Tomotley
Encyclopedia
Tomotley is a prehistoric and historic Native American
site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Occupied as early as the Archaic period, the Tomotley site had the most substantial periods of habitation during the Mississippian period
, likely when the earthwork mounds
were built, and later during the mid to late eighteenth century as a refugee village of Cherokee
from the Lower, Middle and Valley towns.
The Tomotley site is now submerged by Tellico Lake, an impoundment of the Little Tennessee River
managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority
. The site is visible from Toqua Beach and the Toqua Boat Ramp, both of which are managed by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
.
impoundment near the Tennessee-North Carolina border and its mouth along the Tennessee River
near Lenoir City
. The impoundment of the river in 1979 by Tellico Dam created Tellico Lake, which covers the river's lower 33 miles (53.1 km) as well as the lower 22 miles (35.4 km) of its tributary, the Tellico River
. The Tomotley site was situated along the south bank of the Little Tennessee just north of the river's confluence with Toqua Creek, nearly 22 miles (35.4 km) above the river's mouth along the Tennessee. The Overhill Cherokee
village of Toqua
and its associated prehistoric site was located on the south side of Toqua Creek, opposite Tomotley.
Toqua Beach and the Toqua Boat Ramp, which overlook the Tomotley site, are located along Tennessee State Route 360 (Citico Road), roughly 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the road's junction with U.S. Route 411
in Vonore
.
The root of the name "Tomotley" is unknown, although it is generally believed to have originated before the Cherokee occupation. The ethnologist James Mooney
suggested a possible Creek origin, pointing out the phonetic similarity to the Creek town of Tama'li, which was located on the Chattahoochee River
in Georgia. Others have theorized that Tomotley was formed by Lower and Valley town refugees fleeing warfare with the Creek in the mid-18th century, noting that the town name also appears among Lower and Valley Cherokee towns in South Carolina and North Carolina.
Tomotley first appears in the European colonial historical record in 1756 under the governorship of Attakullakulla
. That same year, a small English force under Captain Raymond Demeré arrived to garrison the recently constructed Fort Loudoun
. The garrison was greeted at Tomotley by Kanagatucko (Old Hop), who told Demeré, "I am now old and lie upon a bad bearskin. My life is not more than an inch long." Around this time, a sharp political rift occurred within the Cherokee Nation between pro-French and pro-English factions.
When pro-French sentiments began to prevail in the key Overhill town of Great Tellico
, its pro-English chief, Ostenaco
, was forced to flee to the Little Tennessee Valley. By the time Henry Timberlake
visited the Little Tennessee Valley in 1761, Ostenaco was governor of Tomotley (Attakullakulla was listed as governor of nearby Tuskegee
and Mialoquo
).
During the American Revolution
and Chickamauga Wars
, most of the Overhill towns were destroyed by American forces. Tomotley's location at a strategic ford along the Little Tennessee led to its being the first of the Overhill towns captured by William Christian
's expedition in 1776. When John Sevier
invaded the valley three years later, he reported that Tomotley was still in ruins.
in the 1880s. Emmert located two mounds at the site, one of which was 8 feet (2.4 m) high and had a diameter of 58 feet (17.7 m). Both contained human burials.
In anticipation of the inundation of the lower Little Tennessee Valley by the creation of Tellico Lake, the University of Tennessee
Department of Anthropology
(under contract with the National Park Service
) surveyed the area in 1967. Test excavations were conducted at the Tomotley site that same year in an attempt to locate the historical village. As the Tellico Dam project stalled, the University of Tennessee was able to conduct more extensive excavations at Tomotley in 1973, 1974, and 1976. The excavations located 19 Cherokee and pre-Cherokee structures, including Tomotley's councilhouse, 18 human burials, and several thousand ceramic, stone, and bone artifacts.
While the site yielded evidence of Archaic and Woodland period
occupation, excavation revealed that Tomotley's most substantial periods of habitation occurred during the Mississippian period (1000-1500 A.D.), when the mounds were built; and during the Overhill Cherokee period (18th century). Excavations also uncovered a number of Euro-American artifacts, some of which may have originated with the Fort Loudoun garrison.
The dwellings uncovered at Tomotley provided some of the strongest evidence of non-Overhill occupation. Of the 19 structures uncovered at Tomotley, one was octagonal (the councilhouse), and the rest were either square or rectangular in shape. The lack of circular structures was inconsistent with historical accounts of Overhill dwellings, which typically consisted of a circular ("winter") house and a rectangular ("summer") house. Archaeological investigations at Overhill sites such as Toqua, Chota
, and Citico
uncovered substantial evidence of circular structures.
But, circular structures were not common among Lower and Valley towns. Other evidence supporting occupation by refugees from these areas includes the ceramic material uncovered during the 1973-1974 excavations. The artifacts bore more similarities to Middle and Lower Cherokee ceramics than to Overhill ceramics.
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Occupied as early as the Archaic period, the Tomotley site had the most substantial periods of habitation during the Mississippian period
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
, likely when the earthwork mounds
Earthworks (archaeology)
In archaeology, earthwork is a general term to describe artificial changes in land level. Earthworks are often known colloquially as 'lumps and bumps'. Earthworks can themselves be archaeological features or they can show features beneath the surface...
were built, and later during the mid to late eighteenth century as a refugee village of Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
from the Lower, Middle and Valley towns.
The Tomotley site is now submerged by Tellico Lake, an impoundment of the Little Tennessee River
Little Tennessee River
The Little Tennessee River is a tributary of the Tennessee River, approximately 135 miles long, in the Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern United States.-Geography:...
managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
. The site is visible from Toqua Beach and the Toqua Boat Ramp, both of which are managed by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is an independent state agency of the state of Tennessee with the mission of managing the state's fish and wildlife and their habitats, as well as responsibility for all wildlife-related law enforcement activities...
.
Geographical setting
The Little Tennessee River traverses northern Monroe County for roughly 40 miles (64.4 km) between its Calderwood LakeCalderwood Dam
Calderwood Dam is a hydroelectric dam located along the Little Tennessee River in Blount and Monroe counties, Tennessee. Completed in 1930, the dam is owned and maintained by Tapoco, a subsidiary of the Aluminum Company of America , although the Tennessee Valley Authority controls the dam's...
impoundment near the Tennessee-North Carolina border and its mouth along the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
near Lenoir City
Lenoir City, Tennessee
Lenoir City is a city in Loudon County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 8,642 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area....
. The impoundment of the river in 1979 by Tellico Dam created Tellico Lake, which covers the river's lower 33 miles (53.1 km) as well as the lower 22 miles (35.4 km) of its tributary, the Tellico River
Tellico River
The Tellico River rises in the westernmost mountains of North Carolina, but it flows mainly through Monroe County, Tennessee. It is a major tributary of the Little Tennessee River and the namesake of Tellico Reservoir, a reservoir created by Tellico Dam, which impounds the lower reaches of the...
. The Tomotley site was situated along the south bank of the Little Tennessee just north of the river's confluence with Toqua Creek, nearly 22 miles (35.4 km) above the river's mouth along the Tennessee. The Overhill Cherokee
Overhill Cherokee
The term Overhill Cherokee refers to the former Cherokee settlements located in what is now Tennessee in the southeastern United States. The name was given by 18th century European traders and explorers who had to cross the Appalachian Mountains to reach these settlements when traveling from...
village of Toqua
Toqua (Tennessee)
Toqua is a prehistoric and historic Native American site in Monroe County, Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States. Along with the Overhill Cherokee village for which the site was named, Toqua was home to a substantial pre-Cherokee town that thrived during the Mississippian period...
and its associated prehistoric site was located on the south side of Toqua Creek, opposite Tomotley.
Toqua Beach and the Toqua Boat Ramp, which overlook the Tomotley site, are located along Tennessee State Route 360 (Citico Road), roughly 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the road's junction with U.S. Route 411
U.S. Route 411
U.S. Highway 411 is an alternate parallel-highway associated with U.S. Highway 11. U.S. 411 extends for about 313 miles from U.S. Route 78 in Leeds, Jefferson County, Alabama, to U.S. Highway 25 in Newport, Cocke County, Tennessee. U.S. 411 passes through the northeastern State of Alabama, the...
in Vonore
Vonore, Tennessee
Vonore is a town in Blount and Monroe counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The population was 1,162 as of the 2000 census.-Geography:Vonore is located at ....
.
Historical information
James Mooney
James Mooney was an American ethnographer who lived for several years among the Cherokee. He did major studies of Southeastern Indians, as well as those on the Great Plains...
suggested a possible Creek origin, pointing out the phonetic similarity to the Creek town of Tama'li, which was located on the Chattahoochee River
Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River flows through or along the borders of the U.S. states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and emptying into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of...
in Georgia. Others have theorized that Tomotley was formed by Lower and Valley town refugees fleeing warfare with the Creek in the mid-18th century, noting that the town name also appears among Lower and Valley Cherokee towns in South Carolina and North Carolina.
Tomotley first appears in the European colonial historical record in 1756 under the governorship of Attakullakulla
Attacullaculla
Attakullakulla or Atagulkalu , adopted as an infant into the Cherokee tribe, became their First Beloved Man, serving from 1761 to around 1775...
. That same year, a small English force under Captain Raymond Demeré arrived to garrison the recently constructed Fort Loudoun
Fort Loudoun (Tennessee)
Fort Loudoun was a British colonial fort in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee, near the towns of the Overhill Cherokee. The fort was reconstructed during the Great Depression and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.-History:...
. The garrison was greeted at Tomotley by Kanagatucko (Old Hop), who told Demeré, "I am now old and lie upon a bad bearskin. My life is not more than an inch long." Around this time, a sharp political rift occurred within the Cherokee Nation between pro-French and pro-English factions.
When pro-French sentiments began to prevail in the key Overhill town of Great Tellico
Great Tellico
Great Tellico was a Cherokee town at the site of present-day Tellico Plains, Tennessee, where the Tellico River emerges from the Appalachian Mountains. Great Tellico was one of the largest Cherokee towns in the region, and had a sister town nearby named Chatuga. Its name in Cherokee is more...
, its pro-English chief, Ostenaco
Ostenaco
Ostenaco , who preferred to go by the warrior's title he earned at any early age, "Mankiller" , also known as Judd's Friend, who lived c...
, was forced to flee to the Little Tennessee Valley. By the time Henry Timberlake
Henry Timberlake
Henry Timberlake was a colonial Anglo-American officer, journalist, and cartographer. He was born in Virginia in 1730 and died in England...
visited the Little Tennessee Valley in 1761, Ostenaco was governor of Tomotley (Attakullakulla was listed as governor of nearby Tuskegee
Tuskegee, Tennessee
Tuskegee was an Overhill Cherokee village originally on the bank of the Little Tennessee River at the mouth of the Tellico River. Today the site lies under the artificial lake, Tellico Reservoir, created by Tellico Dam....
and Mialoquo
Mialoquo
Mialoquo is a prehistoric and historic Native American site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The site saw significant periods of occupation during the Mississippian period and later as a Cherokee refugee village...
).
During the American Revolution
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
and Chickamauga Wars
Chickamauga wars
The Chickamauga Wars were a series of raids, campaigns, ambushes, minor skirmishes, and several full-scale frontier battles which were a continuation of the Cherokee struggle against encroachment by American frontiersmen from the former British colonies...
, most of the Overhill towns were destroyed by American forces. Tomotley's location at a strategic ford along the Little Tennessee led to its being the first of the Overhill towns captured by William Christian
William Christian (Virginia)
William Christian was an "Indian fighter", Continental soldier, militiaman and politician from Virginia who served in the era of the American Revolution. He was a signatory to the Fincastle Resolutions and founder of Fort William...
's expedition in 1776. When John Sevier
John Sevier
John Sevier served four years as the only governor of the State of Franklin and twelve years as Governor of Tennessee. As a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1811 until his death...
invaded the valley three years later, he reported that Tomotley was still in ruins.
Archaeological work at the Tomotley site
The first major archaeological investigation at the Tomotley site was conducted by J.W. Emmert of the Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
in the 1880s. Emmert located two mounds at the site, one of which was 8 feet (2.4 m) high and had a diameter of 58 feet (17.7 m). Both contained human burials.
In anticipation of the inundation of the lower Little Tennessee Valley by the creation of Tellico Lake, the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
Department of Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
(under contract with the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
) surveyed the area in 1967. Test excavations were conducted at the Tomotley site that same year in an attempt to locate the historical village. As the Tellico Dam project stalled, the University of Tennessee was able to conduct more extensive excavations at Tomotley in 1973, 1974, and 1976. The excavations located 19 Cherokee and pre-Cherokee structures, including Tomotley's councilhouse, 18 human burials, and several thousand ceramic, stone, and bone artifacts.
While the site yielded evidence of Archaic and Woodland period
Woodland period
The Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures was from roughly 1000 BCE to 1000 CE in the eastern part of North America. The term "Woodland Period" was introduced in the 1930s as a generic header for prehistoric sites falling between the Archaic hunter-gatherers and the...
occupation, excavation revealed that Tomotley's most substantial periods of habitation occurred during the Mississippian period (1000-1500 A.D.), when the mounds were built; and during the Overhill Cherokee period (18th century). Excavations also uncovered a number of Euro-American artifacts, some of which may have originated with the Fort Loudoun garrison.
Tomotley's Cherokee inhabitants
Prior to excavation, historians had thought that Tomotley was founded by refugees from the Cherokee Middle, Lower, or Valley towns; they fled warfare with the Creek and later the English, whose attacks destroyed their towns in the mid-18th century. The goals of the 1976 excavations were to shed light on this theory by determining the location and structure of Tomotley's councilhouse, analyzing Tomotley's Cherokee dwellings, and establishing the general layout of the village.The dwellings uncovered at Tomotley provided some of the strongest evidence of non-Overhill occupation. Of the 19 structures uncovered at Tomotley, one was octagonal (the councilhouse), and the rest were either square or rectangular in shape. The lack of circular structures was inconsistent with historical accounts of Overhill dwellings, which typically consisted of a circular ("winter") house and a rectangular ("summer") house. Archaeological investigations at Overhill sites such as Toqua, Chota
Chota (Cherokee town)
Chota is a historic Overhill Cherokee site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. For much of its history, Chota was the most important of the Overhill towns, serving as the de facto capital of the Cherokee people from the late 1740s until 1788...
, and Citico
Citico (Tellico archaeological site)
Citico is a prehistoric and historic Native American site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The site's namesake Cherokee village was the largest of the Overhill towns, housing an estimated population of 1,000 by the mid-18th century...
uncovered substantial evidence of circular structures.
But, circular structures were not common among Lower and Valley towns. Other evidence supporting occupation by refugees from these areas includes the ceramic material uncovered during the 1973-1974 excavations. The artifacts bore more similarities to Middle and Lower Cherokee ceramics than to Overhill ceramics.