Mississippian adaptation on the northern periphery: Settlement, subsistence and interaction in the cumberland valley of southeastern Kentucky

Three years of research on the Upper Cumberland River of southeastern Kentucky are providing significant new insights on Mississippian settlement patterns, subsistence strategies, technology, and regional exchange and interaction. As part of this research, field investigations conducted at the Croley-Evans site (15KX24), a town-and-mound complex located in Knox County, Kentucky, have yielded data suggesting that while Upper Cumberland Mississippian groups had many of the cultural traits associated with more "mainstream" Mississippian groups located to the south and west, the ways in which these characteristics are expressed in the Upper Cumberland region reflect its peripheral location in the Southeast. Radiocarbon determinations indicate that the most intensive period of Mississippian occupation at Croley-Evans dates from A.D. 1200 to 1450.