Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-2009

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Anthropology

Major Professor

Gerald F. Schroedl

Abstract

Previous archaeology at the Kituhwa Archaeological District (North Carolina) has recovered evidence of 8,000 years of occupation and established the presence of at least one townhouse stage buried beneath the mound. Consequently, preservation of this cultural resource is an absolute for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. As excavation is no longer an option at Kituhwa, results from this project establish the value of geophysical surveys as a primary research tool for feature discovery and identification and the interpretation of changing settlement patterns in southwestern North Carolina. This geophysical survey, the second at Kituhwa, uses three different instruments to add information about materials and techniques used in the construction of the townhouse. Gradiometry shows this townhouse is similar in size, shape, and orientation to the townhouse stages excavated at Coweeta Creek, also in North Carolina. Within the Kituhwa townhouse there is a large unidentified oval anomaly surrounding two separate hearths and a much stronger signal in the southeast corner of the townhouse, possibly due to more intense burning. A soil resistivity anomaly in the location of the townhouse ramp could have been made by large boulders such as those used at Coweeta Creek and the ground-penetrating radar anomaly could have been made by clay packed on the sides of the mound, also similar to Coweeta Creek. There are a number of residence-sized clusters of anomalies southeast of the mound and in a layout similar to the Middle Qualla village at Coweeta Creek. Another cluster of residence-size anomalies could indicate three episodes of rebuilding of the same structure or three different structures or a combination of both. There are two other townhouse-sized anomalies at Kituhwa, one of which is likely of Cherokee or Anglo origin.

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