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Papers by Shannon Koerner

Southeastern Archaeology 30(1):134-147, 2011

The Toqua site (40MR6) is one of the most thoroughly excavated Late Mississippian mound sites in ... more The Toqua site (40MR6) is one of the most thoroughly excavated Late Mississippian mound sites in East Tennessee. The site has been a focal point of research on late prehistory in southern Appalachia, but there are issues surrounding its chronological placement. The radiometric dates obtained for the site in the 1970s and the archaeomagnetic dates reported in 1999 have large standard deviations. These dates are too imprecise to be usefid for a temporal placement of the site that is clear enough for current discussions of the development of Mississippian culture. A newly obtained Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) date from the large platform mound (Mound A) allows a reevaluation of the occupation sequence of the Toqua site. This date provides an anchor for a refined chronology for Mound A. In addition to the new AMS date, this refined chronology is based on complementary lines of evidence, including architectural evidence, mortuary practices, pottery traditions, and shell gorget styles.

Museums and Memory: Southern Anthropological Society Proceedings, No. 39, edited by Margaret Williamson Huber, 2011

Overview of Depression-era archaeology in the Southeast from a museums perspective, as presented ... more Overview of Depression-era archaeology in the Southeast from a museums perspective, as presented at the 2008 Southern Anthropological Society conference in Staunton, VA.

Tennessee Archaeology 5(1):31-50, 2010

Evidence of Late Woodland (c. A.D. 600-900) settlements has been difficult to find in eastern Ten... more Evidence of Late Woodland (c. A.D. 600-900) settlements has been difficult to find in eastern Tennessee. Burial mounds (“Hamilton” mounds) dating to this time period are well known and have been studied for many years along the upper Tennessee River and its tributaries. The problem faced for decades has been locating contemporary habitation sites, especially those with evidence of structures. Such evidence was in fact found by a Works Progress Administration-era crew at the DeArmond site (40RE12) in the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar reservoir area, but never reported. Recognizing the DeArmond feature as a legitimate Woodland structure and describing the material culture association should allow future researchers to identify similar features in the eastern Tennessee region.

Tree-Ring Research 65(1):81-90, 2009

"We investigated the potential for using long-archived wood samples extracted from archaeological... more "We investigated the potential for using long-archived wood samples extracted from archaeological contexts at four Mississippian Period (AD 900–1600) settlements in eastern Tennessee for tree-ring dating purposes. Sixteen wood samples recovered from prehistoric sites were analyzed to: (1) crossmatch samples from each site with the intent of determining the relative chronological order of sites, (2) establish a floating prehistoric tree-ring chronology for eastern Tennessee, (3) determine the applicability of dendrochronology in prehistoric archaeology in eastern Tennessee, and (4) establish a strategy for future research in the region. We succeeded in crossmatching only three of the 16 tree-ring sequences against each other, representing two sites relatively close to each other: Upper Hampton and Watts Bar Reservoir. The average interseries correlation of these three samples was 0.74 with an average mean sensitivity of 0.26, and they were used to create a 131-year-long floating chronology. The remaining samples contained too few rings (15 to 43) for conclusive crossmatching. Our results demonstrate that dendrochronological techniques may be applied to the practice of prehistoric archaeology in the Southeastern U.S., but highlight the challenges that face dendroarchaeologists: (1) poor wood preservation at prehistoric sites, (2) too few rings in many samples, (3) the lack of a reference chronology long enough for absolute dating, and (4) the lack of a standard on-site sampling
protocol to ensure the fragile wood samples remain intact."

Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville., 2005

""The DeArmond mound (40RE12) was initially excavated by WPA investigator John Alden and crew bet... more ""The DeArmond mound (40RE12) was initially excavated by WPA investigator John Alden and crew between February 1940 and March 1941 before being inundated by the Watts Bar dam in January of 1942. The site included a pyramidal earthen mound with an adjacent village. The mound was excavated in stratigraphic levels, with cultural material separated by building stages. The ceramic collection from this excavation is used in a study of Mississippian temporal and spatial variation within the eastern Tennessee Valley.The collection is comprised of 22,826 pottery sherds and an additional 22 partial, reconstructed, or whole vessels. Morphological and stylistic analyses of these sherds are combined with mound substructure architecture, and grave associations to delimit the cultural sequence of the mound. Morphological attributes were used in an intra-regional comparison of coeval Mississippian sites from the Chickamauga Basin to elucidate possible spatial variations in ceramic morphology.

Early Mississippian Hiwassee Island Phase traits characterize the lower mound levels (H through E), while Dallas Phase cultural traits are found in the upper levels (C through A). Based on these characteristics, the DeArmond mound is a multi-component Mississippian site. Intra-regional comparisons with the Hiwassee Island (40MG31), Hixon (40HA3), and Dallas (40HA1) sites in the Chickamauga Basin display similarities between the ceramic assemblages. Differences between the Chickamauga Basin sites and DeArmond are found in ceramic surface decoration, mound architecture, and grave associations.""

Southeastern Archaeology 30(1):134-147, 2011

The Toqua site (40MR6) is one of the most thoroughly excavated Late Mississippian mound sites in ... more The Toqua site (40MR6) is one of the most thoroughly excavated Late Mississippian mound sites in East Tennessee. The site has been a focal point of research on late prehistory in southern Appalachia, but there are issues surrounding its chronological placement. The radiometric dates obtained for the site in the 1970s and the archaeomagnetic dates reported in 1999 have large standard deviations. These dates are too imprecise to be usefid for a temporal placement of the site that is clear enough for current discussions of the development of Mississippian culture. A newly obtained Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) date from the large platform mound (Mound A) allows a reevaluation of the occupation sequence of the Toqua site. This date provides an anchor for a refined chronology for Mound A. In addition to the new AMS date, this refined chronology is based on complementary lines of evidence, including architectural evidence, mortuary practices, pottery traditions, and shell gorget styles.

Museums and Memory: Southern Anthropological Society Proceedings, No. 39, edited by Margaret Williamson Huber, 2011

Overview of Depression-era archaeology in the Southeast from a museums perspective, as presented ... more Overview of Depression-era archaeology in the Southeast from a museums perspective, as presented at the 2008 Southern Anthropological Society conference in Staunton, VA.

Tennessee Archaeology 5(1):31-50, 2010

Evidence of Late Woodland (c. A.D. 600-900) settlements has been difficult to find in eastern Ten... more Evidence of Late Woodland (c. A.D. 600-900) settlements has been difficult to find in eastern Tennessee. Burial mounds (“Hamilton” mounds) dating to this time period are well known and have been studied for many years along the upper Tennessee River and its tributaries. The problem faced for decades has been locating contemporary habitation sites, especially those with evidence of structures. Such evidence was in fact found by a Works Progress Administration-era crew at the DeArmond site (40RE12) in the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar reservoir area, but never reported. Recognizing the DeArmond feature as a legitimate Woodland structure and describing the material culture association should allow future researchers to identify similar features in the eastern Tennessee region.

Tree-Ring Research 65(1):81-90, 2009

"We investigated the potential for using long-archived wood samples extracted from archaeological... more "We investigated the potential for using long-archived wood samples extracted from archaeological contexts at four Mississippian Period (AD 900–1600) settlements in eastern Tennessee for tree-ring dating purposes. Sixteen wood samples recovered from prehistoric sites were analyzed to: (1) crossmatch samples from each site with the intent of determining the relative chronological order of sites, (2) establish a floating prehistoric tree-ring chronology for eastern Tennessee, (3) determine the applicability of dendrochronology in prehistoric archaeology in eastern Tennessee, and (4) establish a strategy for future research in the region. We succeeded in crossmatching only three of the 16 tree-ring sequences against each other, representing two sites relatively close to each other: Upper Hampton and Watts Bar Reservoir. The average interseries correlation of these three samples was 0.74 with an average mean sensitivity of 0.26, and they were used to create a 131-year-long floating chronology. The remaining samples contained too few rings (15 to 43) for conclusive crossmatching. Our results demonstrate that dendrochronological techniques may be applied to the practice of prehistoric archaeology in the Southeastern U.S., but highlight the challenges that face dendroarchaeologists: (1) poor wood preservation at prehistoric sites, (2) too few rings in many samples, (3) the lack of a reference chronology long enough for absolute dating, and (4) the lack of a standard on-site sampling
protocol to ensure the fragile wood samples remain intact."

Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville., 2005

""The DeArmond mound (40RE12) was initially excavated by WPA investigator John Alden and crew bet... more ""The DeArmond mound (40RE12) was initially excavated by WPA investigator John Alden and crew between February 1940 and March 1941 before being inundated by the Watts Bar dam in January of 1942. The site included a pyramidal earthen mound with an adjacent village. The mound was excavated in stratigraphic levels, with cultural material separated by building stages. The ceramic collection from this excavation is used in a study of Mississippian temporal and spatial variation within the eastern Tennessee Valley.The collection is comprised of 22,826 pottery sherds and an additional 22 partial, reconstructed, or whole vessels. Morphological and stylistic analyses of these sherds are combined with mound substructure architecture, and grave associations to delimit the cultural sequence of the mound. Morphological attributes were used in an intra-regional comparison of coeval Mississippian sites from the Chickamauga Basin to elucidate possible spatial variations in ceramic morphology.

Early Mississippian Hiwassee Island Phase traits characterize the lower mound levels (H through E), while Dallas Phase cultural traits are found in the upper levels (C through A). Based on these characteristics, the DeArmond mound is a multi-component Mississippian site. Intra-regional comparisons with the Hiwassee Island (40MG31), Hixon (40HA3), and Dallas (40HA1) sites in the Chickamauga Basin display similarities between the ceramic assemblages. Differences between the Chickamauga Basin sites and DeArmond are found in ceramic surface decoration, mound architecture, and grave associations.""