Zooarchaeologist, LSA and Florida Museum of Natural History
M.A., Anthropology, Univ. of Florida, 2004
B.A., Anthropology, Univ. of Florida, 2000
Background and Research Interests
Specializing in zooarchaeological analyses, Meggan has worked on Archaic period assemblages from South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Her master’s research in the Middle Savannah River Valley detailed aspects of Stallings’ and related peoples’ fishing technology through time, highlighting the role of intensification in fostering intergroup relations. Working in Florida as a doctoral student, Meggan has focused on understanding the aquatic ecology of the dominant species represented in shell-bearing sites. Her research interests also include exploring indigenous foodways and related technologies, and their articulation with identity, social relations, and worldview.
Current Research Projects
Meggan’s dissertation research is centered on the social and ecological parameters of Archaic period (ca. 6200-3500 BP) shellfish procurement and deposition in the middle St. Johns River valley. This work draws in part on stable oxygen isotopes to infer region-wide patterns regarding ancient shellfish populations, the seasonality and intensity of shellfish procurement, the rate and magnitude of depositional events, and the overall sustainability of local resource use. These data will help characterize the structure of shellfish assemblages through time, across domestic and ritual space, to ultimately inform questions regarding the tempos of daily life and how these interface with episodes of mound building.
Recent Publications
- Sassaman, Kenneth E., Meggan E. Blessing, Joshua M. Goodwin, Jessica A. Jenkins, Ginessa J. Mahar, Anthony Boucher, Terry E. Barbour, and Mark C. Donop. 2020. Maritime Ritual Economy of Cosmic Synchronicity: Summer Solstice Events at a Civic-Ceremonial Center on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida. American Antiquity 85:22-50.
- Goodwin, Joshua M., Kenneth E. Sassaman, Meggan E. Blessing, and David W. Steadman. 2019. Birds of Summer Solstice: World-Renewal Rituality on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida. Cambridge Archaeological Journal.
- Sassaman, Kenneth E., Meggan E. Blessing, and Asa R. Randall. 2006. Stallings Island Revisited: New Observations on Occupational History, Community Patterning, and Subsistence Technology. American Antiquity 71:539-566.
Technical Reports
- Blessing, Meggan E. 2011. Zooarchaeological Assemblage. In Cultural Resource Assessment Survey of Silver Glen Springs Recreational Area in the Ocala National Forest, Florida, edited by Asa R. Randall, Meggan E. Blessing, and Jon C. Endonino. Technical Report 13, Laboratory of Southeastern Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, University of Florida.
- Blessing, Meggan E. 2010. Zooarchaeological Assemblage. In Archaeological Investigations at Salt Springs (8MR2322), Marion County, Florida, edited by Jason M. O’Donoughue, Kenneth E. Sassaman, Meggan E. Blessing, Johanna B. Talcott, and Julie C. Byrd. Technical Report 12, Laboratory of Southeastern Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, University of Florida.
Conference Papers
- Blessing, Meggan E. 2011. Pits for the Ancestors. Paper invited to the symposium The Enigma of the Event: Moments of Consequence in the Ancient Southeast, presented at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Jacksonville, Florida.
- Blessing, Meggan E. 2010. The Symbolic Ecology of Stallings Bone and Antler Tools. Paper invited to the symposium The Heart and Soul of Southeastern Zooarchaeology: Current Practices and Future Trends, presented at the 67th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Lexington, Kentucky.
- Blessing, Meggan E. 2010. For Whom the Shell Tolls: The Use of Death Assemblages in the Deposition of Freshwater Shellfish. Paper invited to the symposium Shell Hath no Theory like a Midden Formed: Alternative Approaches to Shell Sites, presented at the 67th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Lexington, Kentucky.
- Blessing, Meggan E. 2009. The Snails’ Tale: The Isotopic Record of Freshwater Gastropods in Archaic Shell Deposits of Northeast Florida. Paper presented at the 66th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Mobile, Alabama.