Materializing Ontology in Monumental Form: Engaging the Ontological in the Okeechobee Basin, Florida

Abstract

Many archaeological studies in the past decade have begun engaging with the ontological turn that has been occurring in the discipline of anthropology. Of primary interest to archaeologists is how ontologies are materialized and thus become visible in the archaeological record. However, few archaeologists have evaluated how ontologies can affect monumental practices and their products. This research focuses on how an ontology can be materialized as monumental architecture by presenting a case study of the Belle Glade archaeological culture, located in the Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades (KOE) watershed of southern Florida. I argue that Belle Glade monumental architecture is the materialization of three principles—relatedness, circularity, and place-centeredness—exhibited in Native American ontologies. These principles are embodied in the form of the monuments, which invoke citations to the relatedness between the earth, sky, and water through their emplacement in flowing water, alignments to celestial events, and alignments to other places on the landscape.