Data Recovery at the Three Tree Site (1Ja206)

The Three Tree site (1Ja206) is located in Jackson County, Alabama, in the Sequatchie Valley section of the Cumberland Plateau region in northeastern Alabama. The site is situated adjacent to a small valley named Kings Cove which leads into the Jackson County Mountains. It also lies within five kilometers of the Tennessee River valley. The site is located on a small terrace remnant, or knoll, adjacent to a small stream named Jones Creek. The University of Alabama's Office of Archaeological Services excavated a major part of the site in the fall of 1995, under a contract for the Alabama Department of Transportation. The site was located in the four-lane corridor of a new bypass being constructed for State Highway 72. A University of Alabama crew worked from September 26, 1995 through November 18, 1995 excavating a 472 meter block at the site.

There was a major prehistoric lithic assemblage recovered at the Three Tree site, as well as evidence for a small nineteenth century farmstead. The primary occupation attributed to the site was during the Middle Archaic period, although evidence was found dating use of the site from the very late Paleoindian period through the Mississippian era. Morrow Mountain projectile points comprise the largest number of diagnostic bifaces found, followed by Late Archaic, Little Bear Creek projectile points. In all, thirty-four different diagnostic types of projectile points were encountered. They were associated with different occupations at the site covering a time span ranging from around 9000 B.C. through A.D. 1,000. A variety of artifacts make up the stone tool assemblage: bifacially worked forms, such as blanks, preforms, bifaces, knives, wedges, and backed blades; unifacial tools, such as end or side scrapers, and unifacially worked block tools; various kinds of cobble tools, such as metates, nuttingstones, grindingstones, pestles; and groundstone implements, such as atlatl weights, greenstone celts, and hematite pigment. A sizable number of expedient flake tools were also found. Large quantities of hearthstone and fire cracked rock and abundant amounts of chert waste flakes were present. The tool assemblage comprised a number of extractive, processing, maintenance, and manufacturing activities which, taken in aggregate, fit within the site designation of a residential base.

There was little vertical separation noted in the occupations at the site although some horizontal clustering in artifact types was noted. Few features were noted and mainly include shallow pits and rock concentrations. It is suggested that for the times when the site was most intensively occupied, that is during intervals of the Middle and Late Archaic periods, the knoll location was utilized as a residential base. It is also assumed that the groups who used the site as a basecamp were still moving to other residential bases as part of their seasonal round. Site use apparently changed during the Woodland period when the site appears to have been utilized by fewer people, possibly as a transient camp by specialized procurement parties.

Finn, Michael R.
1998 The Three Tree Site (1Ja206): An Arhaic Site in the Sequatchie Valley Region of Northern Alabama. DRAFT REPORT.