Center Places and Cherokee Towns: Archaeological Perspectives on Native American Architecture and Landscape in the Southern Appalachians

276 Pages·2015·2.22 MB·English

by  Christopher B. Rodning

Center Places and Cherokee Towns
A Dan Josselyn Memorial Publication
Center Places and
Cherokee Towns
Archaeological Perspectives on
Native American Architecture and
Landscape in the South ern Appalachians
Christopher B. Rodning
The University of Ala bama Press
Tuscaloosa
The University of Ala bama Press
Tuscaloosa, Ala bama 35487–0380
uapress.ua.edu
Copyright © 2015 by the University of Ala bama Press
All rights reserved.
Inquiries about reproducing material from this work should be addressed to the
University of Ala bama Press.
Typeface: Garamond
Manufactured in the United States of America
Cover illustration: An artist’s conception of the mound and townhouse at the Coweeta
Creek site in southweste rn North Carolina. Drawing by Frank Weir, 1970. Courtesy of
the Research Laboratories of Archaeology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Cover design: Kyle Anthony Clark
∞
The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of Americ an
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rodning, Christopher Bernard.
Center places and Cherokee towns : archaeological perspectives on Native American
architecture and landscape in the Southern Appalachians / Christopher B. Rodning.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8173-1841-3 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8173-8772-3 (ebook)
1. Cherokee Indians—Appalachian Region, Southern—Antiquities. 2. Cherokee
Indians—History. 3. Extinct cities—Appalachian Region, Southern. 4. Indians of
North America—Appalachian Region, Southern—Antiquities. 5. Appalachian Region,
Southern—Antiquities. I. Title.
E99.C5R62 2015
975.004'97557—dc23
2014041358
for Hope, Henry, Erik, and Leif

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
1. The Middle Cherokee Town at Coweeta Creek 1
2. Mounds, Townhouses, and Cherokee Towns 40
3. Public Architecture 66
4. Domestic Architecture 89
5. Hearths 102
6. Burials 111
7. Abandonment of the Coweeta Creek Site 140
8. Center Places in the Cherokee Landscape 165
References Cited 177
Index 253

Illustrations
Figure 1.1. Historic Cherokee towns in the southe rn Appalachians 3
Figure 1.2. Schematic map of the Coweeta Creek site 5
Figure 1.3. Middle Cherokee settlements in the upper Little Tennessee
Valley 7
Figure 1.4. Topographic map of the Coweeta Creek site 10
Figure 1.5. Rim modes in Late Qualla, Middle Qualla, and Early Qualla
pottery from the Coweeta Creek site 23
Figure 1.6. Surface treatments and motifs on Qualla pottery from the
Coweeta Creek site 24
Figure 1.7. Clay smoking pipes, stone smoking pipes, stone discoidals, and
chipped stone projectile points from the Coweeta Creek site 25
Figure 1.8. Radiocarbon dates from the Coweeta Creek site 28
Figure 1.9. Stages of settlement at the Coweeta Creek site 29
Figure 3.1. Sequence of pub lic structures at the Coweeta Creek site 74
Figure 3.2. Stratigraphic profiles through the Coweeta Creek townhouse
mound 75
Figure 3.3. Circular pit features north of Structure 2 and southwest of
Structure 1 at the Coweeta Creek site 83
Figure 4.1. Schematic map of seventeenth- century houses and rebuilding
patterns at the Coweeta Creek site 95
Figure 4.2. Schematic map of fifteenth- century houses and rebuilding
patterns at the Coweeta Creek site 97
Figure 5.1. Sequence of hearths in the townhouse at the Coweeta Creek
site 106