Crocks and Canning: Economics of Homesteading on Boone Lake

Summary

Situated at the confluence of the industrial North and the agricultural South, the rural Appalachian Mountains of east Tennessee had unique access to a variety of material and agricultural goods. These resources were key to the practice of homesteading; a type of small-scale subsistence living that was a mechanism not only for survival but of familial and communal pride that continues to this day. Boone Lake, formed from the damming of the Holston and Watauga Rivers, has covered many early occupation sites from this region. Surface survey along the lake periphery and riverbanks indicates historical occupations beginning as early as the late 1700s, continuing until the mid-1900s. Examining the distribution of artifacts from these disturbed sites by material type proportions and temporal spans will shed light on occupational patterns and social dynamics for this underinvestigated region. The composition of the glass and ceramic assemblages will investigate food preservation patterns, availability of consumable resources, and household economics. Self-reliance and sustainability are continued cultural traditions in this mountainous region and would have played a major role in the maintenance of an autonomous homesteading household.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22178