ETSU Archaeology team finds early Cherokee presnce in NE TN

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Education/2016/02/12/ETSU-archaeological-team-uncovers-new-information-about-early-Cherokee-presence.html

ETSU

1 / 2 Jay Franklin, along with his students and other volunteers from around the world, spent several weeks in December and January excavating the area in Washington County. The work was funded through a grant from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation.

ETSU 

ETSU archaeological team uncovers new information about early Cherokee presence

CONTRIBUTED TO THE PRESS • UPDATED FEB 12, 2016 AT 4:40 PM

Along a 12-acre stretch of the Nolichucky River, East Tennessee State University archaeologist Dr. Jay Franklin believes he has uncovered a new chapter — a new chapter in the history of Cherokee Indians, their early presence in Northeast Tennessee and their strong influence with the outside world.

Franklin, along with his students and other volunteers from around the world, spent several weeks in December and January excavating the area in Washington County. The work was funded through a grant from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation.

“Based on earlier discoveries of Qualla, a type of Cherokee pottery, we knew that Cherokee Indians had been present in this region, but what we now know is that they had towns here much earlier than previously believed,” said Franklin, a professor in Sociology and Anthropology at ETSU.

Franklin and his team uncovered part of a large village and excavated a portion of a winter house. He now believes the Cherokees were in the Northeast Tennessee region between 1450 and 1650.

He describes the pottery found as “extraordinary.”

“We also found European glass trade beads and sea shell beads, which is significant because it indicates that trading was taking place far afield with the outside world,” Franklin added. “This was an important place for the Overhill Cherokee Indians and much of their identity was formed here.”

Eleven of the students who joined Franklin for the project were enrolled in a winter sessions course at ETSU and will be developing presentations about the find to be shared with the Cherokee community. Volunteers and archaeologists from Chicago, Massachusetts and British Columbia traveled to Johnson City to be part of the excavation as well.

Many artifact samples have already been sent for processing and will eventually be housed at the ETSU Valleybrook Archaeological Education and Curation Center, which was established in 2014 through a grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

Franklin plans to spend the next two years reviewing the findings and framing specific questions for future excavations. He and a group of his students will present information about the project at an upcoming national meeting in Florida.

“We knew there were historic Cherokee towns that existed in Western North Carolina and in the valley of upstate South Carolina and in Georgia,” Franklin said. “Now we know there were groups of towns in Northeast Tennessee as well.