Archaeology of Shell Midden

The Middle Cumberland River Valley of Tennessee comprises a unique regional environment that has supported human occupation for at least 14,000 years. Consistent human occupation and reuse of natural river levees and adjacent terrace landforms from the late Pleistocene epoch (ca. 12,000 BC) through the 15th century AD resulted in the formation of numerous archaeological sites along the Cumberland River and its tributaries. The occupants of these sites relied on the abundant natural resources of the region, and particularly vertebrate and invertebrate species that inhabited the streams and waterways for subsistence and raw materials. Over thousands of years the inhabitants of the Middle Cumberland River Valley harvested these various species and took an active role in managing riverine resources. The cumulative result of this process appears in the archaeological record of the region as abundant zooarchaeological remains, principally consisting of animal bone and shellfish.

One visually-striking archaeological facet of the Middle Cumberland River Valley is the densely deposited remains of freshwater shellfish that appear at Archaic sites throughout the region. These deposits span the period from approximately 6500 to 1000 BC, and comprise a regional manifestation of the cultural phase traditionally known as the Shell Mound Archaic. Recent survey and excavation efforts along with site file research have identified 22 sites within the Middle Cumberland Valley that exhibit intact Archaic shell-bearing components. An additional 59 sites in the region also exhibit a high probability for containing intact Archaic shell-bearing deposits, but require additional testing to determine their integrity.

The Archaic shell-bearing sites in the Middle Cumberland River Valley provide unique opportunities to examine research topics including how mid-Holocene occupants of the region adapted to changing environments, modified the natural landscape, and altered the local ecology both deliberately and indirectly. In addition, data preserved within these sites has the potential to address numerous research questions regarding settlement patterning, regional population density, social structure, initial plant domestication, the development of regional trade networks, and environmental change within the Middle Cumberland River Valley, and more broadly in the American Southeast, between approximately 6500 and 1000 BC. Because of this information potential, the archaic shell-bearing sites of the Middle Cumberland River Valley are worthy of acknowledgement, protection, and preservation under Criterion D of 36 CFR 60.4.