Posted on 05/09/2008 3:38:36 PM PDT by blam
Modern subdivision is home to ancient villageDavid Davis
Managing Editor
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Upon entering Princeton Hills subdivision off Freewill Road, visitor's see a wide expanse of green space bordered by a circular drive. Large, expensive homes surround the green, grassy mound in an arrangement akin to a prehistoric village.
In a sense, that is exactly what the mound represents. It is the five-acre site of the Candies Creek Village Archaeological Preserve owned by the Archaeological Conservancy. It contains the remains of houses, human burials and pit features.
Developer Jim Sharp sold the site to the Conservancy in 2001 to ensure its protection. The land was valued at $300,000. Sharp sold it for $174,000. It is the only one of its kind preserved in eastern Tennessee.
According to Alan Gruber, Southeastern Regional director, The Archaeological Conservancy, "People throughout the South are surprised to learn that important archaeological sites are found not only in placs like Egypt and Centeral America, but are also right in their own backyards."
Beyond the homes is Candies Creek. The rich soil was ideal for farming by Woodland and Mississippian Native Americans and much later by the Cherokee. After the removal of the native people in 1838, the land was farmed by white settlers until it was sold for development.
It is difficult to know what vegetation there must have been prior to European colonization and westward expansion of the United States of America. The only clues can be found along Candies Creek and slopes of Candies Creek Ridge.
The site was known to have intact deposits, but how much and what kind was unknown until the site was excavated in 1991 by Lee (University) College.
The most plentiful material found was stone debris left from manufacturing tools used as scrapers, drills and projectile points ranging in age from the Woodland III Period, 350 to 900 A.D., and the Mississippian Period dates from 1300 to 1800 A.D.
The second most prevalent material was pottery shards.
Corn cultivation occurred in the Woodland III era though deer hunting and hickory nuts remained as the main food staples. In the Mississippian stage, there was an intensive use of maize, squash, pumpkins, gourds and sunflowers. Deer, squirrel, raccoon, pigeon and turkey were primary staples.
The mound marks a transition between limestone tempering of the Woodland III phase and shell tempering of the Mississippians. The Mississippian II Period was from 1,000 to 1,300 A.D. It is characterized by permanent stockaded villages of large civil structures erected on mounds at opposite ends of an open plaza.
Available dietary data shows corn as the primary food staple along with squash and beans. Hunting, fishing and gathering continued as important foods.
According to Gruber, the Mississippian period began about 900-1550.
"The period represents what is arguably the height of American Indian cultures in the United States. The culture began at the Mississippi River between St. Louis and Vicksburg (Miss.) and spread along river systems until it covered most of the Southeast."
There was no unified political or cultural body, but a regional distribution of villages and towns within feudal-like provinces sharing similar social, cultural and economic practices.
"The Mississippian represented a marked advance from past Southeastern cultures. Increased agricultural productivity during this time resulted in increased population, which led to greater social, political and religious complexity than had existed previously north of Mexico."
Their towns were large with 20 - 200 structures and populations between 50 and 50,000 people. They built massive religious monuments and as their population increased, newer and more sophisticated political and economic structures were formed. While the unpredictable method of hunting and gathering was still employed, intensive agriculture and use of hardy seed varieties provided a much more dependable food supply.
Because the Mississippians were dependent on cultivation of the land, they were less mobile than earlier civilizations. All of the people in a village worked to provide for their community's basic needs. Women did most of the farming, cook and childcare while the men hunted, built and repaired structures and went to war with disagreeable neighbors.
Because of agriculture, the Mississippians had plenty of time to develop cultural practices to enrich their lives such as playing games, crafts and religious rituals.
"The Mississippian culture died out after the mid-1500s, when Hernando de Soto's expeditions passed through North America, bringing European diseases to the New World. People in the Americas had no natural immunity to Old world pathogens like smallpox, influenza and measles. Massive pandemics killed off between 85 percent and close to 100 percent of the Mississippian population," according to Gruber. "There is still much to learn about the Mississippian culture. The Candies Creek site will help archaeologists, anthropologists and historians add to our knowledge of this fascinating period in our nation's prehistory."
------
Sources:
The Excavation of Minor Site 40BY28 by A. Dudley Gardner, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Lee College.
Final Report on Phase I Survey for Archaeological Resources and limited Phase II Testing of a Proposed Residential Development in Bradley County by the University of Tennessee Transportation Center, July 1996.
Alan Gruber, Southeastern Regional director, The Archaeological Conservancy
“visitor’s”? I gues’s correct punctuation cost’s extra.
Very interesting article, blam. Bookmarking.
Question: Does FR seem like it’s getting slower and slower to load? Tonight is the worst. I switched from dial-up to high-speed about a year ago and everything got wonderfully fast. FR is driving me crazy this week.
Maybe it’s my computer. I have no idea.
Anywho, ...........have a GREAT weekend!
I’ve noticed the slow down too - and I have DSL.
“The land was valued at $300,000. Sharp sold it for $174,000.”
....the owner was smart to sell and lucky to get $174,000...the site of an Indian village makes it hard, if not impossible to develop...anybody with one drop of Indian blood could go to court about “desecrating” the graves of his ancestors.
It’s real slow for me too. I have DSL.
GGG Ping.
Liberal "journalism" school grads, no doubt...
I also have DSL/Verizon, and my computer is loading very slowly today, not just on FR.
Communities of between 50 and 50,000 people and they just disappeared? I guess it must have been global warming, or maybe imperialism of an oppressive tribe came along and took their land, only to be driven out by the White Europeans.
European diseases?
Yeah, that probably contributed, but I think that the people that they were referring to diasppeared before the Cherokee came in.
It just drives me crazy that anthropologists will never admit that the Indians wiped out each other, and took over the land, just like the European immigrants. That’s just the way the world works.
Yes, it's been very sluggish for a week or 10 days at least.
Which is quite unusual I think.
Typically Free Republic would load faster than you could say Jim Robinson, but lately not so.
It's one of those global warming things, like rising sea levels, I suspect.
If I had only pledged more support to the local NPR affiliate this year I'm sure we wouldn't be in this pickle.
I was busy listening to this.
|
|
|||
Gods |
Thanks Blam. |
||
|
· Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
[singing] Don’t - stop - thinkin’ about Hillary’s inauguration...
I haven't forgiven them for that yet.
Have you ever listened to Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds (It's a two album set)
Hmm... how old is it? I know I’ve never owned it (I do have a two LP set of Mercury Theater’s WotW though). The only Fleetwood Mac album I’ve got is “Bare Trees”, and (other than the Mrs. Scarrot track, which is reallllly obnoxious) it’s an old fave. That’s pre-BuckinghamNicks. The post- lineup hasn’t done much for me. I like the track “World Turnin’”, in fact, so did Leo Kottke, and for that matter, Drew Carey (DC used Leo’s version in the opening gambit of one episode, in fact, the first time I’d heard Leo’s version).
I didn't care for Fleetwood Mac pre-Buckingham/Nicks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.