Archaic Shell-Bearing Site Investigations in the Middle Cumberland River Valley

Our understanding of the archaeological sequence in the Middle Cumberland River Valley is the result of thousands of archaeological projects conducted over the past century by antiquarian scholars, archaeological consultants, state and federal agency archaeologists, colleges and universities, and through the efforts of Tennessee’s avocational archaeological community. However, most of the data on Archaic shell-bearing sites generated by these investigations consists of archival sources or gray literature reports and have not been widely reported or previously summarized. This chapter presents a history and descriptive data on archaeological investigations at Archaic shell-bearing sites in the Middle Cumberland River Valley to date. This information is drawn from a variety of sources including technical reports, unpublished archival materials housed at the Tennessee Division of Archaeology in Nashville, interviews with artifact collectors and members of the avocational community, and field inspections.