A Spatial and Elemental Analyses of the Ceramic Assemblage at Mialoquo (40Mr3), an Overhill Cherokee Town in Monroe County, Tennessee
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 12-2019 COALESCED CHEROKEE COMMUNITIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: A SPATIAL AND ELEMENTAL ANALYSES OF THE CERAMIC ASSEMBLAGE AT MIALOQUO (40MR3), AN OVERHILL CHEROKEE TOWN IN MONROE COUNTY, TENNESSEE Christian Allen University of Tennessee, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Recommended Citation Allen, Christian, "COALESCED CHEROKEE COMMUNITIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: A SPATIAL AND ELEMENTAL ANALYSES OF THE CERAMIC ASSEMBLAGE AT MIALOQUO (40MR3), AN OVERHILL CHEROKEE TOWN IN MONROE COUNTY, TENNESSEE. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2019. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/5572 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Christian Allen entitled "COALESCED CHEROKEE COMMUNITIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: A SPATIAL AND ELEMENTAL ANALYSES OF THE CERAMIC ASSEMBLAGE AT MIALOQUO (40MR3), AN OVERHILL CHEROKEE TOWN IN MONROE COUNTY, TENNESSEE." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in Anthropology. Kandace Hollenbach, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Gerald Schroedl, Julie Reed Accepted for the Council: Dixie L. Thompson Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) COALESCED CHEROKEE COMMUNITIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: A SPATIAL AND ELEMENTAL ANALYSES OF THE CERAMIC ASSEMBLAGE AT MIALOQUO (40MR3), AN OVERHILL CHEROKEE TOWN IN MONROE COUNTY, TENNESSEE A Thesis Presented for the Master of the Arts Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Christian David Allen December 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank the members of my committee, my chair Dr. Kandace Hollenbach, Dr. Gerald Schroedl, and Dr. Julie Reed. This work would not have been possible without their guidance and review. My committee chair, Dr. Hollenbach deserves special recognition, her assistance and direction has propelled me deeper into the field of archaeology and for that I am forever grateful. Without the support of Dr. Jan Simek, his equipment, and the advice and knowledge he shared this thesis work would have been insurmountably more difficult. Additionally, Dr. David Anderson’s knowledge of southeastern archaeology and calm disposition assisted me as I questioned my career decision. The extensive knowledge of the persons above on the history and prehistory of Tennessee, Cherokee history, and archaeology as a discipline helped mold not only this thesis but also my graduate career in anthropology and future career as an archaeologist. My fellow graduate students in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee deserve a special thanks for being understanding and supportive of my work during this project. In particular, I wish to thank Sierra Bow for her assistance and patience in working with me on the collection and processing of the pXRF data used in this thesis, this work would not have been possible without your help. Additionally, I thank Eric Schweickart for his help in understanding the elemental characterization of archeomaterials and his positive disposition that made the endeavor to completing pXRF data collection an exciting and rewarding process. Lastly, thanks to Dr. Lindsey Cochran who assisted me early on with understanding GIS, your aid was invaluable and your enthusiasm for life was much needed and appreciated. ii I also wish to thank the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Historic Preservation Office for the approval of this study. I hope this writing is of value to the Cherokee people. No acknowledgement of this project would be complete without recognizing the efforts of the excavation crew of the Mialoquo site from 1976 - 1977. Dr. Gerald Schroedl and laborers that worked on the Mialoquo site excavation deserve special credit for investigating and saving a piece of Tennessee history that is now underwater (literally). Finally, I could not have accomplished any of this without the support of my family. They have always been accepting of my educational and career desires for which I am wholly indebted. My twin brother, Andrew Allen, deserves distinct recognition for his heroism in the face of my adversity. His perseverance and level-headed nature has saved me more times than I can count and nicely balanced my skepticism and realist perspective on life. To my family I owe everything I have accomplished. iii ABSTRACT I use the ceramic assemblage from the Mialoquo site, an eighteenth-century Historic Cherokee community (A.D. 1760-1780), to study the social formation of Cherokees from different Cherokee town areas at the site. The assemblage is composed of at least two Historic Cherokee types, the Overhill and Qualla ceramic series. Three methods were used to evaluate the ceramics from the Mialoquo assemblage: morphological, spatial, and elemental. Morphological analyses (namely temper and surface treatment) of these sherds were used to examine ceramic variability of the assemblage. Spatial analyses, using ArcGIS, were used to identify patterns between ceramic series present. Finally, elemental analysis, using portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF), was used to determine what if any variability in ceramic clay procurement areas occurs between ceramic series. These analyses indicate that the site is characterized by the presence of both local shell-tempered Overhill ceramic series and non-local grit-tempered Qualla ceramic series. The presence of both ceramic series suggests Mialoquo was a coalescent community. The spatial analyses indicate that the Cherokees at Mialoquo blended their communities of practice as Overhill and Qualla ceramic series are recovered in all feature and area contexts. A density analysis of the ceramic’s distribution also suggests a blending communities of practice as both series are most dense in similar areas. Lastly, the pXRF results also indicate a blending communities of practice suggesting that potters from both communities shared clay procurement resource areas. Additionally, the pXRF results suggest that Cherokee potters producing Overhill ceramic series pots transported vessels made from non-local clays to the Mialoquo site. iv The results from the typological, spatial, and element compositional analyses are telling about the social practices of coalescent Cherokee communities in the mid- eighteenth century. Rather than forming ridged social boundaries between communities of practice the data presented here suggest that at least two Cherokee communities of practice blended, sharing their domestic and communal spaces, their disposal of ceramics in refuse-filled pits, and clay procurement areas surrounding the Mialoquo landscape. Such instances of coalescence have implications for understanding social and political change, understanding variation in material culture, and the life history of ceramics. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: COALESCENT COMMUNITIES & ARCHAEOLOGY .......................... 1 SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 SECTION 2: THE NATURE OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD AND THE FRAMEWORKS USED IN THIS THESIS .................................................................... 4 SECTION 3: COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE AND COALESCENCE IN ARCHAEOLOGY ......................................................................................................... 8 SECTION 4: RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESIS .................................. 13 SECTION 5: CHAPTER OVERVIEW ......................................................................... 16 CHAPTER TWO: SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CHEROKEE LANDSCAPE IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES...................................................... 18 SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 18 SECTION 2: CHEROKEE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LANDSCAPE OF THE SEVENTEETH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES ..................................................... 20 SECTION 3: EUREOPEAN AND CHEROKEE INTERACTION – OVERHILL CHEROKEE MATERIAL CULTURE .......................................................................... 23 SECTION 4: CHEROKEE STRUCTURES & TOWN LAYOUT/LANDSCAPES ......... 29 SECTION 5: CHEROKEE ARCHAEOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW OF CULTURAL CHRONOLOGY, CHEROKEE GEOGRAPHY, AND MISSISSIPPIAN CULTURAL CONTEXT .................................................................................................................. 33 SECTION 6: REGIONAL VARIANCE IN CHEROKEE ARCHAEOLOGY AND CULTURAL CHRONOLOGY: OVERHILL, QUALLA, AND TUGALO-ESTATOE ...... 43 SECTION 7: CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER THREE: CULTURAL BACKGROUND & EXCAVATION HISTORY ............ 51 SECTION 1: TELLICO ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT INTRODUCTION ............... 51 SECTION 2: SITE AND FEATURE SELECTION METHODOLOGY ......................... 52 SECTION 3: INTRODUCTION TO MIALOQUO – SITE LOCATION