Newswise — TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Pieces of the past can tell a great deal about the people who once were — who they were, what they did and how they did it — and University of Alabama researchers are discovering new information about those who once called the Tennessee Valley home.
In a collaborative effort with the Tennessee Valley Authority, UA’s Office of Archaeological Research has begun a rehabilitation project on collections that were gathered 80 years ago with artifacts that span a 13,000-year time period.
“We’re seeing some of the most incredible archaeological materials ever excavated in the state of Alabama,” said Matt Gage, director of UA’s Office of Archaeological Research. “We’re discovering things that weren’t seen during the initial analysis.
“It’s relatively rare these days in excavations to find intact vessels, but we have hundreds of intact vessels,” Gage said. “Huge sandstone bowls, huge soapstone bowls … the material we’re seeing is the premiere material. It’s the best of the best. The art work on some of these vessels is just absolutely incredible.”
The collections, which are primarily from the Guntersville, Wheeler and Pickwick basins, were first excavated in the 1930s and 1940s by archaeologists and researchers with TVA and The University of Alabama with labor provided by the Works Projects Administration.
The pieces were analyzed in a preliminary fashion and then stored, first at the WPA lab in Birmingham and then moved to UA in the late 1940s after World War II. The problem, however, was that the collections were not housed in archival quality storage containers, Gage said.
They were in old paper bags that were deteriorating and, in some cases, they were in the original bags from the field. The collections needed updating and upgrading in order to be in compliance with federal regulations for curation and to ensure their preservation.
“A lot of researchers have come in over the years and used this material, but every time someone gets something out, there’s the danger of one of the bags disintegrating and information vital to these artifacts being lost,” Gage said.
OAR researchers and archaeologists began the long process of rehabilitating the collection — 1,456 boxes and tens of thousands of pieces — in February, and it will take several years to finish the project.
The goal is to not only prepare the collection for curation, but to also generate a database so researchers can find the materials more easily.
Rather than having to drive to Moundville, sort through hundreds of boxes to find the needed piece, photograph it and then write up what they see, researchers will be able to search a database and view the size, weight, general metrics, descriptions and, hopefully, photos of pieces in the collection.
“These collections are related to TVA’s rich legacy in cultural resource management and the agency recognizes how important it is to ensure the long term stability of these resources so that they are available for education, outreach and research for many years to come,” said Erin Pritchard, archaeological specialist with TVA’s Natural Resource Planning & Programs, Reservoir Property & Resource Management.
“TVA would like to see more academic research conducted with these collections, and improving the inventory of these artifacts and their condition will allow more students to easily access the data for this purpose, ” said Pritchard.
But more than improving the inventory and creating an accessible database, it’s the information being discovered through this reanalysis that has OAR researchers excited.
Rather than looking at pieces found at one particular archaeological site, these collections are from all across the Valley. They highlight previously unrecognized connections with other groups, as well as cultural divides and differences between people scattered throughout the Valley.
“These collections represent 13,000 years of our history — from Native American life to European trade goods,” Gage said. “It’s like Christmas every day. The quality of the artwork is something that always strikes me.
“We think about these people living an existence that we often consider much harder than what we live, but in reality, it wasn’t,” Gage said. “It’s all relative. We talk about how hard it must have been to exist with the types of subsistence strategies they followed; either hunting or fishing or doing limited types of agriculture.
“We think about ourselves and how we have all these modern conveniences, but, in reality, these people were working far less than we do and probably had a lot more time dedicated to making some of these items.
“Some of these pieces are just exquisite. Having the opportunity to work with these collections and seeing the faces of our researchers when they find something new and interesting has made this a fantastic opportunity for us,” Gage added.
“Sharing this new information is one of our driving missions, and, as stewards of Alabama’s heritage, both TVA and UA have a responsibility to preserve these materials as best we can.”
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