Ridges, Valleys, Mountains, and Plateaus: The Topographic Context of Late Mississippian Diversity in East Tennessee

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Living and Dying in Mountain and Highland Landscapes" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Topographical constraints played a role in shaping the social trajectory of the Southern Appalachian region. The Ridge and Valley physiographic province of East Tennessee includes the Tennessee River and is characterized by linear ridges and parallel valleys, with the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east and the Appalachian Plateau province to the west. The north to south elevation decrease in the Ridge and Valley has the result that floodplains of the Tennessee River and its tributaries are broader to the southwest. The configuration of the topography also was an obstacle to east-west travel. In this presentation, we focus on Late Mississippian communities in East Tennessee, referred to as the Dallas Phase (AD 1300 to 1600). Elsewhere we have argued that the term "Dallas Phase," while reflecting broad similarities, actually obscures a great deal of internal variation. Through mortuary, bioarchaeological, and material cultural analysis, we explore the ways in which this variation relates to the topographic diversity among Ridge and Valley Dallas Phase towns and how this diversity had both biological and social consequences.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Living and Dying in Mountain and Highland Landscapes   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23435