Archaic Culture Period
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Archaic Culture Period
Excerpts taken from Sun Circles and Human Hands (1957)
by Emma Lila Fundaburk and Mary Douglass Fundaburk Foreman.
As centuries passed and primitives gained more knowledge of their
surroundings, a slow progression of changes in their economic
habits and habitation sites resulted. To supplement the food
supply, they learned to gather mussels from the river shoals and
bivalves from the flats and bays and coastal areas. These shells
were discarded in gradually mounting heaps along the banks of
rivers, bays and coasts. Upon the rising heaps of shells natives
built temporary huts of poles, hide and brush; they dug fire
pits, lined them with river pebbles, dumped in bivalves, and
broiled them over the hot stones and coals; they probably heated
stones and dropped then into stone, wooden or leather containers
to heat food. The many broken river pebbles found at many Archaic
sites may have resulted from such practices. In outdoor kitchens
or temporary huts Archaic people probably stored small quantities
of roots, bark, berries, nuts and dried meat.
A distinctive feature of the Archaic Period was the occurrence of
"flint workshops" in the shell middens. At many sites in the
Tennessee Valley area, these occurred during the Middle Archaic
Period; below that level, there was only a limited amount of
chipped flint in the midden. The flint workshops were covered
with chips, spalls, cores, broken points and rejects. Hammer
stones and evidence of percussion chipping were found. In
addition to chipped points, the Archaic natives developed a
variety of other chipped tools, including drills, scrapers,
knives and celts.
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