An Overview of Native American Prehistory and History
in Northwest Georgia
The Paleo-Indian Period
The first Native Americans are thought to have arrived in Georgia during the period
known by archaeologists as the Paleo-Indian period, extending from approximately 9,500
B.C. until 7,900 B.C. During this period, small bands of hunter-gatherers with Siberian
origins pushed south and east from the Ice-Age glaciers covering much of Canada, finally
arriving in the Ridge and Valley region of northwestern Georgia and surrounding states.
Although comparatively little direct evidence has yet been documented in Northwest Georgia
for the first culture documented for North America, called Clovis, spearpoints
characteristic of this period have been found in other parts of the Ridge and Valley and
surrounding regions, indicating that at least some Clovis groups were present in Northwest
Georgia prior to 9,000 B.C. Similarly, later spearpoints called Cumberland are documented
for Northwest Georgia, indicating continued presence through 8,500 B.C. During this time
period, the Tennessee River valley is thought to have been a major
"staging-ground" for immigrant Paleo-Indian groups to begin their expansion into
marginal environmental zones, although the Coosa River basin has also produced evidence
for occupation. Late Paleo-Indian points called Dalton (and related types called Quad and
Beaver Lake) are comparatively more common than all earlier point types across the state
between 8,500 and 7,900 B.C, although once again there is limited data specifically from
Northwest Georgia. The Dalton period marked the end of the Ice Age, and thus prefaced
increasingly modern environmental conditions for Georgia, including the final extinction
of giant Pleistocene megafauna such as mastodon, mammoth, and bison.
The Archaic Period
Ample evidence has been found for subsequent occupation in Northwest Georgia during the
Early Archaic period, dating to between 7,900 and 6,000 B.C. Relatively numerous
side-notched and corner-notched spearpoints of the Big Sandy, Kirk, and Palmer varieties
have been found in the region, as well as later and less-common points with bi-lobed
bases, including LeCroy and St. Albans types. This period was also characterized by
unifacially-flaked stone tools such as scrapers and awls, generally predating 6,000 B.C.
These and other finds confirm that populations were expanding on the Georgia landscape
during this initial post-Ice Age period. Early Archaic bands are thought to have moved
seasonally within larger river drainages, practicing a yearly round that permitted them to
exploit a diversity of resources in different habitats. Given the fact that Northwest
Georgia is drained by several large rivers within two broader watersheds (the Tennessee
and Coosa basins), the territorial ranges of several Early Archaic bands might have fallen
within this region.
The Middle Archaic period (6,000-3,000 B.C) evidently witnessed further population
growth in Northwest Georgia, as evidenced by the presence of a wide range of diagnostic
spearpoints such as Stanley, Kirk Stemmed, Kirk Serrated, Morrow Mountain, Guilford,
Benton, and Halifax. During this period, which coincided with a broad regional period of
increased temperature and drier conditions called the Hypisthermal, the territorial ranges
of growing numbers of Middle Archaic bands may have been increasingly limited across the
region, prompting a generalized foraging lifestyle that resulted in the utilization of a
wide range of habitats and landforms. Alternatively, there is evidence from other areas of
the Tennessee River valley to indicate that some Middle Archaic groups evolved more
sedentary lifestyles along riverine corridors with ample shellfish, suggesting increasing
cultural diversity among regions.
The Late Archaic period, lasting from 3,000 B.C. until 1,000 B.C., was characterized by
even more dense occupation in this and other regions of Georgia and the Southeast. Very
large numbers of large and small stemmed spearpoints, including the large Savannah River
and many other smaller varieties such as Otarre and Gary, have been found across Northwest
Georgia, confirming not only population growth but considerably extensive use of a variety
of habitats in lowland and upland zones. The initial appearance of both fiber-tempered
pottery and steatite (or soapstone) bowl fragments in Northwest Georgia furthermore marks
the spread of this new direct-heat cooking technology from other regions to the east and
north after about 1,500 B.C. Grooved axes made from ground stone also appear during this
period, providing the first indirect evidence for tree-felling as populations grew and
supplies of wood for fuel and housing became limited.
The Woodland Period
The Woodland period, beginning after 1,000 B.C., marked the beginning of a number of
culture changes, eventually to include increasingly sedentary lifestyles, the development
of early horticulture, and the emergence of more complex forms of social organization and
ceremonialism, including the appearance of rock and earthen mounds for burial or ritual
purposes. From an archaeological standpoint, the Woodland period was marked by the rise of
pottery technology, including the eventual appearance of several types decorated with
impressions from fabric-wrapped wooden paddles, including the sand-tempered Dunlap Fabric
Marked and limestone-tempered Long Branch Fabric Marked. These pottery types appear during
the Kellogg phase, lasting from roughly 800 B.C. until roughly 100 B.C., and evidently
marked by the emergence of formal village life along the river bottoms of Northwest
Georgia. Sites of this period are often characterized by thick deposits of dark soil
filled with village debris, and subsurface storage pits that apparently contained large
volumes of acorns and hickory nuts. Spearpoints characteristic of this period include
small stemmed varieties such as Coosa and Flint Creek, but these types were rapidly
replaced by large triangular spearpoints such as Badin, Nolichucky, Copena, McFarland, and
Yadkin, many of which lasted into the Middle Woodland Cartersville period.
The appearance and eventual predominance of Cartersville Check Stamped and Cartersville
Simple Stamped pottery types corresponds to the replacement of the Kellog culture by the
Cartersville culture after about 200 B.C. This culture was perhaps most notably
characterized in Northwest Georgia by the eventual involvement of local populations in a
broader cultural phenomenon called Hopewell, the influences of which were spread across
much of eastern North America between about A.D. 200 and 500. The Hopewell culture was
characterized by elaborate ceremonialism, particularly in association with mortuary
ritual, and included an impressive array of elaborate artifacts crafted from exotic
materials such as copper and obsidian obtained through long-distance trade. Although
earthen burial mounds, animal effigy mounds, and earthen enclosures were characteristic of
cultures in the Hopewell "heartland" to the north, local Georgia cultures used
both rock and earth in mound construction, as was the case with the important Tunacunnhee
site along Lookout Creek in Dade County, Georgia.
After A.D. 500, the Cartersville culture was replaced by the Late Woodland Swift Creek
culture in Northwest Georgia, roughly coinciding with a decline in long-distance trade and
ceremonialism characteristic of the Hopewell network. This culture was marked by the local
appearance of the elaborately-decorated Swift Creek Complicated Stamped pottery (which had
been in use for several centuries to the south), and a later though related type called
Napier Complicated Stamped. Decorative designs, crafted using carved wooden paddles
pressed into the wet clay, were frequently complex motifs combining abstract shapes with
images from nature. Other artifacts characteristic of this culture include Bradley Spike
and Jacks Reef Corner Notched projectile points, as well as a range of
increasingly-smaller triangular points.
Toward the very end of the Woodland period the bow and arrow seems to have made its
first appearance as a major technological innovation for hunting and warfare. After this
time, tiny triangular arrowpoints (often called "bird points" among collectors)
became common, replacing all earlier spearpoint types. In Northwest Georgia, this
invention roughly coincided with the appearance of the Woodstock culture (ca. A.D.
750-1000), which straddled the boundary between the Late Woodland and Early Mississippi
periods. Apart from the appearance of Woodstock Complicated Stamped pottery (evolving
directly out of designs present in earlier Napier pottery), this intriguing culture also
seems to have witnessed the beginnings of military fortifications such as stockades,
palisades, and defensive ditches. This evidence, coinciding with the appearance of the bow
and arrow, suggests that the Woodstock culture was characterized by comparatively
extensive inter-group warfare, prefacing later developments during the Mississippi period.
The Mississippi Period
The succeeding and last prehistoric culture period, the Mississippi period (A.D.
900-1540), was marked by the appearance of a new culture known as Etowah, and with it the
emergence of powerful agricultural societies known as chiefdoms, which would dominate the
Southeastern landscape over the next centuries. The Etowah culture (A.D. 1000-1200) was
characterized archaeologically by the appearance of new nested-diamond and other designs
called Etowah Complicated Stamped pottery, new pottery types tempered with crushed shell
(instead of just sand and grit), and a range of other minority types such as red filmed
and cordmarked. The Etowah culture would eventually spread from its origin in Northwest
Georgia across much of the northern half of Georgia and beyond. The spread of the Etowah
culture during these initial centuries coincided with the rise of similar chiefdoms in
river valleys across the state, all generally characterized by hereditary leadership by a
single family lineage over several thousand people distributed in villages, hamlets, and
farmsteads along the arable bottomland soils of river and creek floodplains. Mississippian
chiefdoms were also characterized by relative degrees of intensive agriculture, focusing
on the cultivation of corn, beans, and squash. Chiefs maintained control by amassing
considerable stores of surplus foodstuffs through the appropriation of human labor under
their direction. This tributary labor and food was additionally directed toward public
functions ranging from the construction of multi-stage earthen platform mounds to the
maintenance of warriors for military action.
The widespread Etowah culture eventually evolved into the subsequent Savannah culture
(A.D. 1200-1350), characterized by Savannah Complicated Stamped pottery with curvilinear
designs such as nested circles, along with Savannah Check Stamped, and other types
including shell tempered and red filmed varieties. During this time the Etowah Mounds site
along the Etowah River near Cartersville was at its peak, and probably occupied a position
of regional importance in Northwest Georgia. Other chiefdoms also existed in this region
during the Mississippi period, probably remaining subordinate or tributary to Etowah until
its apparent decline after the Savannah period. In addition to the Etowah chiefdom, other
Northwest Georgia chiefdoms included clusters of village and mound sites along the
Coosawattee River where it enters the eastern edge of the Ridge and Valley province,
probably a comparable cluster in a similar position along the Conasauga River to the north
along the Tennessee border, and a final cluster to the west along the Coosa River just
downstream from Rome. Even though all four of these local chiefdoms undoubtedly interacted
with one another, and were occasionally linked into broader multi-regional alliances, each
riverine site cluster was normally surrounded by buffer zones with no year-round
habitation.
Around A.D. 1350 a new culture known as Lamar emerged across most of northern Georgia
and surrounding areas, marked by the appearance of new ceramic types such as Lamar
Complicated Stamped and Lamar Incised, as well as Dallas and other shell tempered types
related to contemporaneous cultures in Tennessee. By this time, the powerful chiefdom
centered along the Etowah River had waned in regional importance, and archaeological and
historical evidence suggests that its regional successor was the Coosawattee River
chiefdom centered at Carters Lake in Murray County. The capital town of this chiefdom,
known as Coosa, was described by the members of two separate Spanish expeditions during
the 16th century.
The Historic Period
During the summer of 1540, the army of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto pushed south
from Tennessee on their way into northeastern Alabama, visiting the capital town of Coosa
(now located under Carters Lake Reregulation Reservoir) before marching on to the town of
Itaba (Etowah) near Cartersville, and then turning west along the Etowah River to the town
of Ulibahali, originally located in downtown Rome under the Coosa Country Club. Twenty
years later, soldiers under the command of another Spaniard, Tristán de Luna, made their
way upriver from southern Alabama in search of food in the famed Coosa chiefdom, passing
again through Ulibahali before proceeding upriver to the Coosawattee River valley towns
under the leadership of Coosa. And finally, in the fall of 1567, another Spanish
expedition under Juan Pardo penetrated as far inland from the South Carolina coast as
eastern Tennessee along the same route as Sotos army, turning back shortly before
arriving at Coosa.
Archaeological evidence confirms that in the aftermath of these Spanish expeditions,
most or all of the Northwest Georgia chiefdoms collapsed within only a few decades as a
result of rapid population loss due to European epidemic diseases such as smallpox and
bubonic plague. Survivors from Coosa and its neighbors to the south and west apparently
immigrated downriver into Alabama by 1600, leaving virtually all of Northwest Georgia
abandoned for more than a century. Only the upper Conasauga River appears to have survived
this period, since the remnants of the Conasauga River chiefdom known as Tasquiqui only
reappeared under the name Tuskegee at the end of the 17th century among the Lower Creeks
as fugitives from Cherokee expansion and English-sponsored slaving.
After the final abandonment of Northwest Georgia by the dwindling remnants of its
native Muskogee-speaking populations by about 1700, immigrant Cherokees from the Blue
Ridge began to repopulate the region by as early as 1715, when a town called Coosawattee
was located at the old site of the Coosa capital at Carters Lake. In 1751, a fugitive
South Carolina Cherokee town called Ustanali settled downriver along the Coosawattee, and
after the 1776 destruction of the Cherokee Lower Towns in upper South Carolina and
Northeast Georgia, a flood of Cherokee refugees spread out across the abandoned river and
stream valleys of Northwest Georgia, along with the Chickamauga band of Cherokees under
the separatist chief Dragging Canoe. In the aftermath of the American Revolution, the
once-abandoned valleys of Northwest Georgia became home to substantial numbers of Cherokee
farmsteads and towns, eventually forming the heart of the Cherokee nation with capitals at
Ustanali and later New Echota along the Coosawattee River. By the time of removal in the
1830s, Northwest Georgia housed a substantial portion of the nearly 9,000 Cherokees living
in the northern part of the state. Only after the creation of original Cherokee County and
its many daughter counties, and the forced removal of all remaining Cherokees in the fall
of 1838, did Northwest Georgias resettlement by Euro-American settlers replace the
nearly 114 centuries of Native American occupation in this region.
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