I would like to thank my committee members for their invaluable assistance and support with this thesis and through their courses: Dr. Leland Ferguson, Dr. Joan Gero, Dr. Alice Kasakoff, and Dr. Anna Backer. Sharon Pekrul and others at the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology were very helpful in granting me access to their collections. I would also like to thank my professors Chris Judge and Dr. Gail Wagner for their assistance, Dr. Ted Rathbun for the use of equipment, and Dr. Karl Heider and Dr. Thavolia Glymph for their thought-provoking courses.

Wendi O’Connor has been not only a wonderful colleague but my best friend, and I owe her many thanks. Other fellow graduate students have provided me with much support and friendship, especially Monica Beck, Beth Bell, Susan Ball, Beau Bowers, Tara Morrison, Melissa Lefko, Rebecca Johnson, and Scott Sutton. I would also like to thank Garry Knox for his translation help.

Dot O'Dell has been especially wonderful in helping me with all my problems, academic and personal, at USC. Deannie Stevens deserves my appreciation for the extensive use of her computers.

Thanks also to my professors at the University of Maryland: Dr. Barbara Little, for inspiring me to become an archaeologist, and Dr. John Seidel and Dr. Mark Leone, for their advice and assistance.

Finally, I am very grateful to my husband, Rich Ogata, whose love, support, and encouragement enabled me to attain my goals. I would also like to thank my mom, Jane Gallaher, for her love and support. This research was funded in part by a grant from the Archaeological Society of South Carolina; many thanks to that organization for their support.