This thesis explores the ritualistic, artifact, demographic, health, and status differences exhibited in burials throughout Florida over a span of 8,000 years. The study summarizes and examines many of the ritual and biological data available for about 3,500 individuals at 40 sites (43 site contexts), and sites were from Archaic, Swift Creek, St. Johns, Weeden Island, Manasota, Alachua, Fort Walton, Safety Harbor, Mission, and Seminole Period/cultures. The different factors studied include 1) layout of sites and associated features; 2) individual burial type; 3) types of ceramics and grave goods; 4) individuals and associated grave goods, 4) sex and age; 5) dental health; and 6) other health indicators. Throughout the thesis, these factors are used to understand the status of individuals and the sites in which they were buried. In chapter 7, status markers identified in the previous chapters are used to create a system of scoring the different sites by their evidence of status and hierarchy. This methodology allows the analysis of sites in Florida and other areas with similar burial rituals from a wide variety of cultures and time periods. This thesis illustrates how burial rituals and health changed over time and often varied among the different cultures and areas of Florida. It suggests that differences of societal complexity and status were often the main motivator for differences in burial ritual, and that health cannot be used to evaluate status in Florida. The size, layers, the use of particular burial types, and presence of different grave goods were more often affected by the levels of hierarchy in society than the environment or culture of its people. At the same time, some common presumptions about health are flawed. The highest status people at some sites often suffered the worst health, and pathological conditions such as porotic hyperostosis may be caused by factors that are not often associated with them. In conclusion, this paper attempts to bring together much of what we know about burial in Florida and verifies or disproves many of the cultural and temporal association given to different sites. The thesis also includes comprehensive site summaries for all 43 site contexts in the study.
