Archaeology in the Little Harpeth River Drainage: A Reanalysis of the Inglehame Farm Site (40WM342), Williamson County, Tennessee (original) (raw)
Related papers
Tennessee Anthropologist 18(1):28-44, 1993
Tennessee Division ofArchaeology personnel have salvaged archaeological data from a privately-owned Mississippian mound-village complex 011 the Harpeth River on twO occasions over the past decade. The resulls of these limited salvage projects, along with a review of antiquarian observations ofthe site are presemed and imerpreted below. PrilTlilry occupation of the site area is interpreted as occurring during the 1hruston Phase (ca. A.D. 1250-1450), based on diagnostic ani/acts and a single radiocarbon date.
Recent road cutting activity for private development along a Cumberland River bluff in western Davidson County exposed four structures and a large pit feature. Tennessee Division of Archaeology salvage efforts at the Ganier Tract site (40DV620) retrieved a modest assemblage of ceramic, lithic, faunal, and floral materials. The ceramic sample included Mississippi Plain loop and flattened loop handles suggestive of a Mississippian occupation that pre-dated AD 1325. A refined chronology for Middle Cumberland Mississippian sites was recently offered based upon critical data obtained through the 19 th-century Peabody Museum (Harvard) explorations across middle Tennessee (Moore and Smith 2009:202-210). This provisional framework defined five unnamed regional periods (I-V) in place of previously published chronologies (i.e. Dowd and Thruston phases/regional periods). Radiocarbon samples from three structures and the pit feature yielded corrected dates between AD 1213 and 1273. These dates place 40DV620 within the proposed Regional Period III (AD 1200-1325), a time of significant population expansion across the Middle Cumberland Region. The recovered ceramic assemblage with loop and flattened-loop jar handles meshes well with these date results.
The Ames Site (40FY7): A Very Unobtrusive Mississippian Settlement Located in Southwestern Tennessee
…, 2011
Research at the Ames Mound and Settlement Complex (40FY7), located at the headwaters of the North Fork of the Wolf River, a tributary of the Mississippi, utilized a gradiometry survey, controlled surface collections, test-pitting, and large scale excavation to examine prehistoric landuse ca. 1000-1200 AD. The study resulted in the discovery of a large palisaded settlement associated with a small mound complex. Although the mound complex has been known to archaeologists for over half a century, the village remained undiscovered until recently. Our research demonstrates that in the Loess Plains of Western Tennessee, discovery methods such as shovel testing and controlled surface collecting can produce results that underestimate the significance of buried archaeological deposits, to the point that large settlements are being missed. The implication is that western Tennessee probably had several small mound complexes with associated villages during the Early Mississippian period.
Tennessee Archaeology 1(1) pp. 18–35, 2004
During the summer of 2003, TRC, Inc. conducted a burial removal project at site 40Dv184 on the grounds of the new Ensworth High School in Davidson County, Tennessee. A total of 335 prehistoric features were exposed during the search for human graves. Sixty-four of these features contained human skeletal remains. Artifacts recovered during the removal project indicate an enduring use of the site area from the Early Archaic through Mississippian periods. Seven burials yielded Benton biface caches along with other lithic and bone artifacts. These caches along with additional Benton artifacts from non-mortuary pit features and surface collections indicate a significant site habitation at 40Dv184 during the late Middle Archaic Benton phase. Over two-thirds of the Benton specimens were manufactured from non-local lithic resources.
Tennessee Archaeology 2(1) pp. 19–31, 2006
The Nashville office of TRC, Inc. conducted archaeological excavations and geoarchaeological deep testing at prehistoric site 40DR226 during the summer of 2004. This site, located along the Tennessee River in Decatur County, yielded intact and deeply stratified midden deposits along the top bank of the Tennessee River. Radiocarbon dates and recovered artifacts indicate the site was occupied between the Middle Archaic and Mississippian periods (ca. 8000–400 BP). A sequence of ceramic sherds associated with the Late Gulf Formational, Copena, and Miller III ceramic traditions (spanning the period ca. 2250–950 BP) are of particular interest.
The Kelley's Battery site (40DV392) is a multi-component prehistoric site located on the Cumberland River in western Davidson County, Tennessee. Salvage excavations were conducted in 1998 prior to destruction of the site by development. Evidence of Paleoindian through Mississippian period occupations was recovered. Of particular interest is the excavation of two Mississippian stone-box cemeteries and associated village. An overview of the excavation is presented along with investigation results. A single radiocarbon date of 670+60 B.P. with a single-sigma calibrated range of AD 1282-1390 was obtained for the Mississippian occupation. The excavation and analysis results determined the Mississippian occupation of Kelley's Battery comprised a nucleated village primarily occupied during the period of regional decentralization (AD 1325-1425).
One Hundred Years of Archaeology at Gordontown: A Fortified Mississippian Town in Middle Tennessee
Southeastern Archaeology, 2006
Archaeological research on Mississippian culture in Tennessee’s Middle Cumberland region during recent years has provided a revised chronological sequence as well as new information about settlement shifts. Excavations at one fortified Mississippian town, Gordontown, and a reanalysis of past site investigations from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries indicate the site area included one platform mound, a substantial burial mound, and a sizable habitation zone enclosed by a palisade with bastions. Radiocarbon assays and ceramics conclusively date this site occupation to the Thruston regional period (A.D. 1250–1450). Mortuary and other analysis results reveal a dynamic, yet somewhat stressed, native population within the Middle Cumberland River Valley.