Archaeological investigations at two 19th century farmsteads in Rhea and Roane counties, Tennessee

The Upland South pattern of spatial organization has long been associated with Euroamerican, specifically Scots-Irish, farmstead arrangement in the interior Southeastern United States. Recent archaeological investigations along the Cumberland Escarpment in the East Tennessee Valley have provided a look at two 19th century farmsteads which can be added to the body of archaeological knowledge in this region. This thesis is an in-depth report of archaeological investigations at these two farmsteads. One of these sites, 40RE192, was initially thought to be an early 19th century Euroamerican farmstead dating circa 1820 to 1840. Further analysis has cast doubt on this interpretation. The spatial arrangement of site 40RE192 has affinities with Historic Cherokee sites of the same time period in western North Carolina. It is likely, therefore, that at least one member of the household who created the site was of Cherokee descent. The other site in this thesis, 40RH156, had two temporal components. The earlier component was consistent with Euroamerican occupation circa 1830 to about 1855. The later component dates circa 1865 to about 1920. There was no spatial information for the earlier component, but the later component fit the Upland South pattern. Interestingly, there is evidence that the occupants of the site during the later component may have been African-American tenant farmers. The conclusions of this thesis suggest that the Upland South pattern of spatial arrangement on rural farmsteads may be cross-cultural in its occurrence in this region.