Submitted by Jim Langford ([email protected])
Bird’s eye view of the Moccasin Bend Site
The next meeting of the Northwest Georgia Archaeology Society is Thursday, March 10th, 2011, at the Etowah Indian Mounds Site near Cartersville. The meeting begins at 7:00pm. See below for directions.
We have a great program Creek and Cherokee at Chattanooga’s Moccasin Bend Site, presented by Dr. Nick Honerkamp of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Dr. Honerkamp will first present an overview of the extensive prehistoric and historic resources at this National Historic Landmark site located just across the river from downtown Chattanooga. He will then address the local controversy about Creek (or pre-Creek) and Cherokee occupations at Moccasin Bend. He will do so by placing the site in a larger regional prehistoric context that also includes the impacts of the three 16th century Spanish entradas in the Southeast, one of which is believed to have reached the Chattanooga region. The impact of the Trail of Tears concludes the discussion.
Located at the toe of Lookout Mountain, Moccasin Bend is one of America’s most unique and scenic archaeological sites—located at a significant geographic and geologic crossroads. The National Park Service protects and manages the site—and is now developing ideas about how to tell the Moccasin Bend story to the public.
Dr. Honerkamp serves as the Director of the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He is a recipient of the UT National Alumni Association Outstanding Teacher Award and a UC Foundation Professorship. He received his BA, MA, and PhD degrees in Anthropology at the University of Florida under the direction of Dr. Charles H. Fairbanks, and like his mentor he has pursued research at both prehistoric and historic sites for his entire career.
Dr. Honerkamp’s papers, reports and publications include articles on British colonial diets in the Southeast, urban archaeology in Chattanooga, Savannah, and Charleston, industrial archaeology at the Bluff Furnace site, the history of the Citico Mound, the excavation of a 5600-year-old Middle Archaic campsite on the banks of the Tennessee River, and the excavation of Gullah-Geechee slave sites on the Georgia coast. When not engaged in archaeology, he is an avid long distance runner and biker (road and mountain), and plays bass guitar in two rock bands in Chattanooga—Lumbar Five and The Pool.
The Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site is located at 813 Indian Mounds Road, Cartersville, Georgia. You may take Exit 288—Cartersville, Main Street—off of I-75 and follow the brown signs through downtown Cartersville to reach the site.
We invite the public to attend any meeting of the NWGA Archaeological Society.
Where to find it
Click above to go to a larger Google interactive map of the area.
Posted online on Thursday, March 3rd, 2011