The Aaron Shelton Site (40CF69): A Multicomponent Site in the Lower Normandy Reservoir

The Aaron Shelton site (40CF69) was a multicomponent site in the upper Duck Valley which was excavated by The University of Tennessee in early summer of 1975. A total of fifty-five features and sixty postholes was excavated at the site with four cultural components, Late Archaic through Late Woodland, being defined. An analysis and description of all prehistoric cultural activity at the Aaron Shelton site are presented with an emphasis on the McFarland phase occupation. The McFarland phase settlement patterns at 40CF69 indicate that during the early Middle Woodland period the Aaron Shelton site was occupied by minimal, probably nuclear, family groups exploiting resources in the lower reservoir zone in a seasonal schedule of hunting and gathering rounds. It is proposed that Aaron Shelton and other small McFarland phase sites in the lower reservoir zone represent seasonal camps in a "mobile dispersed" settlement system and that this type of settlement system was in operation in the upper Duck Valley during the late Early Woodland Long Branch and early Middle Woodland McFarland phases.