Faunal Remains from an Archaic Period Cave in the Southeastern United States (original) (raw)
Related papers
Late Archaic Site Use at Sachsen Cave Shelter, Upper Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee
North American Archaeologist, 2010
Upland regions have typically received short shrift in archaeology. We present preliminary results of archaeological testing at Sachsen Cave Shelter, a "rock house" on the Upper Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee (UCP). Interpretations thus far indicate that the site was used repeatedly as a residential base camp for small family groups over a long period of time during the Late Archaic Period (ca. 6-3000 BP) by prehistoric hunter gatherers who lived year round in the uplands of Southern Appalachia. These activities include butchering and cooking of large mammals on site, nut processing and cooking, and hide processing and sewing. These activities appear to have been concentrated in the fall of the year. However, it is likely that site function depended upon seasonal exploitation of local resources, because faunal elements were recovered that indicate use during the spring and summer months. It may also be that the site was used year round. We support these hypotheses with technological, use-wear, faunal, and archaeobotanical studies.
Contextual Studies of the Middle Archaic Component at Cave Spring in Middle Tennessee
1984
Research in 1980 and 1981 at the Cave Spring site, located on the Duck River in the Nashville Basin of Middle Tennessee, revealed a buried paleosol in a Holocene terrace which contained charcoal, river gravel and chipped stone artifacts. Radiocarbon dates from this buried stratum range from 6500 to 7300 years before present. Evaluating the potential of this buried deposit for yielding behaviorally significant information depended upon learning (1) whether the cultural materials were undisturbed or were redeposited by the river, (2) whether one or. several periods of deposition or occupation were represented, and (3) whether material from one or more than one cultural group was included in the deposit. Gravel from the excavation was studied and compared to control samples from a nearby gravel bar and from a Pleistocene terrace. A significantly higher percentage of reddened and broken gravel occurred with the artifacts than in the control situations. This information, in conjunction with a gravel concentration exposed during excavation, suggests that the gravel had been culturally introduced for use in stone boiling or as hearth stones. Refitting analysis was conducted using chipped stone artifacts and debris to determine if the highly leptokurtic vertical distribution of artifacts resulted from disturbance processes or sequent occupations. Reconstructed flake sequences and conjoined artifact fragments documented that vertical post depositional movement of these buried materials had occurred. Pieces from the same refitted set had dispersed as much as 40 cm vertically through silty clay during the past 7, 000 ix years. Horizontal movement of pieces and systematic size sorting, as would result from stream action, had not occurred. The problem of how many cultural groups were responsible for the archaeological remains was confronted using the Cave Spring projectile point-knife sample. Given the perspective of systematic chipped stone reduction, the concept of multistage types is developed. The Eva biface reduction system is proposed with the Eva multistage type encompassing a variety of morphological and functional states which reflect expectable variation in the reduction or uselife sequences of particular artifacts within the overall system. The variability observed in the Cave Spring projectile point-knife sample, including specimens traditionally classified as Morrow Mountain points, can be attributed to a single biface reduction system and we need not infer the activities of two distinct cultural groups in accounting for the observed variability. The Morrow Mountain type in the southern Appalachian region apparently represents a biface reduction system distinct from that in the Middle Tennessee region commonly denoted as the Eva-Morrow Mountain cluster. This conclusion has significant ramifications for the assignment of assemblages to specific archaeological taxonomic units, and for making appropriate assemblage comparisons. It is not tenable to refer variability in the archaeological record directly to cultural variability. The situational nature of behaviors which operated to create the archaeological record must also be considered.
The Archaeology of Linville Cave (40SL24), Sullivan County, Tennessee
Caverns (historically known as Linville Cave) is a large, extensive karst system near Blountville in Sullivan County, Tennessee. Confusion sometimes arises because there is a Linville Caverns across the state border in North Carolina, as well as an Appalachian Caverns in Virginia. The historic name is used because the site is listed as Linville Cave on the Blountville USGS topographic quadrangle, and on the site form submitted to the Tennessee Division of Archaeology .
ArchaeoPress: BAR International Series 2129, 2010
This study investigates the form, function, and organization of features at the Late Paleoindian through Middle Archaic site of Dust Cave, Alabama, using a multidisciplinary approach combining macromorphological, micromorphological, and chemical analyses. Previous studies have relied on observations made at the macroscopic level using morphological and/or content attributes, severely masking the diversity of activities they represent. A more robust method conceptualizes features as sedimentary deposits and reconstructs their depositional history as a means of identifying feature function. At Dust Cave, an integrated method combining micromorphology and geochemistry with more traditional studies of morphology and content highlights the importance of several activities not previously recognized, including broiling, smoking, nut processing, storage, and refuse disposal. Use of Dust Cave as a place in the hunter-gatherer landscape of the Middle Tennessee Valley did not remain constant through time, but rather changed over the millennia. During the Late Paleoindian and early Early Archaic, Dust Cave functioned as a short term residential camp which was occupied fairly intensively during the late summer through fall. During the late Early Archaic, the site shifted to a residential base camp. During the Middle Archaic, the site shifted again to a logistical extraction camp where groups processed hickory nuts on such a large scale that the copious amounts of refuse generated give one the impression of a longer term base camp. The changes seen at Dust Cave mirror changes at other regional cave and rockshelter sites at which numerous nut processing pits, nutting stones, and enormous quantities of nut charcoal indicate a general shift in site use as plant extraction camps—sites where nuts were boiled and parched for transport to base camps located at lower elevations. The increased reliance on mast resources corresponds to warming and drying associated with the middle Holocene. These vegetation changes played a key role in the increasingly logistical mobility strategy of Middle Archaic hunter-gatherer groups. The changing use of caves and rockshelters during the Middle Archaic is therefore not one of longer occupation as has been argued, but rather one of intensified use as special purpose sites dedicated to the collection and processing of mast resources.
This paper evaluates previous models of cave and rockshelter use in the American Midsouth from the Early to the Middle Archaic. Four sites are compared in order to identify variability in activities, seasonality, occupation intensity, and function. Focus is placed on using the often overlooked feature assemblages to discern these activities. Data suggest that the changing use of many caves and rockshelters is not one of longer term occupation as base camps, as has been previously argued, but rather as specialized field camps dedicated to the processing of mast resources. This shift takes place as Middle Holocene warming prompted hunter-gatherers to adopt a more logistical mobility strategy in order to take advantage of the spatio-temporal variance associated with increased mast availability. It is further argued that these sites were likely locations of women’s activities and that foraging in the Midsouth involved groups of women engaged in daily tasks centered around mast, tasks that over time imbued caves and rockshelters with symbolic meaning such that they came to function simultaneously as both processing camps and as persistent places of ritual significance in the hunter-gatherer taskscape.
EVIDENCE OF PREHISTORIC VIOLENT TRAUMA FROM A CAVE IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE
TENNESSEE ARCHAEOLOGY 3(2):139-156, 2008
We are pleased to welcome you to the sixth issue of Tennessee Archaeology. With the number of submissions increasing, we are gaining ground on e-publishing an issue every six months -but we are always looking for new reports and articles, so please consider sending us the results of your research. As always, we extend our sincere appreciation to the contributing authors and the scholars who provide thorough (and timely!) reviews of submissions. This journal would not be possible without their support.
2016
Investigations at the Grizzly Newt rock shelter in Daniel Boone National Forest, Jackson County, Kentucky encountered relatively well-preserved deposits despite decades of intensive looting. Excavations revealed the presence of a discernible Early Archaic component containing multiple features, diagnostic artifacts, botanicals, and faunal remains. Subsequent Middle to Late Archaic and Woodland occupations also occur along with a significant Fort Ancient presence. This paper offers preliminary findings related to the Early Archaic at Grizzly Newt and underscores the unrealized data potential of this site and carries significant implications for both research and the management of archaeological resources.