Big Meat Feasting in the Pisgah Phase of Western North Carolina.

Summary

Animal remains from three late prehistoric Pisgah phase sites in mountainous western North Carolina are described and compared. The sites include a mound (Garden Creek Mound No.1) and adjacent village, and a village with no mound (the Cane River Middle School site). Deer, black bear, turkey, and box turtle remains dominate all three assemblages. Three large bones from the mound, previously reported as bones of Bison, are definitively Elk. Whole large mammal bones, recovered almost exclusively from the mound, are interpreted as evidence of lavish feasting. In contrast to Mississippian faunal assemblages from the adjacent lowlands, evidence for food resource competition or scarcity is lacking in the central Appalachian Summit highlands.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Pisgah Culture and Mississippian Adaptation on the Appalachian Periphery   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14883