3 1604ARCHEOLOGY015 927 090 OF THE BYNUM MOU MISSISSIPPI , AT c„ EZ T TIONAL PARK SERVICE • U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR rEO0UL ARCHEOLOGY OF THE BYNUM MOUNDS MISSISSIPPI by John L. Cotter and John M. Corbett With additions by Marshall T. Newman, Volney H. Jones, Henry W. Setzer and]. P. E. Morrison Archeological Research Series Number One NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR • WASHINGTON • 1951 1 his publication is the first of a series of re- search studies devoted to specialized topics which have been explored in connection with the various areas in the National Par\ System. It is printed by the Government Printing Office and may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. Price y$ cents. United States Department of the Interior Oscar L. Chapman, Secretary National Park Service Arthur E. Demaray, Director Contents Page Introduction 1 Nonceramic Analysis 37 The Setting 2 Copper 37 Galena 39 Excavations 5 Stone 40 Methods 5 Flaked stone 40 Mound A 5 Ground stone 41 Mound B 6 Raw materials 42 Mound C 9 Conclusions 42 Mound D 9 Mound E 11 Specialists' Reports 43 Mound F 11 Skeletal material (Dr. Marshall T. Newman) . 43 Village site 11 Vegetal material (Mr. Volney H.Jones) ... 48 Setzer) 49 Ceramic Analysis 17 Animal bones (Dr. Henry W. .... Shell material (Dr. P. E. Morrison) .... 50 Type descriptions 17 J. Baldwin Plain 17 Analytical Site Summary and Comparative Saltillo Fabric Impressed 18 Statement 51 Furrs Cordmarked 18 Tishomingo Cordmarked 19 Conclusions 57 Tishomingo Plain 19 Houlka Gray 19 Tables 59 Minority wares 20 Bibliography 67 Miscellaneous sherds 21 Analysis of pottery found in association with Plates 69 mounds, features, and burials 22 Conclusions 30 Index Ill in Acknowledgments no report of this size and scope ever is accomplished without a few people without whose constant efforts and willingness this the unstinted help of many people. It is impossible to mention report would not have been possible. The authors wish to express and thank everybody involved, but the authors do wish to express their great appreciation to Miss Joyce Anderson, secretary at the their appreciation to all who concerned themselves in any way Natchez Trace Parkway; Mr. Parker Lancaster, foreman in the with the Bynum excavations. Special appreciation is expressed field; and Mr. John C. Stone, laboratory assistant. to Superintendent Malcolm Gardner of the Natchez Trace Park- To the people of Houston, Miss., near which the Bynum site way, Regional Archeologist J. C. Harrington, Dr. Jesse D. is located, the authors wish to express their thanks for the con- Jennings, Parkway Engineer H. R. Smith, and Engineering Aide stant sympathetic interest they displayed in the excavations while Sidney Holditch. We are indebted to Mr. Arthur Woodward, they were in progress. of the Los Angeles County Museum, for identification of many Since the Bynum site, purchased by the Mississippi State High- of the historic trade goods found with the late Chickasaw burials. way Commission as part of the right-of-way for the Natchez Mr. Woodward's comments have been included in the text dis- Trace Parkway, had not at the time of excavation been transferred cussion of the remains. to Federal ownership, the permission to work granted by the As usually happens, the burden of the routine work fell on commission is hereby acknowledged. IV Foreword the natchez trace parkway memorializes a series of Indian Indian mounds, will be preserved and suitably marked to explain paths that became a wilderness roadway between Natchez and and illustrate the use of the old route. Nashville and then between 1800 and 1830 successively a post In order that all of the values which lend distinction and road and highway binding the Old Southwest to the Union. national importance to the Parkway may be preserved and inter- The early Indian inhabitants of this country used a network preted, the National Park Service is conducting basic studies in of beaten paths as hunting courses, warpaths, or trails linking the fields of history, natural history, architecture, landscape archi- village with village and tribe with tribe. Pioneer settlers called tecture, and archeology. These studies will provide the basic such a trail a trace, a word which in old French suggests its interpretation of scenes along the Parkway for the enjoyment origin as a line of footprints or animal tracks. Use of these of hundreds of thousands of future Parkway travelers. trails by prehistoric Indians is suggested by the remains of mounds, In advance of constructing section 3F of the Natchez Trace villages, cemeteries, and fortifications located along the different Parkway, near Houston, Miss., the Bynum mounds, located on routes. the right-of-way, were excavated to prevent the loss of significant After the coming of the white man, the Natchez Trace assumed archeological remains. Studies of this material were necessary be- increasing importance as it was used for a military, commercial, fore the remains and the site could be interpreted to the visitor. and postal road in the expansion of the United States into the This publication, Archeology of the Bynum Mounds, is the Old Southwest. result of those studies. No excavation is ever complete until the The Parkway, which is to be 450 miles long, is now under findings have been analyzed and made available to other pro- construction and will commemorate the old Natchez Trace. Like fessionals and laymen alike. The careful excavations of Archeol- the Trace it will extend from Natchez, Miss., to Nashville, Tenn., ogists Cotter and Corbett have done much to increase our knowl- and will follow fairly closely the route of the old road. It will edge of a hitherto little-known archeological area and cultural feature a motorway along which places of historic interest, such period. For this reason, I believe this book will be a distinct as parts of the old Trace, "stands" or inn sites, ferry sites, and contribution to the study of prehistoric America. tfLfe £&, VI Introduction the natchez trace parkway will be a scenic and recreational spear-thrower instead). Being constantly on the move in search highway primarily for pleasure traffic. In keeping with this of game, their material possessions of necessity must have been concept, the Parkway has been developed to include turn-offs to scanty and limited to what they themselves could carry. Pos- important archeological, historical, and natural sites along the sibly the dog was domesticated at this time, but no beasts of route. Interpretive roadside displays, a central museum near burden were known or used by the Indians of the Southeast. Tupelo, Miss., and a leaflet will tell the story of the Chickasaw, Opinions differ as to how long ago these early hunter-gatherers Choctaw, and the earlier prehistoric Indians who lived along roamed the southeastern forest country, but it was undoubtedly the route of the Trace. several thousand years before the time of Christ. Indian remains are numerous throughout Tennessee, Alabama, Many centuries passed, during which new ideas and tech- and Mississippi, and the National Park Service realized that niques for gaining a livelihood were either learned by hard construction of the Parkway might damage some of them. To experience or picked up from other tribes to the west. It was salvage in advance of construction whatever was possible for not, however, until the advent of agriculture, that these south- interpretive purposes, the archaeological survey program for easterners developed a stable mode of life. It is impossible for the Natchez Trace was inaugurated under Dr. Jesse D. Jen- any people without a reliable source of food to find the leisure nings in January 1940. From the survey it was seen that at time to develop their talents in the arts, crafts, and religion. least nine important sites would be damaged in one way or One reliable source of food is found in the practice of agriculture. another by construction. These nine sites, on the basis of the By growing one or more stable food crops, supplementing that survey material, could be expected to yield a cross-sectional picture crop with wild game, fish, and natural wild plants, a group of of the Indian cultures which were prevalent along the Trace people can lead a more sedentary form of existence and devote from early prehistoric times down, and into, the historic period. part of their time to the manufacture of clothing, housing, weap- Priority of excavation was assigned to these sites on the basis of ons, and even personal ornaments. their relative importance to the interpretive program, the immi- Again, it is impossible to say just when agriculture first became nence of their destruction, and their availability for excavation by known in this area, but present knowledge would indicate that being in Federal ownership. it was some time in the latter part of the last millenium before Top priority was assigned to the Bynum mounds, located a Christ. At about the same time, or shortly thereafter, a knowl- few miles east of Houston, Miss. This site consisted of a group edge of pottery making was acquired. With the acquisition of of six mounds and associated village remains. The center line skill in agriculture and pottery production, these people became of the Parkway impinged upon the base of one of the mounds and possessed not only of an unusually reliable source of food, but cut across a section of the village area. Excavations were neces- also of better methods of preparing and storing it. sary to save whatever Indian remains might be present. Many of the pottery vessels, of course, were broken in use, and Of the six mounds at the Bynum site, two had been previously the pieces, or sherds, were scattered around the village area.