Archaeology and the archaic period in the southern Ridge-and-Valley Province

Abstract

Twenty-five years ago the evidence for the Archaic culture period in eastern Tennessee was considered rare, and remnant Paleoindian populations were even postulated to have had contact with Early Woodland period cultures. Elsewhere in the eastern United States, however, researchers were beginning to document a long sequence of Archaic period complexes. Influenced by these data, the latter view was gradually modified, but it was not until 1973 that the magnitude of the Archaic period remains was realized. Although "state of the art" papers in archaeology may be viewed as passe or provincial by some theoretically oriented scholars, they provide the data upon which their behavioral inquiries are based. The following paper summarizes some of the significant work conducted recently in the southern Ridge-and-Valley Province and focuses specifically on the lower Little Tennessee River Valley. The culture sequences, artifact assemblages, and settlement and subsistence patterns typical of this valley are proposed to be similar to those of the larger southern Ridge-and-Valley Province. © 2009 by The University of Alabama Press. All Rights Reserved.