Bioarchaeology of the Little Bear Creek Site: New Insights into Health, Violence, Mortuary Behavior, and Identity in Prehistoric North Alabama

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Although many prehistoric shell burial mound sites within the Pickwick Basin of the Tennessee River Valley of Alabama have been the subject of extensive archaeological and osteological analyses, The Little Bear Creek Site (1CT8) was excluded from such modern study until recently. However, the most recent skeletal inventory of the site revealed high levels of perimortem trauma, violence, and disease within this population when compared to neighboring sites. Based on this, the site was selected for a more detailed bioarchaeological analysis and contextual interpretation during the summer of 2018. Considering site population level demographics, as well as detailed osteobiographies of certain notable individuals, and integrated grave good analysis and burial records, this study was able to demonstrate several unique insights into life and death at 1Ct8. It is argued that production and manufacturing were occurring at the site during the Archaic Period based on skeletal activity markers. Additionally, interpretation of postmortem processing and mortuary treatment indicate the presence of complex ritual and identity during this early period. These results contribute to an expanding archaeological understanding of life and death at 1Ct8 and provide valuable data for future comparison, contributing to our overall understanding of prehistoric Alabama both synchronically and diachronically.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26002