| Early
man, or prehistoric man inhabited Little River Canyon. Archeological evidence
dating back to approximately 12,000 BC is found scattered over the eastern
United States, including Cherokee County. Known as Paleo Indians, they
hunted big game and supplemented their diet with various edible plants.
A new culture
appeared about 8,000 BC and lasted until 600 BC. These people, known as
the Archaic people were hunters and gatherers but utilized a wider range
of environments than their predecessors, the Paleo people. Archaic sites,
recognizable by notched and stemmed projectile points, are found throughout
Little River Canyon.
From about 300
BC to 1,000 AD the Woodland culture appeared. It was marked with ceramics,
the bow and arrow and the burying of their dead in low mounds. The Mississippian
culture developed about 1,000 AD and existed until the early historic period
of 1600. Because the area around the park contains sites from every cultural
period known in Northern Alabama, the research potential is high. Due to
the ruggedness of the Little River Canyon and the difficulty of access
to many areas, cultural resources may have received little human impact.
Several factors
allowed human access to the region and allowed infusion of outside influences.
The Tennessee River provided access from the north, the Coosa River provided
access from the south and the east, and the Warrior River provided access
from the southwest. Also, the Ridge and Valley corridor provided access
to the area from the northeast and the southwest. During various time periods,
Little River Canyon was influenced by cultures from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi,
from the Coosa River area to the south, from western Georgia via the Coosa
River, from the Guntersville Basin and north Georgia via the Tennessee
River. Sites such as Russell Cave in Bridgeport, Alabama were occupied
from at least the Transitional Paleo-Indian/Archaic Period. This indicated
that humans were probably in the Little River Canyon area very early. |
