cultural affiliation assessment of archaeological sites within the Loxahatchee Scarp area using discriminant analysis techniques

This study seeks to investigate the problem of the cultural boundary between the Kissimmee-Lake Okeechobee and the East Okeechobee culture areas. The problem is addressed here using sites along the geographical region known as the Loxahatchee Scarp, focusing mainly on three sites, Whitebelt I (8PB220), Whitebelt III (8PB222) and JR244 (8MT1327). This study compares ceramic type data using the multivariate statistical analysis of discriminant analysis. The relative frequencies of ceramic types from the test sites are compared to other sites with generally accepted cultural affiliations. The ceramic frequencies are used in order to sort each sites level into several culture areas, those include the Glades, Indian River, Kissimmee-Lake Okeechobee and East Okeechobee culture areas. The results of this study demonstrated the utility of using discriminant analysis in the sorting of levels within sites into appropriate culture areas. The analysis suggests that although ceramics are a key component in determining where that site fits into the vast scheme of known archaeological culture areas, ceramics alone are a poor determinator without considering other factors, such as lithic or shell tools.