Russell Cave Archeological History

Russell Cave offers one of the longest and most complete archeological records in the eastern United States. The artifacts found here indicate intermittent human habitation for almost 9,000 years. Using carbon-14 dating techniques, researchers have dated to within 300 years the charcoal remains from fires uncovered at various depths. They could then date objects found at the same depth as a fire, gradually building up a continuous record. The initial excavation by the Tennessee Archeological Society in 1953 unearthed a great number of bone tools, jewelry, and pottery fragments to a depth of six feet. The Smithsonian Institution, with financial support from the National Geographic Society, undertook another dig from 1956 to 1958. These excavations reached a depth of more than 32 feet. A third and final 10.5-foot excavation was done by the National Park Service in 1962, both to fill out the archeological record and establish an on-site exhibit.

Russell Cave

To characterize the evolving stages of civilization in southeastern America before European contact, archeologists have established a general cultural sequence: Paleo, Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian. While there is a general correlation between stages and the dates shown below, these characterizations are not precise for every region in a given period. Thus some peoples continued to thrive in the Woodland stage while others not far away built great cities. For most of the Russell Cave’s 9,000 years of human use, its inhabitants were in the Archaic stage. The cave was one of thousands of southeastern Archaic sites. Recent evidence indicates that the earliest users of the cave were actually at the transitional stage between Paleo and Archaic. During the Paleo period they still depended to a great extent on hunting large animals rather than exploiting a wider range of resources.

Mississippian (A.D. 1000 to 1600)

The Mississippian period of civilization that took root in the Mississippi and Tennessee River Valleys flowered in the Mississippian period. Large towns and ceremonial complexes with huge temple mounds were made possible by the refinement of corn agriculture. Because of the establishment of these permanent settlements, places like Russell Cave were used only sporadically as stopovers for hunting and trading parties. The Cherokee Indians of the historic period rarely used the cave. Many of the artifacts dating from this period are jewelry similar to that found in permanent towns in the area.

1540 – De Soto expedition explores southeastern America

1519 – Cortes begins conquest of Aztecs

1492 – Columbus reaches the Americas

1455 – Gutenberg produces first printed book in Europe

1453 – Constantinople falls to Ottoman Turks

1300 – Benin (Nigeria) empire emerges; 1325: rise of Aztecs in Mexico; 1347: Black Death (a form of bubonic plague) reaches Europe

1000 – Vikings reach North America; 1066: Normans invade England; 1096: First Crusade

Woodland (500 B.C. to A.D. 1000)

In Woodland times in the Southeast, settled village life grew more important as agriculture and trade with people to the north allowed more time for refinement of political and ceremonial life. The inhabitants of Russell Cave, while retaining many of the characteristics of Archaic life, were influenced by the region’s religious and political developments. Significant material changes included the introduction of pottery and the bow and arrow. Trade contacts undoubtedly accounted for much of the change, but some archeologists believe that these technologies indicate the arrival of new people in the area. Domestic artifacts from the early Woodland, including the first evidence of gardening, suggest renewed use of the cave as at least a semi-permanent domicile. Later in the period the cave was used mostly as a winter hunting camp when river villages dispersed into more efficient smaller groups at the onset of cold weather.

900 – Rise of Mississippian mount cities

800 – Charlemagne crowned first Holy Roman Emperor; 853: first printed book in China

600 – Height of Mayan civilization; 632: beginning of Arab expansion and spread of Islam

A.D. 160 – Height of Roman Empire

300 B.C. – Rise of Hopewell cheifdoms and cities in North America; 202: China united under Han dynasty; Great Wall underway

400 B.C. – Founding of city of Teotihuacan in Mexico; 334: Alexander begins march of conquest

500 B.C. – China develops crossbow and iron casting process; multi-tiered galleys in use; development of waterwheel; 477-429: flowering of Athenian civilization

Archaic (7000 B.C. to 500 B.C.)

Over the course of the early Archaic, American Indians became versatile, efficient hunter-gatherers, drawing on all the resources of forest and river. To that end their tools became steadily more varied and specialized. Bone and antler were shaped into an array of implements. Stone tools, long in use, were being ground and polished by the late Archaic. The mortar and pestle for milling, the fishhook, the drill, woodworking tools – all were used in the Archaic period. There is some evidence that for the last 3,000 years of this period, the use of river resources became more important in the region, and Russell Cave was probably used less as a home than as a hunting camp. In the Archaic era the basic foundation for American Indian culture was laid, persisting in some areas until European contact.

900 B.C. – Foundation of Kush kingdom in Africa

2000 B.C. – Advances in astronomy and mathematics; 2000-1500: Stonehenge built; 1500: Hittites perfect iron smelting; Syrians devise early alphabet; 1150: Olmec civilization in Mexico

3000 B.C. – Allowing of copper and tin to produce bronze; pottery wheel, plow, and cart wheel; 2800: Old Kingdom founded in Egypt – first pyramids; 2500: domestication of horse in Asia

6000 B.C. – Coiled pottery and weaving in Near East; beginnings of agriculture in Europe and Mexico; 5000: smelting of copper

8000 B.C. – Agricultural revolution underway; domestication of animals and cultivation of wheat and barley; bow and arrow in general use; transition to settled villages