Title: One Hundred Years of Archaeology at Gordontown: A Fortified Mississippian Town in Middle Tennessee
Abstract: 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 late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries indicate 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 Thruston regional period (A.D. 1250-1450). Mortuary and other analysis results reveal a dynamic, yet somewhat stressed, native population within middle Cumberland River Valley. As research builds on Mississippian period societies across Southeast, archaeologists are exploring variation in cultural adaptations through time and between regions. Detailed reconstruction of archaeological sequences within regions is producing information on developmental histories of specific chiefdoms, both at major centers of Cahokia, Moundville, Etowah, and Spiro, and at smaller polities. From perspective of Middle Cumberland region of central Tennessee, interregional comparisons have focused on better known Mississippi River Valley and East Tennessee. Recent archaeological work and publications have filled some gaps for lesser-known areas such as western Kentucky (e.g., Hammerstedt 2005; Wesler 2001), eastern Kentucky (e.g., Jefferies et al. 1996), and southern Tennessee/northern Alabama (e.g., Welch 1998, 2005). significant Mississippian period occupations in Middle Cumberland region have been underrepresented in literature, although recent research has led to a revised chronological sequence as well as new information about settlement shifts and health status of resident populations. Here, we focus on one fortified Mississippian town, Gordontown, where excavations during 1980s and a reanalysis of older site investigations show a community plan with a platform mound, a burial mound, and a residential area enclosed by a bastioned palisade. Gordontown's occupation dates to Thruston regional period (A.D. 1250-1450), a time when populations at this and other sites in middle Cumberland River Valley were stressed and social conflict was a factor. Mississippian Culture in Middle Cumberland Region Researchers have recognized a discrete Mississippian culture within Cumberland River drainage of Tennessee and Kentucky for many years (Bushnell 1920; Holmes 1903; Phillips et al. 1951; Putnam 1878; Thomas 1894; Walthall 1980). Until recently, systematic efforts to define boundaries for this cultural manifestation were rather limited. Most studies focused on one aspect, stone-lined graves, as defining characteristic of region's culture. Attention to stone-lined was initiated in antiquarian reports on Cumberland River Valley in Middle Tennessee (Haywood 1823; Jones 1876; Putnam 1878; Thruston 1897). These works established a pattern of interest in stone-lined that dominated archaeological research for many decades. For example, Gates P. Thruston opened his classic Antiquities of Tennessee with The prehistoric cemeteries of Stone Grave race of Tennessee are among most interesting memorials of aboriginal life in America (Thruston 1897:1). Also, Cyrus Thomas noted that the characteristics which distinguish this district as a whole ... [include] general distribution and large number of stone graves (1894:576). Archaeological literature during first half of twentieth century continued to define Mississippian peoples living in Cumberland Valley primarily by their mortuary practices. William E. Myer inadvertently set this course with his 1920 excavations of Fewkes and Gordon (Gordontown) sites (Myer 1928). …
Publication Year: 2006
Publication Date: 2006-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 16
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