Sapelo Island: Evolving Community Organization on the Georgia Coast

Community settlement-pattern analysis, focusing upon the spatial structure of material remains represented at a single archaeological site, provides a firm basis for re­ constructing a wide range of synchronic. and diachronic cultural phenomena. The potential of the approach for sociocultural explanation of the archaeological record is well documented. 1 The purpose of this paper is to present information concerning changes in the gross configura­ tion of community settlement patterns at Bourbon Field, a large archaeological site located near the middle of the Georgia coast, and to provide at least tentative expla­ nations of the changing configurations.