Chronological Control for Chiefdom Development in the Upper Tennessee Valley

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With National Science Foundation support Dr. Lynne Sullivan and a graduate assistant will develop a ceramic chronology for the time period from ca. 1,200 - 1,600 AD for the Eastern Tennessee region. This area has yielded archaeological materials with the potential to address significant anthropological questions, but presently sites can not be placed in an accurate relative or absolute sequence because chronological control is lacking. Because pottery designs change in systematic ways over time, archaeologists have developed detailed analytic methods to isolate and describe time sensitive attributes which permit the establishment of a master sequence. Materials from individual sites can then be compared to the master chronology and placed in relative time. With the addition of radiocarbon dating such systems can then be anchored to absolute years. Dr. Sullivan and graduate assistant will seriate whole or reconstructible ceramic vessels excavated from grave situations in Eastern Tennessee. These are curated at the McClung Museum of the University of Tennessee. The seriation will be cross-referenced with sherds from stratigraphic sequences and tied to dates from radiocarbon assays. In the thousand years before the arrival of Columbus Native American societies across much of North America were transformed from highly mobile egalitarian groups into settled agricultural communities. This process was accompanied by the growth of social and political complexity and the rise of hierarchically organized chiefdoms. Widespread across the Midwest was a system marked by large sites with raised earthen mounds which functioned as centers for political and religious authority. What makes Eastern Tennessee of particular archaeological interest is the appearance of agricultural sites but the lack of central mound organization. Archaeologists wish to understand both how such chiefdoms were organized and why the process is apparently different in this one region. Although many sites are known, to achieve maximum usefulness they must be placed in a secure chronological context and Dr. Sullivan's research is directed towards this goal. The work is important because it will provide a chronological tool which will increase the scientific value of a large number of already excavated archaeological sites. It will permit scientists to address significant questions of culture change and development.