Walls Phase

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The Walls Phase and some of its associated sites Walls Phase sites HRoe 2010.jpg
The Walls Phase and some of its associated sites

The Walls Phase is an archaeological phase in southwestern Tennessee and northwestern Mississippi of the Late Mississippian culture. Chucalissa is a Walls Phase mound and plaza complex located on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Other contemporaneous groups in the area include the Parkin Phase, Tipton Phase, Menard Phase, and the Nodena Phase. The Walls Phase is the last prehistoric people to inhabit the Memphis area before the arrival of Europeans. [1] During the early 1540s the Hernando de Soto Expedition passed through the area, stopping at many villages along the way. It is thought that the Walls Phase may be the Province of Quizquiz, a Tunican people encountered by de Soto on the banks of the Mississippi River. [2]

Contents

Culture

Settlement pattern

The Walls Phase settlements consist of one large site, located at De Soto Park in Memphis, nine single mound sites, and six smaller moundless villages scattered along the natural levees and bluffs of De Soto County, Mississippi and Shelby County, Tennessee. Included among the secondary sites are Chucalissa, the Lake Cormorant site, the Irby site, the Cheatham site, and the Woodlyn site. Although only a few of those sites have surviving mounds. [3] [4] The phase itself is named for a site near the small town of Walls, Mississippi. The Belle Meade Phase is located across the Mississippi River from the Walls Phase on its western bank, and the Tipton Phase is located directly north, also on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River.

Burial

Pottery

Walls ceramics consist mainly of large globular jars, short necked water bottles and many different bowl forms. The pottery was usually decorated by incising and engraving lines, punctated patterns and the application of handles and appendages to the vessel form. The frequency of different vessel types and pastes have helped to define the phase from surrounding phases. Like at most Mississippian sites, Mississippi Plain and Bell Plain are the most common types. Other types include Parkin Punctated, Barton Incised, Old Town Red Filmed, Walls Engraved, Rhodes Incised, Ranch Incised, and Hull Engraved. [5]

Stone Industry

Chronological position

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History of Randolph, Tennessee

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Sellars Farm Site (40WI1), also known as the Sellars Farm State Archaeological Area and Sellars Indian Mound, is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located in Wilson County, Tennessee near Lebanon. The platform mound was the site of a settlement from about 1000 to 1300 CE. Today, the site is a satellite unit of Long Hunter State Park. The non-profit Friends of the Sellars Farm State Archaeological Area organization conducts tours and upkeep of the site. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 11, 1972.

Chucalissa United States historic place

The C.H. Nash Museum at Chucalissa is located on and exhibits excavated materials of the Mississippian culture archaeological site known as Chucalissa which means "abandoned house" in Choctaw. The site is located adjacent to the T. O. Fuller State Park within the city of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Chucalissa was designated National Historic Landmark in 1994 due to its importance as one of the best-preserved and major prehistoric settlement sites in the region.

Tipton Phase

The Tipton Phase is an archaeological phase in southwestern Tennessee of the Late Mississippian culture. Other contemporaneous groups in the area include the Parkin Phase, Walls Phase, Menard Phase, and the Nodena Phase. The Tipton Phase is the last prehistoric people to inhabit the area before the arrival of Europeans. It is located directly across the Mississippi River from the people of the Nodena Phase and directly north of the Walls Phase. During the early 1540s the Hernando de Soto Expedition passed through the area, stopping at many villages in the area. The phase itself is named for Tipton County, Tennessee.

Nodena Phase

The Nodena Phase is an archaeological phase in eastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri of the Late Mississippian culture which dates from about 1400–1650 CE. The Nodena Phase is known from a collection of villages along the Mississippi River between the Missouri Bootheel and Wapanocca Lake. They practiced extensive maize agriculture and artificial cranial deformation and were members of a continent wide trade and religious network known as the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, which brought chert, whelk shells, and other exotic goods to the area.

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Turk Site

The Turk Site (15CE6) is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located near Bardwell in Carlisle County, Kentucky, on a bluff spur overlooking the Mississippi River floodplain.

Charles Harrison McNutt is an American archaeologist and a scholar of the prehistoric Southeastern United States. He has conducted fieldwork and published works on the archaeology of the American Southwest and the Great Plains in South Dakota. His work emphasizes on a strong understanding of cultural history and statistical analysis.

Link Farm State Archaeological Area Archaeological site in Tennessee, United States

The Link Farm State Archaeological Area, also known as the Duck River Temple Mounds or Duck River Site, is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located at the confluence of the Duck and Buffalo Rivers south of Waverly in Humphreys County, Tennessee. The site is most widely known for the stone artifacts found during excavations in the late 19th century.

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Gerald P. (1990). "The Walls Phase and its Neighbors". In David H. Dye; Sheryl Ann Cox (eds.). Towns and Temples Along the Mississippi. University of Alabama Press. p. 136. ISBN   0-8173-0455-X.
  2. ↑ Charles H. McNutt, ed. (1996). Prehistory of the Central Mississippi Valley. University of Alabama Press. pp. 241–253.
  3. ↑ Gerald Smith (1996). "The Mississippi River Drainage of Western Tennessee". In Charles H. McNutt (ed.). Prehistory of the Central Mississippi Valley. University of Alabama Press. pp. 112–115.
  4. ↑ Smith, Gerald P. (1990). "The Walls Phase and its Neighbors". In David H. Dye; Sheryl Ann Cox (eds.). Towns and Temples Along the Mississippi. University of Alabama Press. p. 140. ISBN   0-8173-0455-X.
  5. ↑ Gerald Smith (1996). "The Mississippi River Drainage of Western Tennessee". In Charles H. McNutt (ed.). Prehistory of the Central Mississippi Valley. University of Alabama Press. p. 114.


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