“Generally throughout the Nation,
emigration was unpopular, and
exchanging countries still more so. They said, that to the country
they now
possessed, they had an indisputable right, from their ancestors
who had possessed it from time immemorial . . .”
John Norton, 1809
C h e r o k e e A r c h a e o l o g i c a l S y m p o s i u m
Cherokee Archaeological Symposium
Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort
Cherokee, NC
September 25 & 26, 2014
Cherokee Archaeological Symposium
Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort
Cherokee, NC
A g e n d a
S e p t e m b e r 2 5 , 2 0 1 4
O a k B a l l r o o m 8: 1 5 - 8 : 3 0 a m O p e n i n g R e m a r k s 8 : 3 0 a m - 9 : 0 0 a m J a m i e M . B e n n e t t , F o o t p r i n t s o f t h e P a s t : W o o d l a n d s T r a c e W i l d l i f e G a r d e n s 9 : 0 0 a m - 9 : 3 0 a m J o n a t h a n B . T h a y n e , T r a c k i n g H e r n a n d o d e S o t o w i t h t h e S p a c e S h u t t l e 9 : 3 0 a m - 1 0 : 0 0 a m S h a w n M . P a t c h , G e o p h y s i c a l I n v e s t i g a t i o n s o f t h e B e l l S i t e ( 4 0 R E 1 ) , R o a n e C o u n t y , T e n n e s s e e 1 0 : 0 0 a m - 1 0 : 3 0 a m B r e a k 1 0 : 3 0 a m - 1 1 : 0 0 a m B e a u C a r r o l l , M i d d l e t o L a t e Q u a l l a C h e r o k e e O c c u p a t i o n o f t h e O c o n a l u f t e e R i v e r D r a i n a g e 1 1 : 0 0 a m - 1 1 : 3 0 a m E l i z a b e t h M . S c o t t , A n A n a l y s i s o f A n i m a l R e m a i n s f r o m a M i d d l e Q u a l l a S i t e ( 4 0 G N 9 ) , G r e e n e C o u n t y , T e n n e s s e e 1 1 : 3 0 a m - 1 2 : 0 0 p m J o h a n n e s L o u b s e r , T r a c k R o c k G a p : E t h n o - H i s t o r i c a l a n d A r c h a e o l o g i c a l I n t e r p r e t a t i o n s o f i t s S t o n e F e a t u r e s , P e t r o g l y p h s , a n d L a n d s c a p e F e a t u r e s 1 2 : 0 0 p m - 1 : 0 0 p m L u n c h ( M a p l e R o o m )EBCI THPO staff:
Brian Burgess– Tribal Archaeologist
Beau Carroll– Archaeological Technician
Johi Griffin– Historic Sites Keeper
Tyler Howe– Tribal Historic Preservation Specialist
Miranda Panther– NAGPRA Officer
Yolanda Saunooke– Sec. 106 Assistant
Russell Townsend– THPO Officer
1 : 0 0 p m - 1 : 3 0 p m S t e p h e n B . C a r m o d y , P l a n t D o m e s t i c a t i o n i n t h e E a s t e r n W o o d l a n d s : A V i e w f r o m t h e S o u t h e r n C u m b e r l a n d P l a t e a u 1 : 3 0 p m - 2 : 0 0 p m B r e t t H . R i g g s , “ A H i g h , H e a l t h y , W e l l W a t e r e d P l a c e ” : A r c h a e o l o g i c a l I n v e s t i g a t i o n s a t F o r t A r m i s t e a d , a C h e r o k e e R e m o v a l E r a S i t e , C h e r o k e e N a t i o n a l F o r e s t , M o n r o e C o u n t y , T e n n e s s e e 2 : 0 0 p m - 2 : 3 0 p m B e n j a m i n A . S t e e r e , C o l l a b o r a t i v e R e s e a r c h a n d T e a c h i n g a t t h e B o u n d a r y T r e e S i t e ( 3 1 S W 4 9 4 ) 2 : 3 0 p m - 3 : 0 0 p m B r e a k 3 : 0 0 p m - 3 : 3 0 p m T i m o t h y E . B a u m a n n , T h e M c C l u n g M u s e u m o f N a t u r a l H i s t o r y & C u l t u r e a n d t h e N a t i v e A m e r i c a n G r a v e s P r o t e c t i o n a n d R e p a t r i a t i o n A c t o f 1 9 9 0 : P a s t , P r e s e n t , a n d F u t u r e 3 : 3 0 p m - 4 : 0 0 p m T y l e r B . H o w e , C h e r o k e e M o u n d s a s S a c r e d a n d P u b l i c P l a c e s : A T r i b a l P e r s p e c t i v e o f t h e S a c r e d a n d t h e P r o f a n e 4 : 0 0 p m - 4 : 3 0 p m J a m e s W e t t s t a e d , A L o o k a t t h e H e r i t a g e R e s o u r c e P r o g r a m o n t h e C h a t t a h o o c h e e N a t i o n a l F o r e s t 4 : 3 0 p m - 5 : 0 0 p m W r a p u p
A g e n d a
S e p t e m b e r 2 6 , 2 0 1 4
O a k B a l l r o o m 8 : 3 0 a m - 9 : 0 0 a m J a y F r a n k l i n , G e o p h y s i c a l S u r v e y , A r c h a e o l o g i c a l T e s t i n g , a n d C e r a m i c D i v e r s i t y a t t h e M i s s i s s i p p i a n P i l e M o u n d S i t e , U p p e r C u m b e r l a n d P l a t e a u , T e n n e s s e e 9 : 0 0 a m - 9 : 3 0 a m L a n c e G r e e n e , A r c h a e o l o g y o f M i d - 1 9 t h C e n t u r y F a r m s t e a d s A l o n g V a l l e y R i v e r 9 : 3 0 a m - 1 0 : 0 0 a m K a t h r y n S a m p e c k , U n d e r s t a n d i n g H i s t o r i c C h e r o k e e T o w n s : C o m p a r i n g C o w e e a n d N v n v n y i 1 0 : 0 0 a m - 1 0 : 3 0 a m B r e a k 1 0 : 3 0 a m - 1 1 : 0 0 a m M a r s h a l l , L a m a r , ” R e - d i s c o v e r i n g ” W a t a u g a ( W a t a ’ g i ) T o w n : R e c e n t A r c h a e o l o g i c a l a n d A r c h i v a l R e s e a r c h 1 1 : 0 0 a m - 1 1 : 3 0 a m A l i c e P . W r i g h t , A N e w L o o k a t t h e A p p a l a c h i a n S u m m i t M i d d l e W o o d l a n d : R e c e n t F i n d i n g s f r o m t h e G a r d e n C r e e k S i t e ( 3 1 H W 8 ) , H a y w o o d C o u n t y , N o r t h C a r o l i n a 1 1 : 3 0 p m - 1 2 : 0 0 p m G a b r i e l l e P u r c e l l , P l a n t R e m a i n s f r o m t h e S m o k e m o n t S i t e i n t h e A p p a l a c h i a n M o u n t a i n s o f N o r t h C a r o l i n a 1 2 : 0 0 p m - 1 : 0 0 p m L u n c h ( M a p l e R o o m )percent of the route is flat or downhill.
Townsend, Russell: The New Cherokee Archaeology: Community Driven
Research Goals
This paper will briefly highlight the past involvement of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Tribal members with the archaeological community, focusing on how their questions about the past have shaped the research aims of past projects. The paper will then outline how communication with EBCI Tribal members has influenced both general research themes and specific research aims of the EBCI Tribal Historic Preservation Office as it explores Cherokee history and prehistory in the future.
Wettstaed, James R.: A Look at the Heritage Resource Program on the
Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia
The Chattahoochee National Forest is located in north Georgia in the southern Appalachian Mountains. It contains a rich archaeological record that extends from some of the earliest inhabitants of North America up to the Civilian Conservation Corps. Management of the natural resources on the Forest is geared towards restoration of native wildlife habitat. The Heritage Resource program on the Forest has a dual mission of supporting the other resources and managing our own resource. I will provide an overview of the Forest, our Heritage Resource program, and a look at some recent research we have carried out.
Wright, Alice P.: A New Look at the Appalachian Summit Middle Woodland:
Recent Findings from the Garden Creek Site (31HW8), Haywood County, North Carolina
In the 1960s, the University of North Carolina’s Cherokee Project conducted major excavations at the Garden Creek site (31HW1, 2, 3, 7 and 8) shedding light on the Middle Woodland and Mississippian mounds in the Appalachian Summit. Nearly 50 years later, researchers returned to the site with a suite of non- and minimally invasive field techniques to learn what took place around these mounds, particularly during the Middle Woodland Pigeon (ca. 300 BC – AD 200) and Connestee (ca. AD 200 – 600) phases. In this presentation, I discuss the field methods employed during the 2011 and 2012 seasons of the Garden Creek Archaeological Project, including multiple geophysical survey techniques (magnetometry, ground penetrating radar, and magnetic susceptibility) and the targeted groundtruthing of probable cultural anomalies. These efforts revealed previously undetected earthworks and other features that highlight not only the complexity of Garden Creek’s Middle Woodland occupation, but also far-reaching connections between Appalachian Summit communities and Midwestern groups associated with the Hopewell Interactions Sphere.
Simek, Jan F., Alan Cressler, Joseph C. Douglas, and Cory Holliday: A
New Early Date for Prehistoric Cave Use in the Eastern Woodlands In this presentation, we share a new radiocarbon age determination from a Tennessee cave that provides the oldest absolute date for prehistoric cave use so far obtained in the Eastern Woodlands of North America. Sometime around 6500 years ago, if not before, prehistoric Native Americans explored 49th Unnamed Cave deep into its dark zone, perhaps buried their dead in the mouth of the cave, and may have made petroglyphs on the cave wall. This age is older by nearly 800 years than evidence previously identified as eastern North America’s earliest dark zone cave use. The cave has a checkered history of looting, reburial, and difficulties with resource protection; these issues will be discussed in light of the archaeological record of 49th Unnamed Cave.
Steere, Benjamin A.: Collaborative Research and Teaching at the Boundary
Tree Site (31SW494)
In July 2014, students from the University of West Georgia worked closely with the staff of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Historic Pres-ervation Office (EBCI THPO) to carry out archaeological investigations at the Boundary Tree site (31SW494) in Cherokee, North Carolina. In addition to generating new information about the Middle to Late Woodland period (ca. A.D. 500 – 900) occupation of the Qualla Boundary, this project provided a special opportunity for undergraduate students to learn about archaeology from a Cherokee perspective. In this paper I present the results of our fieldwork and talk about the important lessons our students learned by working closely with the EBCI THPO staff.
Thayn, Jonathan B., Kathryn E. Sampeck, and Howard H. Earnest, Jr.:
Tracking Hernando de Soto with the Space Shuttle
In the summer of 1540, Hernando de Soto led 620 ruthless conquistadores as they marched across Cherokee lands and over the Appalachian Mountains. Four Hundred and sixty years later, astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor collected stereoscopic pairs of RADAR images of the same valleys and peaks. The RADAR data have been used to create three-dimensional models of the terrain with an elevation value recorded for every 90x90 meter square. If two assumptions are accepted: 1, that de Soto followed the most easily traversed route, which seems reasonable since he was guided by a Cherokee Cacica who undoubtedly knew the area well; and 2, that the terrain of the mountains has not changed much since de Soto’s trip; then these RADAR data can be used to accurately predict and map the route that de Soto travelled. This method suggests that de Soto traveled northward along Highway 181 toward Elizabeth Town, Tennessee, and then southward through Johnson City to the Nolichucky River just before it drains into Douglas Lake. This route is 294.74 kilometers long, including changes in elevation. Its mean elevation is 497 meters and its maximum elevation is 1,197 meters. Only 5 percent of this route has a slope greater than 2.86 degrees (5 percent grade). Just over 65
1 : 0 0 p m - 1 : 3 0 p m J a n F . S i m e k , A N e w E a r l y D a t e f o r P r e h i s t o r i c C a v e U s e i n t h e E a s t e r n W o o d l a n d s 1 : 3 0 p m - 2 : 0 0 p m S i e r r a M . B o w , C h a r a c t e r i z i n g P r e h i s t o r i c P a i n t R e c i p e s i n t h e S o u t h e a s t 2 : 0 0 p m - 2 : 3 0 p m A n n e R o g e r s , T h e R o l e o f F i s h W e i r s i n T r a d i t i o n a l C h e r o k e e L i f e 2 : 3 0 p m - 3 : 0 0 p m B r e a k 3 : 0 0 p m - 3 : 3 0 p m J a n e E a s t m a n , R e c e n t W o r k a t Q u a n a s s e e b y W e s t e r n C a r o l i n a U n i v e r s i t y ’ s S u m m e r F i e l d S c h o o l 3 : 3 0 p m - 4 : 0 0 p m R u s s e l l T o w n s e n d , T h e N e w C h e r o k e e A r c h a e o l o g y : C o m m u n i t y D r i v e n R e s e a r c h G o a l s 4 : 0 0 p m - 4 : 1 5 p m W r a p u p
Presentation Abstracts
Baumann, Timothy E.: The McClung Museum of Natural History &
Culture and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990: Past, Present, and Future
The University of Tennessee’s (UT) McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture is responsible for the ethical and legal care of archaeological collections recovered from the 1930s to the 1970s by UT faculty and students for research and/or as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) reservoir projects in Tennessee. These collections include millions of artifacts from houses, cooking hearths, storage pits, tool manufacturing, mound construction, and more than 6,000 burials. Before and after the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of 1990, the McClung Museum has worked with the TVA, Cherokee, and other federally recognized tribes to document and repatriate all historic Native American burials, particularly from the Tellico Reservoir project. The McClung Museum is currently working with the TVA and the Cherokee to establish a clear plan with objectives and timetables to assess the remaining prehistoric burials and funerary objects. This plan will address the possible disposition of culturally unidentifiable human remains, the scientific and historic research that can assist with this process, and the positive educational programming, workshops, and exhibits that can be developed to teach about and preserve Cherokee heritage.
Bennett, Jamie M: Footprints of the Past: Woodlands Trace Wildlife
Gardens
Land Between the Lakes is working on a pilot demonstration project to develop wildlife gardens by replacing the current non-native invasive species vegetation with native wild flowers, grasses, shrubs, and trees within the building footprints of the former community of Model, Tennessee. The project offers a unique opportunity to interpret the human occupation of the landscape and create a field laboratory in which to research, demonstrate, teach, and continue to learn about the relationship between nature and culture with visitors, volunteers, partners, and our surrounding communities.
Benyshek, Tasha, and Lamar Marshall: “Re-discovering” Wataugu
(Wata’gi) Town: Recent Archaeological and Archival Research
The Middle Cherokee town of Watauga consistently appears on 18th century
maps between the towns of Cowee and Nikwasi in present day Macon County, North Carolina. Watauga was visited in 1776 by William Bartram, who described the town as large and with a council house situated on an “ancient artificial mound”. Although historic Cherokee townhouses were not always built on mounds, when they were the visibility of monumental architecture provides an opportunity to identify a town’s central location.
indicates that they were of major importance in subsistence practices. Recent studies that recorded the locations of many of the remnants of these weirs show them to be associated with sites that have a long history of occupation in the area. Because of this, it is important to obtain as much information as possible concerning their association with sites from various time periods, and to investigate their role in maintaining the fish populations in the local rivers. Research conducted in other parts of the world has begun to investigate these issues, and this may contribute to a better understanding of the weirs in this area. This paper examines the locations of weirs in rivers of western North Carolina as well as research conducted in several other areas. This research can be valuable in preserving the cultural heritage of the weirs in traditional Cherokee areas.
Sampeck, Kathryn: Understanding Historic Cherokee Towns: Comparing
Cowee and Nvnvnyi
What was Cherokee life like during the 17th and 18th centuries? How similar or
different was life like from one town to the next? One way to start to
understand these seemingly simple questions is by looking at similarities in the size of the towns, the kinds of activities that too place there – shown by artifacts, longstanding Cherokee knowledge, and historical accounts – and their spatial arrangements. This talk will give an overview of the work we
conducted during June 2014 to investigate these questions. We used a combination of archaeological techniques including remote sensing to get a better picture of what these towns were like. The results show that each town had its own special character. The slight difference in time in occupation made for big changes in the size of the towns and their organization. Both Cowee and Nvnvnyi remain archaeological treasures of Cherokee heritage.
Scott, Elizabeth M.: An Analysis of Animal Remains from a Middle Qualla
Site (40GN9), Greene County, Tennessee
Animal remains provide information about past societies that simply cannot be understood through the material culture alone. Analysis of the animal remains from the 40GN9 site in Greene County, Tennessee, suggests that a wide array of animal resources were used by the Qualla residents (ca. 1500-1625 AD). The fine-gauge water-screening of site deposits resulted in a large assemblage of well-preserved animal remains, including mammals, birds, turtles, snakes, amphibians, fish, and shellfish. In this presentation, I describe and interpret animal remains that resulted from food consumption, tool and ornament production, and ritual use, and then compare these findings to animal bone assemblages from the Coweeta Creek, Citico, and Berry sites. It is hoped that the analysis of the animal remains from the 40GN9 site will contribute to a broader understanding of the ways in which Cherokee peoples dealt with the widespread societal disruptions that followed European contact, interaction, and invasion.
inventory and administer these lands for the benefit of the resource, the American public, and the groups whose ancestors once inhabited the
Tennessee Valley. In 2014, TVA sponsored non-invasive geophysical testing of the Bell site (40RE1) in Roane County, Tennessee. The Bell site is a large, multiple mound, Mississippian center. Previous investigations were conducted by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s and 1940s but were never reported. Given its large size, complexity, and sensitivity, geophysical survey was chosen to address a range of research questions regarding site structure and layout, community organization, and feature preservation. The results provide tremendous insight regarding these questions and site interpretations are now possible at a broad scale.
Purcell, Gabrielle: Plant Remains from the Smokemont Site in the
Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina
Smokemont is a multicomponent site consisting of deposits from Woodland, Mississippian, Cherokee, and Euro-American occupations. Located in the Smoky Mountains in western North Carolina, two structures have been identified at Smokemont, one as a Mississippian Pisgah phase house, and the other a Contact period Qualla phase house. Beneath the Pisgah house are several Woodland period pit features. Floral analysis of Early and Middle Woodland features indicate some horticultural activity, with wild plants remaining important but supplementary to maize agriculture during the Mississippian and Cherokee occupations. This paper is an analysis of the plant remains collected from Woodland, Pisgah, and Qualla context, and a
comparison of how site function and plant use change through time at this location. Finally, activities at Smokemont will be compared to other sites in the Appalachian Summit to determine if the settlements at Smokemont share trends in plant use found throughout the region.
Riggs, Brett H.: “A High, Healthy, Well Watered Place”: Archaeological
Investigations at Fort Armistead, a Cherokee Removal Era Site, Cherokee National Forest, Monroe County, Tennessee
Recent archaeological survey and testing of the Fort Armistead site (40MR708) has documented well-preserved evidence of three major site occupations: Meroney’s Stock Stand (1831-1832), Camp/Fort Armistead (a federal military installation, 1832-1838), and Camp Coker Creek (a Confederate battalion cantonment, 1862-1863). Microtopographic mapping, systematic metal detection survey, remote sensing, and limited test excavations reveal an extraordinary degree of structural and contextual integrity in site deposits, and evidence from the Fort Armistead site serves as a model for understanding the military infrastructure of the forced Cherokee removal operations.
Rogers, Anne F.: The Role of Fish Weirs in Traditional Cherokee Life
Although no one has determined the time when fish weirs were first constructed in the Cherokee area, their widespread distribution throughout the region
Many such locations have always been known to the Cherokees, and some have been the subject of archaeological research. The inconsistent archaeological documentation concerning Watauga, however, has led archaeologists to question exactly where the town was, if the Watuaga mound was destroyed, and even whether a mound ever existed at Watauga at all. Recent archaeological and archival research has more firmly identified the location for at least part of Watuaga Town,
determined that an “artificial mound” still stands, and found that the area of the “Watauga plains” is one of the better preserved historic Cherokee sites in western North Carolina.
Bow, Sierra M., and Jan F. Simek: Characterizing Prehistoric Pain
Recipes in the Southeast
Over the past several years, we have initiated a research program using non-invasive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF) to analyze the elemental chemistry of manufactured paints present on a variety of prehistoric artifacts from sites in the Southeast. This form of non-destructive analytical technique has expanded the potential for understanding how prehistoric paint was made and used. The technique is particularly useful because it provides information about the chemistry or prehistoric products with absolutely no physical alteration or effect to the objects being analyzed. Our goal is not only to describe prehistoric paint recipes but also to determine if there were consistent recipes used to produce paints of different colors and if these recipes differ with time, geography, and context. This presentation will present highlights of our research to date and examine the efficacy of non-destructive methods over other, more destructive analysis techniques.
Carmody, Stephen B., and Sarah C. Sherwood: Plant Domestication
in the Eastern Woodlands: A View from the Southern Cumberland Plateau
Over the past few decades archaeological research has provided conclusive evidence that the Eastern Woodlands is one of only eight global centers were native plants were domesticated without outside influence or diffusion. These indigenous plants, including chenopod, gourds, sumpweed, and sunflower, were domesticated as early as 5,000 years ago. Today, most models describing the process of domestication suggest that these plants were focused on either populated river valleys, or in frequented surrounding uplands. Here, we present archaeological evidence from two upland rockshelters on the Southern Cumberland Plateau to demonstrate the potential of upland landscapes and the fine-scale variability that lead to these areas likely being favored seasonal plant collection and processing sites by regional prehistoric people.
Carroll, Beau: Middle to Late Qualla Cherokee Occupation of the
Oconaluftee River Drainage
The Oconaluftee Valley in Swain County, North Carolina contains a number of archaeological sites, including 31SW3, the Nvnunyi Mound. Site 31SW3 has been explored numerous times. The earliest explorations were conducted by the Valentines beginning in 1882. Additional recent research conducted by the Illinois State University archaeological field school in the summer of 2014 yielded valuable data that can be used to explain
prehistoric and historic Cherokee lifeways. The comparison and
summarization of recent archaeological and historical findings at 31SW3, and surrounding sites, will help us develop a better picture of the
Oconaluftee Valley Cherokee.
Eastman, Jane: Recent Work at Quanassee by Western Carolina
University’s Summer Field School
This presentation will report on the results of the 2014 summer field school at Quanassee Town in Clay County, North Carolina. This former Cherokee town site is located in the Valley Towns area and was occupied into the eighteenth century. Western Carolina University (WCU) students and faculty conducted ground-penetrating radar and magnetometer surveys and limited excavations at the site of Quanassee during May, 2014. Two areas of the site had been previously excavated in 1973 and 1975 by WCU. The goals of the current research are to digitize existing field records and relocate the earlier excavation units, survey the core area of the site using non-invasive techniques to better understand the organization of the town, and excavate the plow-disturbed zone in a smaller number of units to more accurately map the site. This site is protected by The Archaeological Conservancy.
Franklin, Jay, Jeremy Menzer, and Eileen Ernenwein: Geophysical
Survey, Archaeological Testing, and Ceramic Diversity at the
Mississippian Pile Mound Site, Upper Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee The Pile Mound, in the Three Forks of the Wolf River Valley along the western escarpment of the Upper Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee, has been known about form more than 100 years. What has never been established is its authenticity and period of occupation. We began geophysical survey of the mound and site in March 2014 and continued with targeted ground-penetrating radar and electromagnetic induction surveys in May and July 2014, respectively. The site appears to cover some 15 acres. We also began archaeological testing of features identified by the magnetometer survey in the village area and abutting the mound itself. Our understanding of the Mississippian culture in this region is almost
completely lacking. In addition to the above, we discuss the ceramic assemblage and associated radiometric dates. We report our preliminary
results in this presentation.
Greene, Lance: Archaeology of Mid-19th Century Farmsteads Along
Valley River
Throughout much of the 19th century, the Valley River area was home to
several Cherokee communities known as the Valley Towns. The locations of several Cherokee farmsteads within these communities are well
documented historically. Using primary documents, several of these farmstead sites have been identified. The modern landscape still shows signs of some of these sites, such as roadbeds and landscape modifications around the footprints of houses. Archaeological testing of a number of these sites provides additional information about the Cherokees who lived there.
Howe, Tyler B.: Cherokee Mounds as Sacred and Public Places: A Tribal
Perspective of the Sacred and the Profane
Anthropologists have continued to utilize Émile Durkheim’s sacred and profane dichotomy in discussions of Native American societies. Specifically in terms of Cherokee culture and history, this dichotomy has been utilized in investigations of the mound and townhouse complex. To date, however, a Tribal perspective has not been applied to a deeper appreciation of the mound and townhouse complex. This discussion will explore how, for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Historic Preservation Office (EBCI THPO), the mound has numerous specific attributes, sometimes separate, sometimes holistic. Likewise, portions of the townhouse structure can be seen as both separate and whole units. This understanding is an important starting point for dialogue with the greater archaeological community in terms of the production of knowledge, and why the EBCI THPO opposes investigations of mounds throughout the traditional aboriginal Cherokee territory.
Loubser, Johannes: Track Rock Gap: Ethno-Historical and
Archaeological Interpretations of its Stone Features, Petroglyphs, and Landscape Features
The talk presents information gathered from total station mapping of an extensive stone wall and pile complex, controlled test excavations of two stone features, and photography and tracing of eight petroglyph boulders within Track Rock Gap, Union County, Georgia. The results of mapping, excavations, and petroglyph recording are interpreted in terms of a broader landscape setting, ethno-historical information, and regional archaeology.
Patch, Shawn M.: Geophysical Investigations of the Bell Site (40RE1),
Roane County, Tennessee
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) manages nearly 300,000 acres of public land rich in cultural heritage. As a part of its Section 110
