TVA Archaeology
TVA Archaeology

Author: Erin E. Pritchard

Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 1572336501

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Since its inception in 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority has played a dual role as federal agency and steward of the Tennessee River Valley. While known to most people today as an energy provider, the agency is also charged with managing and protecting the nation's fifth-largest river system, the Tennessee River, and vast tracts of land and resources encompassing Tennessee and portions of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia. Included in TVA's mandate is the preservation of the archaeological record of the valley's prehistoric peoples-a record that would have been forever lost beneath floodwaters had TVA not demonstrated a commitment to minimize its impact on the valley and sought to protect its archaeological resources. In TVA Archaeology, fourteen contributors who have worked with TVA in its conservation effort discuss prehistoric excavations conducted at Tellico, Normandy, Jonathan's Creek, and many other sites. They explore TVA's role in the excavations and how the agency facilitated prehistoric investigations along proposed dam sites. They also delve into the history of TVA as it grew from a New Deal program to a federal corporation and reveal how, during the agency's formative years, the TVA board responded to prodding from archaeologists David DeJarnette and William Webb and molded TVA into the steward of a region it is today. TVA remains a mainstay of progress and conservation within an important region of the United States, and its safeguarding of the valley's prehistory cements its legacy as more than just an energy supplier. Students and researchers interested in prehistoric archaeology, the Tennessee Valley, and the history of TVA will find this volume an invaluable contribution to the study of the region. Erin E. Pritchard is an archaeologist with the Tennessee Valley Authority. Her work includes multiple archaeological site investigations, most notably Dust Cave in northern Alabama, and she has authored and coauthored numerous site reports for TVA.

The Nantahala River
The Nantahala River

Author: Lance Holland

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2020-08-03

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1439670773

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Most everyone who comes to western North Carolina has heard of the Nantahala, but few know its history. Long before it was a mecca for rafters and thrill seekers, it was traveled by naturalists and explorers from William Bartram to John C. Frémont. After the Cherokees were driven out, settlers arrived and began exporting the wealth of the mountains in the form of timber, talc and minerals. Tourists arrived on the Western Turnpike soon after, and the railroad brought more around 1890. The federal government began purchasing land for the new Nantahala National Forest, and the need for aluminum to fight World War II precipitated the construction of Fontana Lake and Nantahala Lake. Local author Lance Holland has crafted an enlightening and entertaining narrative history of this unique region.

Archaeology of the Southern Appalachians and Adjacent Watersheds
Archaeology of the Southern Appalachians and Adjacent Watersheds

Author: C. Clifford Boyd

Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press

Published: 2023-05-30

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 1621907759

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This book presents archaeology addressing all periods in the Native Southeast as a tribute to the career of Jefferson Chapman, longtime director of the Frank H. McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Written by Chapman’s colleagues and former students, the chapters add to our current understanding of early native southeastern peoples as well as Chapman’s original work and legacy to the field of archaeology. Some chapters review, reevaluate, and reinterpret archaeological evidence using new data, contemporary methods, or alternative theoretical perspectives— something that Chapman, too, fostered throughout his career. Others address the history and significance of archaeological collections curated at the Frank H. McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, where Chapman was the director for nearly thirty years. The essays cover a broad range of archaeological material studies and methods and in doing so carry forth Chapman’s legacy.

Barely Surviving or More than Enough?
Barely Surviving or More than Enough?

Author: Maaike Groot

Publisher: Sidestone Press

Published: 2013-10-14

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9088901996

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How people produced or acquired their food in the past is one of the main questions in archaeology. Everyone needs food to survive, so the ways in which people managed to acquire it forms the very basis of human existence. Farming was key to the rise of human sedentarism. Once farming moved beyond subsistence, and regularly produced a surplus, it supported the development of specialisation, speeded up the development of socio-economic as well as social complexity, the rise of towns and the development of city states. In short, studying food production is of critical importance in understanding how societies developed. Environmental archaeology often studies the direct remains of food or food processing, and is therefore well-suited to address this topic. What is more, a wealth of new data has become available in this field of research in recent years. This allows synthesising research with a regional and diachronic approach. Indeed, most of the papers in this volume offer studies on subsistence and surplus production with a wide geographical perspective. The research areas vary considerably, ranging from the American Mid-South to Turkey. The range in time periods is just as wide, from c. 7000 BC to the 16th century AD. Topics covered include foraging strategies, the combination of domestic and wild food resources in the Neolithic, water supply, crop specialisation, the effect of the Roman occupation on animal husbandry, town-country relationships and the monastic economy. With this collection of papers and the theoretical framework presented in the introductory chapter, we wish to demonstrate that the topic of subsistence and surplus production remains of interest, and promises to generate more exciting research in the future.

Prehistoric Native Americans and Ecological Change
Prehistoric Native Americans and Ecological Change

Author: Paul A. Delcourt

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2004-07-29

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 0521662702

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This book shows that Holocene human ecosystems are complex adaptive systems in which humans interacted with their environment in a nested series of spatial and temporal scales. Using panarchy theory, it integrates paleoecological and archaeological research from the Eastern Woodlands of North America providing a paradigm to help resolve long-standing disagreements between ecologists and archaeologists about the importance of prehistoric Native Americans as agents for ecological change. The authors present the concept of a panarchy of complex adaptive cycles as applied to the development of increasingly complex human ecosystems through time. They explore examples of ecological interactions at the level of gene, population, community, landscape and regional hierarchical scales, emphasizing the ecological pattern and process involving the development of human ecosystems. Finally, they offer a perspective on the implications of the legacy of Native Americans as agents of change for conservation and ecological restoration efforts today.

Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America
Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America

Author: Guy E. Gibbon

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-01-26

Total Pages: 1020

ISBN-13: 1136801790

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First published in 1998. Did prehistoric humans walk to North America from Siberia? Who were the inhabitants of the spectacular Anasazi cliff dwellings in the Southwest and why did they disappear? Native Americans used acorns as a major food source, but how did they get rid of the tannic acid which is toxic to humans? How does radiocarbon dating work and how accurate is it? Written for the informed lay person, college-level student, and professional, Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia is an important resource for the study of the earliest North Americans; including facts, theories, descriptions, and speculations on the ancient nomads and hunter-gathers that populated continental North America.