Sarah C. Sherwood

Chronology and stratigraphy at Dust Cave, Alabama

Dust Cave (1Lu496) is a habitation site in a karstic vestibule in the middle Tennessee River Valley of Northern Alabama. The cave, periodically occupied over 7,000 years, contains well-preserved bone and botanical materials and exhibits microstratigraphy and intact occupation surfaces. The chronostratigraphic framework for Dust Cave is based on 43 14C dates, temporally diagnostic artifacts, and detailed geoarchaeological analysis. In a broad sense, five cultural components are defined and designated: Quad/Beaver Lake/Dalton (10,650–9200 cal B.C.), Early Side-Notched (10,000–9000 cal B.C.), Kirk Stemmed (8200–5800 cal B.C.), Eva/Morrow Mountain (6400 to 4000 cal B.C.), and Benton (4500–3600 cal B.C.). Microstratigraphic and artifact analyses indicate that the primary differences in the deposits over time relate to intensity of activity and spatial organization with regard to changing conditions in the cave, not to the types of activities. Geomorphic transformations influenced the timing of occupation at Dust Cave, especially the initial occupation. The chronostratigraphy provides a framework for assessing the stratigraphic separation of Dalton and Early Side-Notched materials, the shift in technology from blades to bifacial tools, and the context of detailed flora and fauna evidence. These remains provide unique insights into forager adaptations in the Midsouth from the end of the Pleistocene through the first half of the Holocene.

FOREST OPENING, HABITAT USE, AND FOOD PRODUCTION ON THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU, KENTUCKY : ADAPTIVE FLEXIBILITY IN MARGINAL SETTINGS

In the rugged uplands of eastern Kentucky, archaeological evidence of pre-maize plant cultivation is largely absent from stream bottom locations, being concentrated instead within upland rockshelters. Some researchers have hypothesized that the apparent failure of early food producers to exploit rich bottomland soils was an economically sound response to the shortcomings of local stream valley habitats. Instead, seed crop farmers favored hillsides and ridgetops, which were less costly to clear and maintain under cultivation than narrow and densely vegetated stream bottoms. We analyze the goodness of fit between hypothetical upland and lowland cultivation systems and new evidence for human interaction with plant communities and the agricultural potential of soils. Seed and wood assemblages indicate a temporal association between increased human interaction with lowland plant communities, higher levels of habitat disturbance, and greater reliance on cultivated plants. However, there is no convincing evidence that plant cultivation caused disturbance and exploitation of lowlands. Expansion of mesic and hydric habitats was in part a response to increased precipitation and frequency and severity of flooding. Floodplains became largely unsuitable for human habitation, contributing to more intensive exploitation of uplands. While ridgetops and steep slopes were both poor locations for cultivated plots, other upland soils on limestone benches also had good agricultural potential, as did the soils on lower colluvial slopes.

The context of early southeastern prehistoric cave art : A report on the archaeology of 3rd unnamed cave

In the deep recesses of 3rd Unnamed Cave, a karst cavern in Tennessee, evidence for an ancient association between dark zone cave art and chert mining has recently been documented, The art comprises petroglyphs on the ceiling of a chamber more than 1 km from the cave entrance. On the floor below the art, natural sediments were excavated prehistorically to obtain high-quality chert nodules. Radiocarbon age determinations place the mining during the Terminal Archaic period. Studies in lithic technology, geoarchaeology, and petroglyph description are presented.

An Integrated Geoarchaeology of a Late Woodland Sand Mound

Abstract The Graveline Mound (22JA503) is a sand platform mound in Jackson County, Mississippi, built on a low, late Pleistocene terrace on the Mississippi Sound. The Late Woodland mound (A.D. 590–780) is composed of local soils, and its presence today is a testament to the ancient builders’ knowledge of earthen construction materials and methods. Central to the study of the mound is an integrated geoarchaeological approach that uses stratigraphy and micromorphology to decipher material source and selection, construction techniques, and periodicity, in combination with more traditional artifacts, revealing the activities that created this ultimately monumental space. The mound was built in three rapid stages beginning with a low earthwork demarcating a ritual precinct used during late spring/early summer. Stage II quickly followed with a series of alternating zoned fills, sealing the space that was then subsequently covered by Stage III, a massive hard red surface that marked the location with a platform mound.

Look to the earth: the search for ritual in the context of mound construction

In North America mound research traditionally focuses on how these earthen structures functioned -- as mortuary facilities, ceremonial platforms, observatories, and the residences of political elites and/or ritual practitioners. This paper acknowledges mound building as the purposeful selection of soils and sediments for specific color, texture, or engineering properties and the organization of deposits suggesting that the building process reflects both shared knowledge and communicates specific information. We present two examples: Late Archaic period Poverty Point site Mound A, and Mississippian period Shiloh site Mound A, in the exploration of structured deposits to identify ritual in contrast to a more mundane or purely practical origin. We argue the building of these earthen monuments was not only architecturally important as a means to serve a subsequent purpose but that the act of construction itself was a ritual process intended to serve its own religious and social purposes. In these contexts, ritual does much more than communicate underlying social relationships; it is instrumental to their production.

SOAPSTONE VESSEL CHRONOLOGY AND FUNCTION IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS OF EASTERN TENNESSEE: THE APPLE BARN SITE (40BT90) ASSEMBLAGE

Abstract The function and chronology of soapstone vessels in the Eastern Woodlands has been a contentious issue that deserves discussion at a more regional and subregional scale. We provide an overview of the Apple Barn site (40BT90) soapstone vessel assemblage, one of the largest Late Archaic/ Early Woodland collections in the southern Appalachians. Results from residue analysis of pollen, starch, and phytoliths on four vessel fragments reveal the processing of various plants, correlating well with the macrobotanical results from the site. The AMS dates derived from seven sooted samples span ca. 1700 cal. B.C. to ca. 800 cal. B.C., suggesting mundane soapstone vessel use persists later in the southern Appalachians relative to other areas of the Southeast. When soapstone is no longer used at the Apple Barn site, post–750 cal. B.C., there is a significant shift in feature volume and organization, suggesting a change from seasonal group aggregations to semisedentary family tended garden plots. This shift denotes a significant change in foodways where the social and functional ties to soapstone were no longer relevant.

Sacred landscapes of the south-eastern USA: prehistoric rock and cave art in Tennessee

Systematic field exploration in Tennessee has located a wealth of new rock art�some deep in caves, some in the open air. The authors show that these have a different repertoire and use of colour, and a different distribution in the landscape�the open sites up high and the caves down low. The landscape has been reorganised on cosmological terms by the pre-Columbian societies. This research offers an exemplary rationale for reading rock art beyond the image and the site.

A ROAD TO ZACATECAS: FORT SAN JUAN AND THE DEFENSES OF SPANISH LA FLORIDA

From 1565 to 1570, Spain established no fewer than three networks of presidios (fortified military settlements) across portions of its frontier territories in La Florida and New Spain. Juan Pardos network of six forts, extending from the Atlantic coast over the Appalachian Mountains, was the least successful of these presidio systems, lasting only from late 1566 to early 1568. The failure of Pardos defensive network has long been attributed to poor planning and an insufficient investment of resources. Yet recent archaeological discoveries at the Berry site in western North Carolina—the location of both the Native American town of Joara and Pardos first garrison, Fort San Juan—warrants a reappraisal of this interpretation. While previous archaeological research at Berry concentrated on the domestic compound where Pardos soldiers resided, the location of the fort itself remained unknown. In 2013, the remains of Fort San Juan were finally identified south of the compound, the first of Pardos interior forts to be discovered by archaeologists. Data from excavations and geophysical surveys suggest that it was a substantial defensive construction. We attribute the failure of Pardos network to the social geography of the Native South rather than to an insufficient investment of resources. Desde 1565 hasta 1570, España estableció no menos de tres redes de presidios (asentamientos militares fortificados) en partes de sus territorios fronterizos en La Florida y Nueva España. La red de seis fuertes de Juan Pardo, que se extendió desde la costa atlántica hasta las Montañas Apalaches, fue la menos exitosa de estos sistemas de presidios, ya que duró solo desde finales de 1566 hasta principios de 1568. El fracaso de la red defensiva de Pardo se ha atribuido a la inversión insuficiente de recursos. Sin embargo, recientes descubrimientos arqueológicos en el sitio Berry en el oeste de Carolina del Norte —la ubicación del poblado indigena de Joara y de la primera guarnición de Pardo, el Fuerte San Juan— justifican una reevaluación de esta interpretación. Mientras que las investigaciones arqueológicas previas en el sitio Berry se concentraron en el complejo doméstico donde residían los soldados de Pardo, la ubicación del fuerte permanecía desconocida. En 2013, los restos del Fuerte San Juan fueron finalmente identificados al sur del complejo doméstico. Este es el primer fuerte interior de Pardo que ha sido descubierto por arqueólogos. Los datos procedentes de excavaciones y estudios geofísicos sugieren que fue una construcción defensiva sustancial. Atribuimos el fracaso de la red de Pardo a la geografía social del los grupos indigenas del Sur en lugar de una inversión insuficiente de recursos.