book chapter
Excavation of the truncated mound at the Walling site: Middle Woodland culture and Copena in the Tennessee Valley
University of Alabama, Alabama State Museum of Natural History, Division of Archaeology • [University] • Published In 1990 • Pages: i-xix, 1-115, 157-187
By: Knight, Vernon J..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This document describes the excavations and analysis of a truncated, rectangular mound at the Walling site. The site contains a small trucated mound located near the western margin of a village midden; both are presumed to be contemporary with the Copena burial mound to the east. The truncated mound had some excavations conducted on it in 1941 as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority/Alabama Museum of Natural History archaeological program for the Wheeler Basin. The older excavations were re-found and are also described. The majority of the artifacts consisted of ceramic sherds and flaked lithic artifacts. Knight uses the ceramics to propose the Walling phase for the period ca. A.D. 100-350. The mound may have been the focus of communal feasting and there is evidence for the manufacture of goods, perhaps for ritual display and exchange. There is no evidence for mortuary activity on the platform mound and the Walling site was not a 'vacant' ceremonial center as the village appears to have been a small, formal village of six or seven houses. Knight also places the Walling site in its regional context with a discussion of other pre-Mississippian truncated mound sites throughout the southeast.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Identification
- Reviews and critiques
- Organization and analysis of results of research
- Archaeological excavation methods
- Ceramic technology
- Lithic industries
- Religious and educational structures
- Settlement patterns
- General tools
- Visual arts
- Burial practices and funerals
- Cultural stratigraphy
- Typologies and classifications
- Archaeological inventories
- traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Eastern Middle Woodland
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2005
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Eastern Woodlands
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- book chapter
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Sarah Berry ; 2003
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1986
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1900 BP-1650 BP (100 A.D.-350 A.D.)
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Walling site (1MA33), Madison County, Alabama, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- by Vernon James Knight, Jr.
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-187)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 90622519
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Woodland culture