Ancient Chiefdoms of the Tombigbee

3. The Cultural-Historical Context for the Mississippian Occupation Along the Central Tombigbee River

CHAPTER 3 The Cultural-Historical Context for the Mississippian Occupation Along the Central Tombigbee River A LTHOUGH A SET of common characteristics identifies a Mississipr -\.pian cultural pattern that is recognizable over a wide area of the Eastern Woodlands, it is equally clear that this way of life unfolded in various ways in different localities. Only by examining the Mississippian phenomenon in specific cultural-historical settings do we gain both the necessary comparative perspective and the realization that each culturalhistorical context is laden with unique possibilities and constraints. An outline of prehistoric cultural dynamics from A.D. 600 to 1600 in the central Tombigbee River area is presented in this chapter, and chronological , economic, social, and developmental factors are interpreted. In this region Mississippian horticultural populations were distributed in a series of single-mound-and-village centers and associated small, dispersed habitation sites or farmsteads. Each local center-farmstead aggregation appears to represent a minimal sociopolitical unit. Excavations at a single-mound center, Lubbub Creek, and four farmstead sites are summarized below. Together, the five sites furnish the data base, and a window through which to view site variability, site interrelationships, and sociopolitical organization in the region. Physiographic and Environmental Characteristics The archaeological sites examined in this study are located along the central Tombigbee River in western Alabama and eastern Mississippi (Figure 1). The sites extend from Tibbee Creek in Lowndes County, Mississippi, south about 58 miles (90 km) to the vicinity of Gainesville in Greene County, Alabama. This portion of the Tombigbee lies entirely , , , , t N o KM 20 Figure 1 Location of Study Area. Squares represent Mississippian mound centers. Cultural-Historical Context 33 within the Gulf Coastal Plain, a region of Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary deposits. In the study area the river flows along the interface of two physiographic zones (Lineback 1973; Cross 1974). East of the Tombigbee River valley are the Fall Line Hills, a dissected upland of low elevation but steep topography. To the west the Black Prairie (Black Belt) forms a flat-to-rolling region composed of dark fertile soils of the Selma Chalk deposit. The Black Prairie extends in a narrow arc from western Tennessee to central Alabama. From the vicinity of Aliceville, Alabama, the Tombigbee River cuts through the eroded chalk formations and flows southeast through the Black Prairie to meet the Black Warrior River. In addition to the major transition zones of upland and prairie, the meander-belt zone of the river floodplain creates extensive alluvial soils subject to annual or regular flooding. Horizontal movement of the river channel shapes a landscape of terraces, swamps, and horseshoe bends. Through time, the river may cut off the narrow neck of a bend, leaving an isolated body of water or oxbow lake. A detailed discussion of biotic communities in the study area can be found in Caddell (1981), Cole (1983), and Scott (1983), and will not be repeated here. While the concentration of Mississippian sites in major ecotones has been frequently noted, these Tombigbee studies indicate that more-immediate local conditions shaped prehistoric subsistence variability. Prairie, slope forest, upland forest, and floodplain forest present a mosaic of diverse biotic communities within a few kilometers of each site. Cultural and Chronological Outline Late Woodland Period (A.D. 600-1000) The Miller III phase, composed of several subphases, is the Late Woodland period cultural entity in the central Tombigbee River valley (Table 1). Traditionally, Late Woodland in the Eastern Woodlands has been considered a cultural decline from the vigorous exchange networks and ceremonialism of the Middle Woodland period. It is now increasingly clear that social and technological processes occurred between A.D. 600 and 1000 that were of fundamental importance to Mississippian development. For example, during Miller III small triangular projectile points appear that signal the adoption of the bow (Ensor 1981; Blitz 1988). While no changes in faunal remains can be directly attributed to the new technology , single and grouped human burials with embedded arrow points (Hill 1981) represent the earliest evidence of intergroup conflict in the region. As in other areas of the Southeast, maize becomes increasingly 34 Cultural-Historical Context Table 1 Regional Cultural Chronology DATE PHASE PH AS E A.D. CENTRAL MOUNDVILLE PERIOD TOMBIGBEE AREA 1600 ALABAMA RIVER EARLY PROTOHISTORIC SUMMERVILLE IV 1500 MOUNDVILLE LATE III MISSISSIPPI 1400 SUMMERVILLE MOUNDVILLE MIDDLE 1300 I IIIII II M ISSISS IPPI 1200 MOUNDVILLE SUMMERVI LL E EAR LY I 1100 ~ MISSISSIPPI COFFERDAM...