Current Research Projects

Ames Plantation
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Ames is located on the North Fork of the Wolf River in extreme southwestern Tennessee about one hour East of Memphis. My students and I have conducted work at the Ames site since 2007. Together, we have found that Ames was a small Early-Middle Mississippian town with about two dozen residential structures and four mounds surrounded by a palisade. Work is ongoing at the town and at other localities in the surrounding area.

Publications, Presentations, and Manuscripts

2020  Mickelson, Andrew M.  The Mississippian Period in Western Tennessee, in  Cahokia in Context, Charles McNutt and Ryan Parish, eds. pp. 243-275.  University of Florida Press, Gainesville, Florida.

2020  Menietto, Krista Investigating Inter-Site Use of Buildings During the Mississippian Period at the Ames Town Site (40FY7) in Western Tennessee.  Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Memphis.

2019  Proctor, Kathryn R.  Assessing The Use of Soil Phosphate Analysis as an Archaeological Prospection to at the Ames Site (40FY7), Fayette County, Tennessee.  Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Memphis.

2019  Gates, Thomas E.   Spatial Analysis of Residential Unit 6 at the Chucalissa Site.  Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Memphis.

2016  Cross, Benjamin   Analyzing the Use of Intra- and Inter-Structure Space at Ames, A Mississippian Town in Fayette County, Tennessee. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Memphis.

2014 Mickelson, Andrew M.  Current Status of  Mississippian Settlement Patterns Research at the Ames Site and Vicinity in Western Tennessee. Poster Presented at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Greenville, South Carolina.

2013 Guidry, Hannah. Mississippian Architecture and Community Development at the Ames  Site (40FY7), Fayette County, Tennessee.  Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Memphis.

2011 Goddard, Eric. Investigating Early Mississippian Community Patterning in the Mid-South through Multiple-Method Survey of the Ames Site (40FY7) in Fayette County, Tennessee. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Memphis.

2011 Mickelson, Andrew M. and Eric Goddard. The Ames Site (40FY7): A Very Unobtrusive Mississippian Settlement Located in Southwestern Tennessee. Tennessee Archaeology 5(2).

2008 Mickelson, Andrew. Recent Research at the Ames Mound Complex, an Early Mississippian Site in Southwest Tennessee. Tennessee Archaeology 3(2).

 

Denmark
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Denmark is located southwest of Jackson, Tennessee off of a tributary of the Hatchie River. Denmark was an Early-Middle Mississippian town with several house clusters surrounding three mounds. We have been working at Denmark since 2009.

Publications and Manuscripts

2016  Roesler, Christian   Analysis of a Middle Mississippi Structure at the Denmark Site (40MD85). Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Memphis.

2013 Hadley, Scott P., Jr. Multi-Staged Research at the Denmark Site , A Small-Early Middle Mississippian Town.Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Memphis.

 

40LK1

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The Haynes site is located between the Mississippi River and Reelfoot Lake and is an Early-Middle Mississippian town. We started work at 40LK1 last year in collaboration with Bill Lawrence. A gradiometry survey has revealed around 30-40 structures and a buried earthen berm within a three hectare area.

 

Ceramics Analysis

Lindsay Plunk recently completed her thesis on Varney red-filmed ceramics.

2014 Plunk, Lindsay.  Chemical and Mineralogical Analysis of Varney red-Filmed Ceramics from the Lower Mississippi River Valley. Unpublished master’s thesis, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Memphis.

Climate Change and Mississippian Archaeology

2017  Hobbs, Shelby.  A Diachronic Analysis of Settlement Patterns and Drought in the Central Mississippi Valley.  Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Earth Sciences Department, University of Memphis.

Other Publications