Hunter‐gatherers in the nashville basin: Archaeological and geological evidence for variability in prehistoric land use

Abstract

AbstractResults of intensive archaeological surveys conducted within two environmentally contrastive settings in the Nashville Basin of Tennessee demonstrate that prehistoric human activity was much more extensive in the inner Basin where the Duck River floodplain was flanked by patchy upland vegetation relative to the outer Basin where upland vegetation was more homogeneous. Vertebrate remains from caves and rockshelters show that the inner Basin supported such patchy upland vegetation throughout the known period of hunter‐gatherer occupation of the area. There is close correspondance between periods when forest openings were most prevalent (i.e., Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene and Mid‐Holocene) and times when prehistoric human occupation of the inner Basin was most intensive (Paleoindian and Middle Archaic). Comparisons of major artifact categories from systematic collections of various landform surfaces show that the T2 terrace was the most extensively utilized by prehistoric hunter‐gatherers. the T3/valley slope, the uplands, and the T1 produced progressively lower artifact densities. Results of systematic backhoe trenching indicate that substantial Holocene aggradation accounts for the seemingly minor use of the T1.