Deptford Culture
Deptford Culture refers to a prehistoric Native American culture that thrived in the southeastern United States, particularly in areas along the coast and river systems such as the Chattahoochee and Alabama Valleys. This culture is characterized by two distinct ways of life: coastal inhabitants relied on marine resources like fish and shellfish, while those living inland enjoyed a diet enriched by woodland resources, including nuts and game. The Deptford people constructed villages with unique dwellings, including oval huts for colder weather and open structures for warmer seasons.
Significant architectural features of their communities include large earthen platform mounds, which likely served communal purposes, such as feasting. Their craftsmanship is evident in ceramics made from sandy clay and adorned with various impressions, as well as in tools fashioned from stone. Burial practices within the Deptford Culture involved interring the deceased, primarily women, under mound structures, often accompanied by grave goods. This burial custom indicates a level of egalitarianism within their society, where social distinction was likely based more on personal merit than on hereditary status. Overall, the Deptford Culture reflects a rich and diverse heritage shaped by its unique environmental contexts and social practices.
On this Page
Deptford Culture
Date: 500 b.c.e.-500 c.e.
Locale: The coastal plain in the southeastern United States, including southeastern Alabama, northern and west-central Florida, southeastern South Carolina, and eastern Georgia
Deptford Culture
The Deptford (DET-fuhrd) people had two different ways of life: coastal and riverine. Those who lived near the coast enjoyed a diet of fish, shellfish, and other marine foods as well as the nuts, turkey, deer, and other woodland edibles that sustained inland peoples. By 100 b.c.e., the Deptford culture had penetrated the interior, where the riverine tradition flourished in the Chattahoochee and Alabama Valleys.
Deptford villages were characterized by two dwelling types: a walled oval hut inhabited during cool weather and a warm-season shelter with open walls. Major riverine sites also display large, earthen platform mounds, which may have been designed for feasts or communal eating. Deptford ceramics were made of coiled sandy clay and decorated with impressions made by cords, fabric, or wooden stamps. Numerous types of stone were used for projectile points, axes, blades, and other tools. In coastal settlements, shell was widely used for decorative and utilitarian purposes.
Among the Deptford people, certain dead (the majority of whom were women) were buried beneath earthen mounds, which were often enlarged by later interments. Excavations have revealed an even distribution of grave goods (most commonly, projectile points) in these mound burials, suggesting that the Deptford culture was egalitarian—that is, persons were born relatively equal, distinction being based on personal achievement, not heredity.
Bibliography
Bense, J. A. Hawkshaw: Prehistory and History in an Urban Neighborhood in Pensacola, Florida. Pensacola: Archaeology Institute, University of West Florida, 1985.
Milanich, J. T. Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida. Gainesville: University of Florida Presses, 1994.
Thomas, D. H. “The Anthropology of St. Catherine’s Island: 2. The Refuge—Deptford Mortuary Complex.” Anthropological Papers 56, no. 1. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1979.