Cherokee Community Coalescence in East Tennessee

Summary

This paper focuses on ceramics from 40GN9, a Cherokee site in East Tennessee occupied from the 1400s to 1600s, to investigate the issue of coalescence during the Late Mississippian (A.D. 1350-1600) and protohistoric (A.D. 1500-1700) periods, characterized by disease, widespread demographic and environments shifts, and changes in slaving, warfare, and politics. Through quantification of the attributes of wares, forms, and decorations among 40GN9’s ceramics and examination of the spatial distribution of different potting traditions within the site, it demonstrates the Cherokee women who made the pottery there came from different cultural backgrounds and practiced different potting traditions. Comparing the 40GN9 data to other protohistoric-period sites in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina then illuminates possible connections between these traditions and others visible in the region. Finally, it illustrates the potential creation of a shared cultural identity through the establishment of a unique potting tradition characterized by smudged or undecorated exteriors.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions) 2018   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 646