Behavioral Correlates of Population Growth: A speculative example from the Middle Chattahoochee

Abstract

Proxy estimates of population size through time are compared for a small drainage near Columbus, Georgia and an adjacent portion of the Chattahoochee River valley. Resulting estimates of population growth differ most for the Mississippian (Late Prehistoric) period. A model linking the introduction of new cultigens to population growth, relocation, and changing modes of cultural transmission, is proposed to explain the rapid cultural change apparent from the archaeological record for the Southeast during this period.