Mississippian Settlement Patterns in the Appalachian Summit Area: The Pisgah and Qualla Phases

6 Residential Burial, Gender Roles, and Political Development in Late Prehistoric and Early Cherokee Cultures of the Southern Appalachians

“…The same kind of settlements and architectural styles developed in western North Carolina after C.E. 1300, but the changes in preceding centuries are less clear (Dickens 1976, 1978, 1979; Keel 1976; Ward and Davis 1999).…”

“…The practice of residential burial in the southern Appalachians was preceded by five centuries during which native groups in the ridges and valleys of eastern Tennessee, from present‐day Knoxville southward, created specialized burial mounds (Schroedl et al 1990). Less is known about the earlier mortuary practices of the native peoples in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina (but see Dickens 1976, 1978, 1979; Keel 1976; Rodning and Moore 2010). By the 13th century, they too were placing graves in and around houses in a similar fashion.…”

Mortuary practices, gender ideology, and the Cherokee town at the Coweeta Creek site

“…The site itself is attributed to the Qualla phase, which is associated with late prehistoric and postcontact Cherokee groups in southwestern North Carolina (Dickens, 1967(Dickens, , 1976(Dickens, , 1978(Dickens, , 1979Keel, 1976;Purrington, 1983;Riggs and Rodning, 2002;Ward and Davis, 1999). Radiocarbon dates, stratigraphic evidence, and analyses of Qualla ceramics from the site support the following summary of settlement history at Coweeta Creek.…”

“…Given their size and the lack of any apparent roof Lambert (Davis et al, 1996). 7 Given the small size of Structure 11, when compared with typical domestic dwellings (Structures 3-9) at this and other sites in western North Carolina (Dickens, 1976(Dickens, , 1978Keel, 1976;Moore, 2002aMoore, , 2002b, and given the unique burial (shaft and central chamber) and unique grave goods (animal bone fragments) in Burial 37, it is possible that this structure represents a menstrual hut, and a gendered counterpoint to the townhouse (Galloway, 1997). Its proximity to other structures and to the plaza argues against that identification, but it is also possible that this small structure predates the townhouse and plaza, and if that were the case, the menstrual structure possibility is more likely.…”

“…Excavations at the site by the University of North Carolina from 1965 to 1971 uncovered remnants of a public structure (Structure 1)-known as a townhouse-a rectangular ramada (or ''summer'' townhouse, Structure 2) beside the main townhouse, a plaza, and a village area with dense concentrations of domestic structures, pit features, and burials (Fig. 2;Coe, 1961;Dickens, 1976Dickens, , 1978Dickens, , 1979Egloff, 1971;Keel, 1976;Ward and Davis, 1999). One of the burials outside the original entryway into the townhouse (Burial 9) is the burial of a male elder whose grave goods include four knobbed shell ear pins, pieces of mica and ochre, a basket, a quiver of seven arrows, dozens of shell beads, and a stone disc (Fig.…”