new acquisition THE CONSERVA NCY IS ACQUIRING ITS FIRST SITE IN THE COOSA PROVINCE

Conservancy Is Acquiring Its First Site in the Coosa Province

The Swancy site will be the newest preserve in Georgia.

In the mid–16th century, few, if any, chiefdoms in North America were as large as that of Coosa.Stretching from what is today northeastern Tennessee through northwestern Georgia and into central Alabama, the Province of Coosa comprised numerous small vassal chiefdoms that were subject to a powerful paramount chief.

Our first accounts of this province come from the writers who chronicled the Hernando de Soto expedition that passed through the area in 1540.They found a valley filled with towns and fertile farms,but they found no gold. Among the towns was the Swancy site,a fortified town nestled in a bend in the river.

There was also an earlier occupation at Swancy that dates to the Carterville Phase of the Early Woodland period (circa 500 B.C. to A.D. 250).The earlier town was probably located along the river to take advantage of the abundant game and easy access to the waterway.During Mississippian times,the town also benefited from the river. However, its location was primarily determined by the surrounding fertile bottom lands.

When the expedition of another European explorer, Tristan de Luna, arrived in Coosa 20 years after de Soto, the towns were in sharp decline.The Old World pathogens brought by de Soto’s army had done their deadly work and reduced the once-mighty chiefdom to ruin.Nonetheless,Native Americans continued to occupy the area until removed to Oklahoma by government troops in the 1830s. The preservation of the Swancy site is urgent. Few of the sites from the Coosa Province era remain. The threat to the Swancy site by real estate development has increased exponentially in recent years as the sprawl of metropolitan Atlanta began to creep into the valley.

The Swancy site will serve as a vital link to the past and a unique laboratory in which archaeologists can answer many of the questions concerning Mississippian period life and the exact route of the de Soto expedition. —Alan Gruber

The search for gold brought Hernando de Soto to the Coosawattee River Valley, where Coosa was located. He found thriving towns, but no gold.

Conservancy

Plan of Action SITE: Swancy

CULTURE and TIME PERIOD:

Early Woodland (500 B.C.–A.D.250), and Late Mississippian (late A.D.1400s–middle 1500s.) STATUS: The site is threatened by development. ACQUISITION: The Conservancy has to raise $59,875 to purchase the site HOW YOU CAN HELP: Please send your contributions to The Archaeological Conservancy, Attn:Swancy, 5301 Central Ave. NE,Suite 402. Albuquerque,NM 87108-1517.

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Atlanta Augusta

Macon Columbus

Savannah •••••••

Swancy

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