The Shell-Bearing Archaic in the Middle Cumberland River Valley

Zooarchaeological Database Preservation, Multiscalar Data Integration, and the Collaboration of the Eastern Archaic Faunal Working Group

“…Disciplinary practice has tended to relegate zooarchaeological work to ancillary status and has isolated specialists from one another so that current theoretical debates have often failed to include zooarchaeologists. Thus, while zooarchaeologists have contributed to local archaeological records and participated in interpretations at local and subregional levels (e.g., Bergman et al 2014; Colburn 1985, 1986; Crothers 2005; Neusius 1982, 1986; Peres and Deter-Wolf 2016; Peres et al 2012, 2016; Smith 1989, 1994, 2002; Smith and Egan 1990; Styles 1986; Styles et al 1983; Walker 1998, 2000; Walker and Parmalee 2004), faunal findings have not been fully included in panregional theoretical debates even though relevant empirical data have been generated.…”

Finding the Positive in the Negative

“…As a result of this systematic data collection, we have learned substantive new information regarding the cultural sequence of the region, and particularly regarding the chronology and composition of freshwater shell-bearing sites dating to the Archaic period of regional prehistory (ca. 8000–3000 cal BP; Peres and Deter-Wolf 2016, 2019).…”

“…On our end, we have made a concerted effort to widely share the information gained from this project. We have presented and published our research findings in various public and professional venues (Deter-Wolf and Peres 2012; Deter-Wolf et al 2010, 2011a; Peres and Deter-Wolf 2016, 2019; Peres et al 2012). Further, based on the data we collected during the post-flood survey and assessment, we were able to actualize the following positive research, preservation, management, and educational impacts: quantitatively characterize previously unstudied shell-bearing site deposits (i.e., taxa present and relative abundance of each taxa; Peres and Deter-Wolf 2016, 2019; Peres et al 2012);create a radiocarbon chronology for the shell-bearing Archaic in the Middle Cumberland (Peres and Deter-Wolf 2016);contribute data to the Eastern Faunal Working Group and the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR) for future researchers to use (Peres 2018);contribute to the larger regional discussion of riverine shell-bearing Archaic sites, in which this part of Tennessee/mid-South had previously been omitted due to a shortage of published research and data (Peres and Deter-Wolf 2016, 2019; Peres et al 2012);successfully prepare a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) Multiple Property Listing, “Archaic Shell-Bearing Sites of the Middle Cumberland River Valley of Tennessee” (Deter-Wolf and Peres 2015a);successfully list site 40DV307 on the NRHP under the Multiple Property nomination (Deter-Wolf and Peres 2015b);share site information data with law enforcement personnel and the Nashville Office of the Medical Examiner to assist with future human remains and site disturbance concerns; andtrain students in field and laboratory methodologies for survey, assessment, sample collection, and processing.…”

“…Primary faunal data collected during the survey are curated in the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR id: 394386, doi:10.6067/XCV85140M8). Radiocarbon data are reported in Peres and Deter-Wolf (2016). Additional information and analysis generated by this survey may be found in the edited volume by Peres and Deter-Wolf (2019).…”

“…It is therefore ideally suited for maximum data recovery in situations where only limited sampling is possible. All faunal materials (primarily invertebrates; see Peres and Deter-Wolf 2016) were identified using the zooarchaeological comparative collection housed at MTSU. Results of the zooarchaeological analysis were previously published (Peres and Deter-Wolf 2016; Peres et al 2012).…”