Archaeological Excavations at Pride Place(1Tu1) and its Role in the Moundville Chiefdom

By Hunter B. Johnson

Introduction

In this paper I will discuss the Pride Place site (1Tu1) and its relationship to the Moundville chiefdom. Pride Place literally lies at the contact between the Warrior Basin and the Coastal Plain (Mancini 1989). The Fall Line is marked in the Black Warrior River by a series of shoals 75 meters north of Pride Place. These shoals are made up of resistant interbedded Pottsville Formation sandstone, shale, siltstone and coal. The geographical location plays an important role in the archaeology of the site. Pride Place is located at the source area for a high grade of fine grey micaceous sandstone within the Pottsville. This fine grey micaceous sandstone was used extensively throughout much of the history of the Moundville chiefdom (Welch 1991:166-167; Steponaitis 1992:8; Scarry 1998:95). During the Moundville III phase (A.D. 1400-1550), Moundville is believed to have been decentralized (Knight and Steponaitis 1998:9, 21-25). It is at this point in time that the Moundville-related occupation of Pride Place occurs. I believe that this occupation is directly related to the procurement and utilization of sandstone. There is no doubt that Pottsville sandstone played an important role in the lives of the Moundville III occupants at Pride Place. This is reflected in the burials and midden deposits at the site.

History of the Site

Pride Place is located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama along the south bank of the Black Warrior River near the campus of the University of Alabama. A large spring drainage, Mars Spring, dumps into the river 200 meters east of Pride Place. Mars Spring played an important role in the depositional history of the site and this spring was surely used as a water source by the site’s occupants.

Pride Place was first investigated in January 1933 by David L. DeJarnette and Alabama State Geologist Walter B. Jones. They named the site Pride Place after the landowner Cornelia Pride. DeJarnette had just recently returned from a University of Chicago field school and was about to begin supervision of massive excavations within the Tennessee River Valley in conjunction with TVA damn construction. As a result of this timing, Pride Place became Site 1Tu1, the first officially recorded site in Tuscaloosa County. DeJarnette's work resulted in a sketch map and the excavation of ten burials from the site. A short article in the local newspaper documented the work of DeJarnette and Jones at the site. Following these brief investigations, the site was relegated to a file cabinet and state site file form for the next 65 years (Fuller 1998).

Eventually, the City of Tuscaloosa purchased several large tracts of land along the Black Warrior River, which were turned into a city park. This land included Pride Place. During this period the majority of the site was protected. In 1968 a four lane road, River Road, was built along the southern edge of the site resulting in some impact. However, our excavations have shown that this road construction had minimal impact on the site, as intact deposits remain beneath 2.5 m of road fill.

In 1996 the City of Tuscaloosa decided to undertake a series of projects within City-owned property along the south bank of the Black Warrior River. Because federal funds were involved in the development plans, an archaeological survey needed to be conducted in compliance with Section 106 of the NHPA. Bruce Bizzoco surveyed areas of potential impact (Bizzoco 1996). Bizzoco located an archeological site in the area of Pride Place, although it was undetermined if this was actually DeJarnette’s Site 1Tu1. Simultaneous to Bizzoco's work, Rick Fuller, with the Alabama Museum of Natural History, had rediscovered Pride Place in file cabinets at the Museum (Fuller 1998). Together, Bizzoco and Fuller convinced the City that the site was potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and that if impact was eminent, that further work would need to be conducted at the site to be in compliance with Section 106.

Phase II Testing

Ultimately, it became apparent that Pride Place would be impacted by a proposed sewerline; therefore, the City requested that OAR evaluate the site’s NRHP eligibility via Phase II testing. Testing began in the spring of 1998 (Johnson and Meyer 1998). Several questions arose prior to and during our initial investigations. First, was this indeed DeJarnette’s Pride Place site? Second, were there intact cultural deposits left and, if so, how much would sewerline construction impact the site? Third, what did the site date to? Unfortunately, DeJarnette had not published his interpretations of the site and all collections, other than the human remains, were lost.

To answer the first question some detective work had to be carried out. Pride Place was initially plotted on a 1913 Soil Map by DeJarnette and Jones. When this location was transferred to a 7.5 minute Site File quad map, it was misplotted 100 meters to the east. As a result of our excavations, we feel confident in placing the site where our excavations took place. First, the location where Pride Place had been plotted on the 7.5 minute quad is bisected by the Mars Spring drainage. This location is very low and frequently impacted by wet weather. Second, mortuary practices from both excavations are similar, primarily in the use of sandstone as a burial element. Third, the area between our excavations and Mars Spring was stripped of vegetation and topsoil, providing excellent surface visibility. No cultural material was observed in this locale. Considering all this evidence, it was apparent that the site had been misplotted, and that the location of our excavations was the location of DeJarnette’s Pride Place site.

Field research indicated that much of Pride Place remains intact within River Road Park. Limited testing uncovered three features, two pits and one post hole. Later, one of the pits was determined to be part of a burial. Dense artifact concentrations were found at the apex of the levee and along the western slope. Phase II testing established that the primary occupation of the site was during the Late Woodland and Mississippian periods (A.D. 900 to 1550). An earlier Late Gulf Formational (500 B.C. to 100 B.C.) occupation is also represented at the site. Pride Place is considered eligible for the NRHP based upon Criterion D, yielding significant information pertaining to the prehistory of the Tuscaloosa area. Phase III data recovery was recommended for any areas of impact within the sewerline right-of-way.

Phase III Data Recovery

Mitigation along the sewerline right-of-way was begun seven months later in October 1998. The research design for the area of impact was to hand excavate 40 square meters and to strip the humus and plowzone from the remainder of the project right-of-way. Simultaneous to test unit excavation, mapping of the site was carried out. While developing a contour map of the site, pin flags were spaced along elevation point transects at approximately 5 m intervals. A total of 245 pin flags were placed across the site. An auger testing program of the flagged locations was arranged by Jim Knight (UA Professor of Anthropology) and Matt Gage (UA Graduate Candidate in Anthropology) with members of the UA Anthropology Club. A total of the 131 flagged locations were excavated, providing very good coverage of the overall site. This auger testing program has enabled us to define the site’s boundaries and better understand the artifact distribution at the site.

An east-west line of eight 1 m by 2 m test units was opened along the sewerline right-of-way and excavated in arbitrary 10cm levels. Test units that were most productive were expanded and excavated in natural zones. These zones consisted of a humus, plowzone, an undisturbed loamy sand and a sterile sandy hardpan. All cultural materials were contained in the middle two zones. A total of 40 sq m was hand excavated to an average depth of 1 m, revealing four burials and 127 features, primarily consisting of pits and post holes. Features were concentrated at the levee apex. While numerous post features were encountered in the test units, only one east-west line seemed to suggest a pattern. Posts in this alignment were characterized by a orange clay fill.

Once test excavations were complete, the right-of-way was cleared and stripped of humus and plowzone. Another 118 features were exposed, mapped and excavated following stripping, again primarily consisting of pits and post holes. Also, two more burials were excavated. In addition, a trash midden was located along the southwestern edge of the site. Contained within this midden was a large amount of pottery, lithic material and sandstone, both modified and unmodified. This midden is related to the Moundville III occupation at the site.

Once stripping occurred, it became obvious that the east-west line of orange clay-filled posts were part of the north wall of a structure. The architectural form of this structure is made up of a combination of large and small single set posts. The structure is a square bent pole construction with rounded corners and interior support posts. Another structure with the same basic architecture and dimensions lie just west of the first. This second structure had an entrance trench in the south wall. The single set post bent pole construction is an architectural form that is diagnostic of post Moundville II, or A.D. 1400 (Knight and Steponaitis 1988:18). A number of pit features dating to the Moundville III phase were also associated with the structure. Many of these pits had a very uniform shape of 30-40 cm diameter and 40-60 cm in depth. Some of these pits contained a large amount of shell tempered sherds, primarily jar fragments. Plant remains were visible throughout many of these pits and included corn and charred hickory nutshell.

In total, our investigations led to the excavation of six burials, two complete structures and numerous pit and post features. Five of the six burials that we excavated were grouped around the structure. Each of these burials was extended and oriented northward. We cannot say for sure where DeJarnette excavated the burials in 1933, but by matching his sketch map bluff line with our contour map bluffline, this places 8 of his 10 burials in close proximity to the burials found during our investigations.

Of the 243 features excavated at Pride Place, the overwhelming majority contained shell tempered pottery. While there are small late Gulf Formational and large late Woodland (West Jefferson) components at Pride Place, only one feature related to West Jefferson was present within our excavations. Based on auger testing results, it seems that component distributions can be differentiated spatially, Moundville III to the south and West Jefferson to the north. This is further substantiated by the burial distribution and results of test unit and block excavations.

Pottery from Pride Place was analyzed using the system developed for the Moundville Site and provided by Jim Knight. Using the latest ceramic chronology for Moundville, we see that Pride Place fits nicely into the Moundville III phase. This temporal position is reflected by the presence and combination of certain decorative modes and vessel shape attributes. These include bowls with beaded rims, short neck bowls, flared rim bowls, constricted bowls, Carthage Incised, var. Carthage, Moundville Engraved, var. Hemphill, red, white and combinations of red and white painting (Steponaitis 1983:128-132; Knight and Steponaitis 1998:9). Jar handles were abundant and include both loop and strap.

Evidence for the communalization of chiefly cult symbolism for Moundville III is reflected by one spectacular Moundville Engraved, var Hemphill vessel fragment from Pride Place (Knight and Steponaitis 1998:20; Knight 1986:682). The engraving on this vessel is a stylized raptor with a forked eye motif and cross hatching on the neck and beak. This vessel also exhibits a curled effigy tail, likely feline, and red on white paint (cf. Steponaitis 1983:217 Fig 62(q)).

Regional Perspectives

By placing Pride Place into the current model as described in Archaeology of the Moundville Chiefdom (Knight and Steponaitis 1998) we have an opportunity to understand the temporal placement of this site within the chiefdom. The development and height of the chiefdom occurred between A.D. 1050-1350 (Knight and Steponaitis 1998:8). It is just prior to and just afterwards that the primary occupations of Pride Place occur, during Late Woodland (West Jefferson) and Late Mississippian (Moundville III). At this time Pride Place can best be categorized as a farmstead dating to the Moundville III phase A.D. 1400-1550, although it is clear that occupants specialized in sandstone artifact manufacture.

Only a few farmstead sites associated with Moundville have been investigated and reported on. Farmsteads do not seem to be restricted to any one phase, but always existed throughout the history of the Moundville Polity (Welch 1998:165). The extent of control and influence that the primary center at Moundville had on these farmsteads varied through time. During the early part of the Moundville sequence it is suggested that more control of farmsteads was exhibited, primarily in the form of tribute. Later, administration of farmsteads became more localized and probably fell under the control of the nearest secondary center (Knight and Steponaitis 1998:1-25).

Around A.D. 1400 Moundville is believed to have been decentralized. While the mound center contained only a modest resident population, prestige goods were still important for furnishing elite burials. Off mound cemeteries become common at Moundville during this time. However, by A.D.1450-1500 even off mound cemeteries had few interments. Cemeteries become established at outlying centers, with the two best examples being White (1Ha7,8) and Snows Bend (1Tu2) (Steponaitis 1998:40-41).

At the beginning of the Moundville III phase it is believed that at least eight secondary mound centers were functioning in the Black Warrior River Valley, one of which was Snows Bend (Welch 1998:163-164). Snows Bend is located just 12 kilometers down river from Pride Place. Centers like Snows Bend probably administered larger ritual and ceremonial events to local populations made up primarily of farmsteads. Site independence and self sufficiency seem to be standard by the later part of the Moundville III phase. By the end of the Moundville III phase, approximately A.D.1550, it is believed that all secondary centers had been abandoned (Knight and Steponaitis 1998:22).

With Snows Bend being the closest coeval mound center to Pride Place, it is likely that this secondary center had some type of connection with the people at Pride Place, although, this connection does not appear to be mortuary in nature. There is a large burial population at Snows Bend, but with a substantial burial population at Pride Place, it does not appear as if people from Pride Place were being taken to Snows Bend for burial. One individual from Pride Place seems to have held a higher status than other persons buried at the site if burial goods reflect such ranking (Knight and Steponaitis 1998:18; Pebbles and Kus 1977:435-439). This young adult was buried with a sandstone palette, a small globular jar and one large, unusual bowl rim sherd.Craft production at Moundville had its climax during the Moundville I and early Moundville II phases. Sandstone palettes had played an important role in Moundville's economy during this period (Welch 1991:166-167, 185). Palettes primarily functioned as burial offerings, ritual paraphernalia and as trade items to other large chiefdoms throughout the Southeast. Manufacturing and access of palettes at Moundville does not seem to be concentrated at one specific mound, rather palette fragments and saws seem to be fairly common in flank middens around the site. These palettes also played an important role in mortuary activities at Moundville (Knight and Steponaitis 1998:17-18). Examples of sandstone palettes are found at other primary mound centers throughout the southeast, such as Glass near Vicksburg, Mississippi. Other examples from Etowah in Georgia, Koger's Island in Alabama, and the Lake George and Grace sites in Mississippi need to be looked at for source material (Brain and Phillips 1996:380). Such palettes have long been associated with Moundville, but we have yet to say conclusively that these palettes are made of Pottsville sandstone (Webb and DeJarnette 1942:291). During the primary occupation of Pride Place the forces driving Moundville's economy had considerably weakened, allowing craft production to become more locally controlled, and it appears in the case of Pride Place to become more diversified (Knight and Steponaitis 1998:21).

Conclusions

In the portion of Pride Place investigated by OAR, diagnostic pottery excavated from features, the midden area and structure, coupled with three radiometric dates indicate a Moundville III phase occupation of Pride Place, A.D.1400-1550. Pride Place is located along the south bank of the Black Warrior River at the Fall Line. In this vicinity Pottsville Sandstones outcrops, within which a high grade of fine grey micaceous sandstone occurs. This fine grey micaceous sandstone was used extensively at Moundville and Pride Place. To date, there are no sites associated with the Moundville chiefdom other than Pride Place and Moundville itself that have such extensive quantities of this sandstone. Occupants played a role in sandstone procurement and artifact manufacture during Moundville III.

In relation to the overall site area, our excavations investigated only a small percentage of the site. We did expose a portion of the site where much activity was concentrated. While Pride Place is best classified as a farmstead, a seemingly high number of burials coupled with craft production suggest that it might have served a more significant role in Moundville culture. Such sites exist in the American Bottom and are described by Mehrer and Collins (1995:44-50) for Cahokia related sites during the Stirling phase. These nodal point sites served as small-scale civic and/or mortuary centers. Such a designation for Pride Place will require more work and larger areas to be opened, but the excavated material culture from the site hints at such possibilities. Pride Place has allowed us to continue building on the archaeology of the Moundville Chiefdom and our excavations provide an excellent building block for future research at the site.

References Cited

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