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Citico (Tellico archaeological site)
Encyclopedia
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. The Mississippian
village that preceded the site's Cherokee occupation is believed to have been the village of "Satapo" visited by the Juan Pardo
expedition in 1567.
The Citico site is now submerged by the Tellico Lake impoundment of the Little Tennessee River
, created by the completion of Tellico Dam
at the mouth of the river in 1979. The modern community of Citico Beach has developed along the shoreline above the ancient site. The lake is managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority
and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
.
, Monroe, and Loudon counties before emptying into the Tennessee River
near Lenoir City
. The Citico site was situated along the southwest bank of the river immediately below the river's confluence with Citico Creek, which empties into the river approximately 31 miles (49.9 km) upstream from the river's mouth. Citico is located in an area where the Great Smoky Mountains
and the Unicoi Mountains
give way to the Appalachian Ridge-and-Valley Province
.
Citico Beach is located along Highway 455 approximately 14 miles (22.5 km) south of Vonore
. The Citico site is also visible from the Harrison Branch boat ramp, which is located just off U.S. Route 129
2 miles (3.2 km) south of Pumpkin Center.
, a powerful chiefdom centered in modern northern Georgia. Research conducted by anthropologist Charles Hudson
in the 1980s suggests that Satapo was situated at the Citico site in Monroe County, and that the two names are linguistically related. According to Hudson, the Pardo expedition left Olamico
(on Zimmerman's Island, now submerged by Douglas Lake
) on October 13, and traveled southwest across the Foothills of the Great Smokies, crossing Little River
at modern-day Walland
and traversing Happy Valley
to arrive at "Chalahume" (Chilhowee
) in the Little Tennessee Valley on October 15. After the expedition made its way to Satapo the following day, a friendly native warned Pardo of a plot against him, and the expedition returned to Olamico shortly thereafter.
Hudson speculates that when the Cherokee replaced Satapo's Muskogeean-speaking Mississippian inhabitants, the Cherokee kept the site's name. However, as the Cherokee language
lacks bilabial stops, the "p" sound in "Satapo" was replaced with a "k" sound, giving the site its Cherokee name.
in 1725 to form an alliance against the hostile Creeks. Citico appears on George Hunter's 1730 map of the Cherokee region, and is mentioned by Alexander Cuming that same year as being one of the Overhill towns headed by a "prince" (i.e., not headed by a "king," and thus not a "mother town").
Captain Henry Timberlake
, who visited the Overhill towns on a peace mission in 1761–1762, reported 204 warriors at Citico, the most of any Overhill town. Cheulah, the chief of Citico, greeted Timberlake with a ceremonial dance involving 400 townspeople and presented Timberlake with a string of beads. At a pipe-smoking ceremony held afterward at the Citico townhouse, Timberlake recalled smoking so many peace pipes that he "could not stir for several hours."
The Overhill Cherokee consistently found themselves at odds with encroaching Euro-American settlers. After the Cherokee aligned themselves with the British in the American Revolution
, the colonies dispatched a force under Colonel William Christian
to subdue the Overhill towns in 1776. When Chief Dragging Canoe
refused to settle for peace, Christian burned five Overhill towns, including Citico. The town burned had already been deserted because its entire population had chosen to follow Dragging Canoe's move to the southwest, where they re-established themselves at the mouth of a small creek in a town of the same name in what is now East Chattanooga
. Historian J. G. M. Ramsey
reported a conference between militia commander John Sevier
and Cherokee Chief Hanging Maw
held at the original Citico in 1782 in which the two sides agreed to a truce. Ramsey goes on to relate a violent encounter two years later between Major James Hubbard and Untoola— a Cherokee "head man" known as the "Gun Rod of Citico"— that left Untoola dead and led to a warrant being issued for Hubbard's arrest.
In the late 1780s, a group of scouts led by Captain John Faynes was collecting (or stealing) apples at the former site of Citico when they were ambushed by a band of Cherokees. 16 of Fayne's men were killed and 4 were wounded. A militia force led by Captain Nathaniel Evans arrived shortly thereafter to find several scalped and disemboweled bodies. Evans eventually linked up with Sevier's larger force, and the combined force set out in pursuit of the hostile Cherokee.
Regarding the new settlement, it was largely abandoned after the move by the Chickamauga/Lower Cherokee to the Fiver Lower Towns area still further to the west and southwest in 1782, but reoccupied after the close of the Chickamauga Wars (1776-1794). The town, always small and uninfluential (unlike its Mississippian predecessor on the site), survived until the time of the Cherokee removal
in 1838, after which its outskirt on the west became the town of Ross' Landing, later renamed Chattanooga.
(1000 BCE–1000 CE) site was located at nearby Harrison Branch, Citico probably did not rise to prominence until the 16th century. Around this time, Citico is believed to have superseded Toqua
as the dominant Dallas Phase
(ca. 1300–1550 CE) Mississippian village in the Little Tennessee Valley.
In the 1880s, a mound survey conducted by the Smithsonian Institution reported eight mounds— one "temple" mound
and seven smaller mounds— at the Citico site. The temple mound contained at least 91 burials. A brief excavation carried out by the Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Archaeological Society uncovered several Woodland, Mississippian, and Cherokee artifacts, including shell gorget
s and knife blades. The chapter also reported a Cherokee burial accompanied by a musket, knife, steatite pipe, and glass beads.
In anticipation of the flooding of the site by Tellico Lake, University of Tennessee researchers conducted excavations at Citico in the late 1960s and late 1970s. Excavators uncovered the posthole patterns of 11 domestic structures, 55 burials, 119 features, and over 30,000 ceramics. The structures included two regtangular summer house/circular winter house pairings characteristic of Overhill Cherokee dwellings, a small circular structure, a square structure, and five rectangular structures. One of the rectangular structures was associated with the site's Mississippian occupation, while the other 10 structures dated to the Cherokee period. These excavations also uncovered Spanish materials, including Clarksdale bells, lending further evidence to the theory that Citico was indeed the Satapo visited by the Pardo expedition in 1567. An analysis of faunal remains from the Cherokee period showed a heavy reliance upon deer and bear for meat supplements which gradually gave way to a reliance upon domesticated animals, such as hogs and chickens, due to increased adoption of Euro-American agricultural methods.
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. The site's namesake 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...
village was the largest of the Overhill
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...
towns, housing an estimated population of 1,000 by the mid-18th century. The Mississippian
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....
village that preceded the site's Cherokee occupation is believed to have been the village of "Satapo" visited by the Juan Pardo
Juan Pardo (explorer)
Juan Pardo was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who was active in the later half of the sixteenth century. He led a Spanish expedition through what is now North and South Carolina and into eastern Tennessee. He established Fort San Felipe, South Carolina , and the village of Santa Elena on...
expedition in 1567.
The Citico site is now submerged by the Tellico Lake 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:...
, created by the completion of Tellico Dam
Tellico Dam
Tellico Dam is a dam built by the Tennessee Valley Authority in Loudon County, Tennessee on the Little Tennessee River just above the main stem of the Tennessee River. It impounds the Tellico Reservoir....
at the mouth of the river in 1979. The modern community of Citico Beach has developed along the shoreline above the ancient site. The lake is 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...
and 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
Tellico Lake covers the lower 33 miles (53.1 km) of the Little Tennessee River, which flows down from the mountains to the south and traverses parts of BlountBlount County, Tennessee
Blount County is a U.S. county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Its population was 123,010 at the United States Census, 2010. The county seat is at Maryville, which is also the county's largest city....
, Monroe, and Loudon counties before emptying into 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 Citico site was situated along the southwest bank of the river immediately below the river's confluence with Citico Creek, which empties into the river approximately 31 miles (49.9 km) upstream from the river's mouth. Citico is located in an area where the Great Smoky Mountains
Great Smoky Mountains
The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains or the...
and the Unicoi Mountains
Unicoi Range
The Unicoi Mountains are a mountain range rising along the border between Tennessee and North Carolina in the southeastern United States. They are part of the Blue Ridge Mountain Province of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The Unicois are located immediately south of the Great Smoky Mountains...
give way to the Appalachian Ridge-and-Valley Province
Ridge-and-valley Appalachians
The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending from southeastern New York through northwestern New...
.
Citico Beach is located along Highway 455 approximately 14 miles (22.5 km) south of 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 ....
. The Citico site is also visible from the Harrison Branch boat ramp, which is located just off U.S. Route 129
U.S. Route 129
U.S. Route 129 is an offshoot route of U.S. Route 29, which it intersects near Athens, Georgia. US 129 currently runs for 582 miles from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Chiefland, Florida, at U.S. Route 19 and U.S. Route 98. It passes through the states of Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida...
2 miles (3.2 km) south of Pumpkin Center.
Satapo
On October 16, 1567, an expedition led by Spanish explorer Juan Pardo arrived at a village known as "Satapo" while en route to CoosaCoosa chiefdom
The Coosa chiefdom was a powerful Native American paramount chiefdom near what are now Gordon and Murray counties in Georgia, in the United States. It was inhabited from about 1400 until about 1600, and dominated several smaller chiefdoms...
, a powerful chiefdom centered in modern northern Georgia. Research conducted by anthropologist Charles Hudson
Charles M. Hudson (author)
Charles M. Hudson is the Franklin Professor of Anthropology and History Emeritus at the University of Georgia, and is one of the foremost authorities on the history and culture of the Indians of the U.S. Southeast.-Degrees:Charles Melvin Hudson Jr....
in the 1980s suggests that Satapo was situated at the Citico site in Monroe County, and that the two names are linguistically related. According to Hudson, the Pardo expedition left Olamico
Chiaha
Chiaha was a horticultural Native American chiefdom located in the lower French Broad River valley in modern East Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. They lived in raised structures within boundaries of several stable villages. These overlooked the fields of maize, beans, squash, and...
(on Zimmerman's Island, now submerged by Douglas Lake
Douglas Dam
Douglas Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the French Broad River in Sevier County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The dam is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority , which built the dam in record time in the early 1940s to meet emergency energy demands at the height of World War II...
) on October 13, and traveled southwest across the Foothills of the Great Smokies, crossing Little River
Little River (Tennessee)
Little River is a scenic river in Tennessee which drains a area containing some of the most spectacular scenery in the southeastern United States. The first of the river are all located within the borders of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park...
at modern-day Walland
Walland, Tennessee
Walland is an unincorporated community in Blount County, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States. Walland is the site of a post office and is the place name associated with zip code 37886, which covers an area beyond the Walland community...
and traversing Happy Valley
Happy Valley, Tennessee
Happy Valley is an unincorporated community in Blount County, Tennessee, United States, near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Although it is not a census-designated place, the ZIP Code Tabulation Area for the ZIP Code that serves Happy Valley had a population of 529 as of the 2000 U.S...
to arrive at "Chalahume" (Chilhowee
Chilhowee (Cherokee town)
Chilhowee was a prehistoric and historic Native American site in Blount County and Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States...
) in the Little Tennessee Valley on October 15. After the expedition made its way to Satapo the following day, a friendly native warned Pardo of a plot against him, and the expedition returned to Olamico shortly thereafter.
Hudson speculates that when the Cherokee replaced Satapo's Muskogeean-speaking Mississippian inhabitants, the Cherokee kept the site's name. However, as the Cherokee language
Cherokee language
Cherokee is an Iroquoian language spoken by the Cherokee people which uses a unique syllabary writing system. It is the only Southern Iroquoian language that remains spoken. Cherokee is a polysynthetic language.-North American etymology:...
lacks bilabial stops, the "p" sound in "Satapo" was replaced with a "k" sound, giving the site its Cherokee name.
The Cherokee period
The Cherokee believed that a cliff overlooking Citico was once home the "Tlanuwas"— two giant hawks that terrorized people in the valley until a high priest managed to rob their nest and drop their eggs in the water below, where they were devoured by the Uktena. A Cherokee village thrived at Citico when English explorers and traders began entering the Tennessee Valley in large numbers in the early 18th century. Citico's "head man" was among the chiefs who met with Colonel George Chicken at TanasiTanasi
Tanasi is a historic Overhill Cherokee village site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The village is best known as the namesake for the state of Tennessee...
in 1725 to form an alliance against the hostile Creeks. Citico appears on George Hunter's 1730 map of the Cherokee region, and is mentioned by Alexander Cuming that same year as being one of the Overhill towns headed by a "prince" (i.e., not headed by a "king," and thus not a "mother town").
Captain 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...
, who visited the Overhill towns on a peace mission in 1761–1762, reported 204 warriors at Citico, the most of any Overhill town. Cheulah, the chief of Citico, greeted Timberlake with a ceremonial dance involving 400 townspeople and presented Timberlake with a string of beads. At a pipe-smoking ceremony held afterward at the Citico townhouse, Timberlake recalled smoking so many peace pipes that he "could not stir for several hours."
Decline
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...
, the colonies dispatched a force under Colonel 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...
to subdue the Overhill towns in 1776. When Chief Dragging Canoe
Dragging Canoe
Tsiyu Gansini , "He is dragging his canoe", known to whites as Dragging Canoe, was a Cherokee war chief who led a band of Cherokee against colonists and United States settlers...
refused to settle for peace, Christian burned five Overhill towns, including Citico. The town burned had already been deserted because its entire population had chosen to follow Dragging Canoe's move to the southwest, where they re-established themselves at the mouth of a small creek in a town of the same name in what is now East Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
. Historian J. G. M. Ramsey
J. G. M. Ramsey
James Gettys McGready Ramsey was an American historian, physician, and businessman, active primarily in East Tennessee during the nineteenth century. Ramsey is perhaps best known for his book, The Annals of Tennessee, a seminal work documenting the state's frontier and early statehood periods...
reported a conference between militia commander 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...
and Cherokee Chief Hanging Maw
Hanging Maw
Hanging Maw, or Uskwa'li-gu'ta in Cherokee, was the leading chief of the Overhill Cherokee from 1788 to 1794. They were located in present-day Tennessee...
held at the original Citico in 1782 in which the two sides agreed to a truce. Ramsey goes on to relate a violent encounter two years later between Major James Hubbard and Untoola— a Cherokee "head man" known as the "Gun Rod of Citico"— that left Untoola dead and led to a warrant being issued for Hubbard's arrest.
In the late 1780s, a group of scouts led by Captain John Faynes was collecting (or stealing) apples at the former site of Citico when they were ambushed by a band of Cherokees. 16 of Fayne's men were killed and 4 were wounded. A militia force led by Captain Nathaniel Evans arrived shortly thereafter to find several scalped and disemboweled bodies. Evans eventually linked up with Sevier's larger force, and the combined force set out in pursuit of the hostile Cherokee.
Regarding the new settlement, it was largely abandoned after the move by the Chickamauga/Lower Cherokee to the Fiver Lower Towns area still further to the west and southwest in 1782, but reoccupied after the close of the Chickamauga Wars (1776-1794). The town, always small and uninfluential (unlike its Mississippian predecessor on the site), survived until the time of the Cherokee removal
Cherokee removal
Cherokee removal, part of the Trail of Tears, refers to the forced relocation between 1836 to 1839 of the Cherokee Nation from their lands in Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, and North Carolina to the Indian Territory in the Western United States, which resulted in the deaths of approximately...
in 1838, after which its outskirt on the west became the town of Ross' Landing, later renamed Chattanooga.
Archaeological findings
While Paleo-Indian fluted points and Archaic period (8000–1000 BCE) artifacts were uncovered at Citico and a substantial Woodland periodWoodland 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...
(1000 BCE–1000 CE) site was located at nearby Harrison Branch, Citico probably did not rise to prominence until the 16th century. Around this time, Citico is believed to have superseded 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...
as the dominant Dallas Phase
Dallas Phase
Dallas Phase is an archaeological phase, within the Mississippian III period, in the South Appalachian Geologic province.-Geography:Dallas peoples moved into southwest Virginia from northeastern Tennessee in the early 13th century...
(ca. 1300–1550 CE) Mississippian village in the Little Tennessee Valley.
In the 1880s, a mound survey conducted by the Smithsonian Institution reported eight mounds— one "temple" mound
Platform mound
A platform mound is any earthwork or mound intended to support a structure or activity.-Eastern North America:The indigenous peoples of North America built substructure mounds for well over a thousand years starting in the Archaic period and continuing through the Woodland period...
and seven smaller mounds— at the Citico site. The temple mound contained at least 91 burials. A brief excavation carried out by the Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Archaeological Society uncovered several Woodland, Mississippian, and Cherokee artifacts, including shell gorget
Shell gorget
A shell gorget is a Native American art form of polished, carved shell pendants worn around the neck. The gorgets are frequently engraved, and are sometimes highlighted with pigments, or fenestrated ....
s and knife blades. The chapter also reported a Cherokee burial accompanied by a musket, knife, steatite pipe, and glass beads.
In anticipation of the flooding of the site by Tellico Lake, University of Tennessee researchers conducted excavations at Citico in the late 1960s and late 1970s. Excavators uncovered the posthole patterns of 11 domestic structures, 55 burials, 119 features, and over 30,000 ceramics. The structures included two regtangular summer house/circular winter house pairings characteristic of Overhill Cherokee dwellings, a small circular structure, a square structure, and five rectangular structures. One of the rectangular structures was associated with the site's Mississippian occupation, while the other 10 structures dated to the Cherokee period. These excavations also uncovered Spanish materials, including Clarksdale bells, lending further evidence to the theory that Citico was indeed the Satapo visited by the Pardo expedition in 1567. An analysis of faunal remains from the Cherokee period showed a heavy reliance upon deer and bear for meat supplements which gradually gave way to a reliance upon domesticated animals, such as hogs and chickens, due to increased adoption of Euro-American agricultural methods.