The Prehistory of the Chickamauga Basin in Tennessee

The Prehistory of the Chickamauga Basin in Tennessee

Author: Thomas McDowell Nelson Lewis

Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9780870498633

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These two volumes look at the excavation of the thirteen archaeological sites of the Chickamauga Basin in the 1930s. These reports were the first comprehensive descriptions of the Native American cultures that lived near what is now Chattanooga before and at the time of European contact.


Following the Mississippian Spread

Following the Mississippian Spread

Author: Robert A. Cook

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-06-29

Total Pages: 397

ISBN-13: 3030890821

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This book is the first to specifically trace the movement of Mississippian maize farmers throughout the US Midwest and Southeast. By providing a backdrop of shifting climatic conditions during the period, this volume also investigates the relationship between farmers and their environments. Detailed regional overviews of key locations in the Mississippi Valley, the Ohio Valley, and the peripheries of the Mississippian culture area reveal patterns and variation in the expression of Mississippian culture and interactions between migrants and local communities. Methodologically, the case studies highlight the strengths of integrating a variety of data sets to identify migration. The volume provides a broader case study of the links between climate change, migration, and the spread of agriculture that is relevant to archaeologists and anthropologists studying early agricultural societies throughout the world. Key patterns of adaptation to and mitigation of the effects of droughts, for example, provide a framework for understanding the options available to societies in the face of climate change afforded by the time-depth of an archaeological perspective.


Mound Sites of the Ancient South

Mound Sites of the Ancient South

Author: Eric E. Bowne

Publisher: University of Georgia Press

Published: 2013-06-01

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 0820345776

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From approximately AD 900 to 1600, ancient Mississippian culture dominated today’s southeastern United States. These Native American societies, known more popularly as moundbuilders, had populations that numbered in the thousands, produced vast surpluses of food, engaged in longdistance trading, and were ruled by powerful leaders who raised large armies. Mississippian chiefdoms built fortified towns with massive earthen structures used as astrological monuments and burial grounds. The remnants of these cities—scattered throughout the Southeast from Florida north to Wisconsin and as far west as Texas—are still visible and awe-inspiring today. This heavily illustrated guide brings these settlements to life with maps, artists’ reconstructions, photos of artifacts, and historic and modern photos of sites, connecting our archaeological knowledge with what is visible when visiting the sites today. Anthropologist Eric E. Bowne discusses specific structures at each location and highlights noteworthy museums, artifacts, and cultural features. He also provides an introduction to Mississippian culture, offering background on subsistence and settlement practices, political and social organization, warfare, and belief systems that will help readers better understand these complex and remarkable places. Sites include Cahokia, Moundville, Etowah, and many more. A Friends Fund Publication


New Deal Archaeology in Tennessee

New Deal Archaeology in Tennessee

Author: David H. Dye

Publisher: University of Alabama Press

Published: 2016-06-30

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 0817319050

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4. Reinterpreting the Shell Mound Archaic in Western Tennessee: A GIS-Based Approach to Radiocarbon Sampling of New Deal-Era Site Collections - Thaddeus G. Bissett -- 5. Depression-Era Archaeology in the Watts Bar Reservoir, East Tennessee - Shannon Koerner and Jessica Dalton-Carriger -- 6. WPA Excavations at the Mound Bottom and Pack Sites in Middle Tennessee, 1936-1940 - Michael C. Moore, David H. Dye, and Kevin E. Smith -- 7. Reconfiguring the Chickamauga Basin - Lynne P. Sullivan


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.


The Archaeology of Villages in Eastern North America

The Archaeology of Villages in Eastern North America

Author: Jennifer Birch

Publisher: University Press of Florida

Published: 2018-09-17

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 1683400534

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The emergence of village societies out of hunter-gatherer groups profoundly transformed social relations in every part of the world where such communities formed. Drawing on the latest archaeological and historical evidence, this volume explores the development of villages in eastern North America from the Late Archaic period to the eighteenth century. Sites analyzed here include the Kolomoki village in Georgia, Mississippian communities in Tennessee, palisaded villages in the Appalachian Highlands of Virginia, and Iroquoian settlements in New York and Ontario. Contributors use rich data sets and contemporary social theory to describe what these villages looked like, what their rules and cultural norms were, what it meant to be a villager, what cosmological beliefs and ritual systems were held at these sites, and how villages connected with each other in regional networks. They focus on how power dynamics played out at the local level and among interacting communities. Highlighting the similarities and differences in the histories of village formation in the region, these essays trace the processes of negotiation, cooperation, and competition that arose as part of village life and changed societies. This volume shows how studying these village communities helps archaeologists better understand the forces behind human cultural change.


Ancient Foodways

Ancient Foodways

Author: C. Margaret Scarry

Publisher: University Press of Florida

Published: 2022-12-30

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 0813070244

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How archaeology can shed light on past foodways and social worlds Through various case studies, Ancient Foodways illustrates how archaeologists can use bioarchaeology, zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, architecture, and other evidence to understand how food acquisition, preparation, and consumption intersect with economics, politics, and ritual. Spanning four continents and several millennia of human history, this volume is a comprehensive and contemporary survey of how archaeological data can be used to interpret past foodways and reconstruct past social worlds.  This volume is organized around four major themes: feasting and politics; sacrifice, ritual, and ancestors; diet, landscape, and health; and integrative methods. Contributors weave together multiple threads of evidence relating to plants, animals, craft production, and human health and reconnect the material remnants with behaviors, practices, and meanings. The case studies show the varied and creative ways that multiple sources of evidence can be used to shed light on past foodways.  Ancient Foodways demonstrates how environmental and cultural factors shaped past subsistence strategies and cooking practices and reveals the role food played in shaping cultural identity and exchange networks, while also examining how food production methods can lead to environmental destruction and the detrimental role of dietary constraints on human health. 


Time before History

Time before History

Author: H. Trawick Ward

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2018-06-15

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 146964777X

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North Carolina's written history begins in the sixteenth century with the voyages of Sir Walter Raleigh and the founding of the ill-fated Lost Colony on Roanoke Island. But there is a deeper, unwritten past that predates the state's recorded history. The region we now know as North Carolina was settled more than 10,000 years ago, but because early inhabitants left no written record, their story must be painstakingly reconstructed from the fragmentary and fragile archaeological record they left behind. Time before History is the first comprehensive account of the archaeology of North Carolina. Weaving together a wealth of information gleaned from archaeological excavations and surveys carried out across the state--from the mountains to the coast--it presents a fascinating, readable narrative of the state's native past across a vast sweep of time, from the Paleo-Indian period, when the first immigrants to North America crossed a land bridge that spanned the Bering Strait, through the arrival of European traders and settlers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.