Figure - uploaded by Benjamin A. Steere
Content may be subject to copyright.
Source publication
This article describes the development and initial results of the Western North Carolina Mounds and Towns Project, a collaborative endeavor initiated by the Tribal Historic Preservation Office of the Eastern Band of Cherokee and the Coweeta Long Term Ecological Research Program at the University of Georgia. The goal of this project is to generate n...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... we lack a fine-scale understanding of the occupation of the Mississippian period platform mounds in the region, there is a clear shift in settlement pattern associated with the transition from platform mounds to townhouses. Figure shows the distribution of confirmed and possible Cherokee townhouses. Based on historic records, we know that the current archaeological sample of eighteenth-century Cherokee townhouses is incomplete. ...Citations
... Given Structure 1 was isolated to a small portion of the mound summit, the southwest corner, and rebuilt in place multiple times, we find the possibility of a craft producing guild particularly compelling. Furthermore, the summit of Mound D is significantly larger than the area where the Structure 1 was identified; consequently, one must presuppose from the size of the monument summit that other activities and architecture once were present on the summit (see King et al. 2011, Rodning 2009, Steere 2015 for discussions on mound summit architecture). In general, the identified structure itself was quite large, but perhaps not quite as large as elite residences (at Etowah, elite mound summit buildings are at least three times larger; King et al. 2011); consequently, we are particularly compelled by a scenario in which specialized activities or production took place in the structure on the southwestern corner of the mound summit (see Mehta et al. 2016). ...
Investigations at the Carson site (22CO505), located in Coahoma County, Mississippi, have uncovered data on the development of a large Mississippian mound center dating to the period from A.D. 1200 through European contact. Recent sediment coring, excavation, artifact analyses, and radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating shed light on earthworks and household structures at Carson, and on Mississippian culture in the Yazoo Basin more generally. Sediment coring demonstrates a laterally transgressing Mississippi River system deposited coarse sandy ridges and clay-filled swales underneath a surface horizon comprised of variously coarse to medium-fine sediment originating from generalized overbank flooding. In some instances, flood-borne sediments were found on mound flanks, indicating that at times river-based flooding may have interrupted mound construction. Sediment coring and trench excavation also demonstrate that Carson?s Mound D was built in four stages, with Stages II and III comprising the major stages of earth moving. Excavations on the mound summit reveal evidence of several superimposed structures that were burned in place and likely used for the production of stone, shell, and wooden craft items, perhaps related to Mississippi Ideational Interaction Sphere (MIIS) paraphernalia. Here we describe recent investigations at Carson and present preliminary findings; forthcoming publications will emphasize strategies of power, monumentality, craft production, and Mississippian exchange systems.
This article examines the crucial roles Black people played in the development of Western Carolina University (WCU) in the mountains of Southern Appalachia, and the university's failure to fully acknowledge the contributions those people have made. After introducing some relevant oral history projects, we focus on the history of the WCU land. We first describe the Indigenous dispossession by which the white Rogers family acquired the land in Cullowhee, North Carolina. We then turn to Harriet, an African American woman enslaved by David Rogers, Sr., considering how her and her children's labor shaped the property he eventually transferred to the university. The article subsequently traces the lives of several of Harriet's descendants, and their contributions to the university's growth. We also consider how WCU's expansion relied on the appropriation of land upon which a crucial Black AME Zion Church sat. We contend that, as with the prior Cherokee dispossession, WCU has yet to fully acknowledge the contributions of Black people to its development. The contributions of local Black community members should be recognized especially in light of the university's reliance on its mountain location as the basis of its “brand identity.”
The Late Woodland (ca. AD 800–1500) was a time of socioeconomic and environmental change in the Appalachian Summit. Changing climatic conditions and the introduction of maize agriculture made permanent settlement in these high-elevation mountain landscapes possible for the first time. We adopt a settlement ecology approach to examine how Late Woodland communities situated themselves in the landscape. Drawing upon geospatial analyses of legacy datasets, we document how Late Woodland communities prioritized access to different socioeconomic resources in the New River Headwaters region of northwest North Carolina. The New River Headwaters was an important source of natural resources, including mica and copper, as well as an important corridor for the movement of people and resources throughout Eastern North America. Our analyses demonstrate that Late Woodland communities balanced access to arable land, copper sources, and long-distance trade routes when situating their settlements. Larger sites had access to more land suited for maize agriculture than smaller sites. The largest sites in the region were also well-positioned with nearby access to copper sources and trade routes along the New River. Regional approaches to Late Woodland occupation in the Appalachian Summit reveal the dynamic relationship between humans and the environment in mountain landscapes.
Cherokee Landscapes is a digital conservation project to protect and preserve heritage in ways determined by Ani-Kitu Hwagi (Cherokee) stakeholders. This digital repatriation project requires new ways of visualizing archaeological information and geographically integrating Ani-Kitu Hwagi materials that are dispersed among many national and international institutions. The platform for Cherokee Landscapes is mbira, an open-source program developed by Michigan State University’s MATRIX: The Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences. Mbira, an interactive map interface, and other open-source programs offer novel ways of visualizing spatial data that benefit archaeological professionals and the public.
The Chauga mound and village site (38OC47) in Oconee County, South Carolina, is the location of a late prehistoric Mississippi an town and the probable location of the eighteenth-century Lower Cherokee town of the same name. After brief explorations of Chauga by John Rogan, Joseph Caldwell, and Carl Miller, excavations were conducted at the site in 19 jS and 1959 by the University of Georgia, under contract with the National Park Service, in advance of dam construction and inundation of the site and surrounding areas by Lake Hartwell (Roberts Thompson and Williams 2015). Patterns in mortuary data from Chauga have been interpreted to reflect status distinctions within the Mississippian community centered at this site. Evidence drawn from Cherokee oral tradition sheds light on another dimension of mortuary practices at Chauga. From this perspective, burials and associated artifacts from the Chauga site can also be seen as sacred possessions of the community, pladpd in the ground when the town was founded in the twelfth-century A.D., and when it was reestablished during the sixteenth century after a period of abandonment during late prehistory.
