tempering and complicated stamping, traditions likely derived from

prehistoric Fort Walton ceramics, as well as a strong component of red slipped wares.

Descendant varieties of Plaquemine ceramics in Southern Alabama include the Fatherland

Incised series; normally on a fine shell and grog tempered paste, with a distinctive decorative

style: three to five close lines forming long curvilinear patterns across an entire vessel, leaving

large empty spaces in between the clustered incisions. In addition, shell tempering appears to be

ubiquitous among several Historic Indians in Mobile Bay and westward across the Northern Gulf

Coast, and is included in this “Plaquemine Descendant Tradition”

The degree of “Apalachee-ness” that the ceramics of Escambe and Blakeley Park reflect

was actually surprisingly less than first expected. As discussed previously, the only major

Apalachee element of the assemblages was the correlation between grog tempering and rim

folds. Putting aside the various surface treatments and rim modes, the tempers of decorated

sherds deviated greatly from expected traditional Apalachee grog temper. Of the total decorated

sherds as Escambe, 44% were sand tempered; only 32% were grog tempered. In Blakeley Park,

the temper that dominated was shell, at 37%, over 59% if grog-shell ceramics are included. The

displacement of grog temper as preeminent suggests the interactions and relationships the

Apalachee maintained with their neighbors, notably the Creeks and the Mobile Bay petites

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nations, involved an exchange of pottery manufacturing techniques. This influence is even easier

to see when general surface treatments are examined.

Mission Escambe’s ceramics, whose Apalachee creators resided with Creek Indians for

some 14 years, and then continued trade relationships with Creeks once they settled near

Pensacola, took on a peculiar hybrid of Apalachee-Creek pottery styles. Of Escambe’s total

decorated ceramics, over 50% were decorated by some form of roughening, a Creek-Lamar

tradition. Similarly, decorated sherds at Blakely Park were mostly roughened by almost 37%, but

slipped pottery (nearly all red) was a close second at 35%. Complicated stamping, a mainstay of

the Apalachee ceramic tradition, is poorly represented. In fact, the next major decoration of both

villages is incised, which makes up some 20% of the total weight of decorated sherds in Molino

and 25% in Blakely Park.

Interestingly, the incision styles vary widely between the two Apalachee sites, and

represent neatly the varying flavors of their cultural hybridization. Over 96% of historic ceramics

at Escambe fall into the Creek-Lamar tradition, while only 29% of incised sherds at Blakely Park

are in the same category. In fact, the dominant incision style at Blakely Park is the western

Fatherland tradition, totaling in at over 70% in comparison to the meager 4% identified at

Escambe. While this decoration type is traditionally located upon a fine grog and shell paste, or

just shell, the Apalachee at Blakely Park also used the same style of incisions on sand tempered

pottery. The disparity of incision styles between the two 18th century Apalachee villages

perfectly illustrates the nature of cultural hybridization the two populations experienced. The

Escambe Apalachee, with their strong ties to the Creeks, picked up many ceramic manufacturing

traditions well-documented in 18th century Creek assemblages. The Mobile Bay Apalachee,

Decorated Tempers - Escambe

Sand/Grit no Shell, No Grog 44%

Grog no Shell 32%

Shell and Grog 9%

Shell no Grog 15%

Decorated Tempers- Blakeley Park

Sand/Grit no Shell, No Grog 26%

Shell and Grog 22%

Shell no Grog 37%

Grog no Shell 16%

Surface Decorations - Escambe Surface Decorations- Blakeley Park

Stamped 2%

Incised 25%

Slipped 35.1%

Roughened 36.9%

Incised 20.2%

Stamped 10.3%

Slipped 8.6% Burnished

9.2%

Roughened 51.5%

Burnished 0.9%

Historic Incised - Escambe

Creek-Lamaroid 96%

Fatherland 4%

Historic Incised – Blakeley Park

Fatherland 71.1%

Creek-Lamaroid 28.8%

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living along a busy trade route leading into Creek country, clearly picked up on some of their

techniques, but mostly adopted new methods from their various Indian neighbors in Mobile Bay.

Conclusions

While much of this data is still preliminary, it is not difficult to observe that after the

destruction of their homeland, the Apalachee people developed new variation of their traditional

culture as they encountered other Indians. The ceramic assemblages of Blakeley Park and

Mission Escambe represent a development of cultural hybridization arguably not unique in the

18th century Southeast. Several thousand Native Indians were migrating across the region,

creating hybridizations of proto-historic cultures. Micro-stylistic ceramic analyses, such as this

project, present an opportunity to quantify and illustrate cultural hybridization. The nature of

how these changes became present, through trade, intermarriage or general observations, will

need to be addressed further in order fully understand how cultural hybridization came to be

represented in ceramics. However, for now, it is possible to say that ceramic style is not a stable,

immutable marker of a culture tradition, but rather is a reflection of the changes a population

experiences, and their choices and adaptations in response.

Special Thanks & Works cited

Thank you to: Dr. John Worth Jennifer Melcher Dr. Craig Sheldon Dr. Kim Pyszka Jan Lloyd Norrine Carrol

Cordell, Ann

2001 Continuity and Change in Apalachee Pottery Manufacture. University of South Alabama Center for Archaeological Studies, Mobile, AL.

Hann, John H.

1988 Apalachee: The Land between the Rivers. University Press, Gainesville, FL.

Blitz, John Howard

1985 An Archaeological Study of the Mississippi Choctaw Indians. Jackson, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Hann, John H.

1988 Apalachee: The Land between the Rivers. University Press, Gainesville, FL.

Hann, John H. and Bonnie G. McEwan

1998 The Apalachee Indians and Mission San Luis. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL.

Ivas, Alice

2005 Caught in the Middle: The Apalachee of Mobile. MA Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of South Alabama.

Waselkov, Greg and Bonnie Gums

2000 Historic Indians of the Mobile Bay. In Plantation Archaeology at Riviere aux Chiens. pp 6-62. University of South Alabama, Center for Archaeological Studies, Mobile, AL.

Worth, John, Jennifer Melcher, Danielle Dadiego, and Michelle Pigott

[2015] Mission Escambe Site Report. University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL [unpublished].

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Works Cited

Cordell, Ann 2001 Continuity and Change in Apalachee Pottery Manufacture. University of South Alabama Center for Archaeological Studies, Mobile, AL.

Blitz, John Howard

1985 An Archaeological Study of the Mississippi Choctaw Indians. Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Jackson, MS.

Hann, John H. 1988 Apalachee: The Land between the Rivers. University Press, Gainesville, FL. Hann, John H. and Bonnie G. McEwan

1998 The Apalachee Indians and Mission San Luis. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL.

Ivas, Alice

2005 Caught in the Middle: The Apalachee of Mobile. Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of South Alabama.

Waselkov, Greg and Bonnie Gums

2000 Historic Indians of the Mobile Bay. In Plantation Archaeology at Riviere aux Chiens. pp 6-62. University of South Alabama, Center for Archaeological Studies, Mobile, AL.

Waselkov, Greg, and John W. Cottier, and Craig T. Sheldon

1990 Archaeological Excavations at the Early Historic Creek Indian Town of Fusihatchee (Phase 1, 1988-1989). Report to the National Science Foundation.

Worth, John, Jennifer Melcher, Danielle Dadiego, and Michelle Pigott

[2015] Mission Escambe Site Report. University of West Florida [unpublished].

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