The Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter, located on private property in
Colbert County
Colbert County () is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census the county's population was 57,227. The county seat is Tuscumbia. The largest city is Muscle Shoals.
The county is named i ...
in northwestern
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County
, LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham
, area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, is one of the most important
prehistoric sites
excavated in the state due to the archeological evidence deposited by the
Paleo-Indians who once occupied the
rock shelter.
Lying in Sanderson Cove along a
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...
of Cane Creek approximately seven miles (11 km) south of the
Tennessee Valley
The Tennessee Valley is the drainage basin of the Tennessee River and is largely within the U.S. state of Tennessee. It stretches from southwest Kentucky to north Alabama and from northeast Mississippi to the mountains of Virginia and North Car ...
, the shelter and the high
bluff
Bluff or The Bluff may refer to:
Places Australia
* Bluff, Queensland, Australia, a town
* The Bluff, Queensland (Ipswich), a rural locality in the city of Ipswich
* The Bluff, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a rural locality
* Bluff River (New ...
s of the surrounding valley provided a well-protected environment for the
Native American occupants.
According to ''The Earliest Americans Theme Study for the Eastern United States'', Stanfield-Worley Rock Shelter is considered a strong candidate for
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
status.
History
Based on archeological evidence, the Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter was occupied from the
Paleoindian Period to the
Mississippian period. The well-preserved
stratigraphic zones provide insights into the evolution of prehistoric societies in northern Alabama over a period of nine millennia.
Dalton zone
The Dalton zone, shown as Zone D in the photograph of the stratigraphic zones, represents a transitional Paleo-Indian culture of Alabama with specimens dated to approximately 7000 BCE based on
radiocarbon dating. The artifacts found in this complex are typical of mobile
hunter-gatherers. The Dalton occupation was remarkable in its intensity with over 150
projectile point
In North American archaeological terminology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a weapon that was capable of being thrown or projected, such as a javelin, dart, or arrow. They are thus different from weapons presumed to have ...
s, in addition to Paleo-Indian
uniface tools such as
scrapers and
knives
A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...
, found during the 1961 survey season. The projectile points include both Paleo-Indian (
lanceolate
The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...
Dalton points) and
Archaic (side-notched Big Sandy points) specimens.
Other artifacts indicate manufacture of
wood
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...
,
antler, and
bone tool
In archaeology, a bone tool is a tool created from bone. A bone tool can conceivably be created from almost any bone, and in a variety of methods.
Bone tools have been documented from the advent of '' Homo sapiens'' and are also known from ''Ho ...
s.
Paleoindian sites with preserved
fauna
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...
l and
flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...
l records, such as Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter, are important to understanding cultural development during the period. The faunal remains of the site contain
bone
A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...
s of modern animals including
deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...
,
squirrel,
turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
, and
porcupine. The shelter is located below the southern extent of the current range of porcupines. In addition, remains of the
extinct passenger pigeon
The passenger pigeon or wild pigeon (''Ectopistes migratorius'') is an extinct species of pigeon that was endemic to North America. Its common name is derived from the French word ''passager'', meaning "passing by", due to the migratory habits ...
have been found. Although the animals which the Dalton occupants
hunted are similar to those hunted by Archaic peoples, there is no evidence in the zone of
shellfish collection or
seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
processing, traits of established Archaic societies.
Middle Archaic through Mississippian periods
Zone B in the photograph of the stratigraphic zones contains specimens from the Morrow Mountain Phase of the Middle Archaic period. The excavation of this intermediate layer yielded three sets of human remains as well as projectile points, bone
awls
Awl may refer to:
Tools
* Bradawl, a woodworking hand tool for making small holes
* Scratch awl, a woodworking layout and point-making tool used to scribe a line
* Stitching awl, a tool for piercing holes in a variety of materials such as leathe ...
, and other tools. The youngest stratigraphic zone (Zone A, not shown in the photograph) contained specimens from the Archaic through Mississippian periods.
Archeology
Archeological surveys
The excavation of the Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter commenced in 1960, after gaining approval of the property owner, Robert B. Stanfield. The project was under the guidance of the North Alabama Project, a partnership between the Alabama Archaeological Society, the
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...
and the Archaeological Research Association of Alabama.
The first two field seasons (1960 and 1961) were reported by
David L. DeJarnette and colleagues.
The excavation of the third and final season (1963) was smaller in scale with the results never being published.
The
trench and block technique was utilized in the excavation of the site. In this technique, individual blocks are created by digging trenches in a defined pattern. The exposed sides of the resulting blocks allow excavation to proceed by individual zones or strata. The trenches and blocks are pictured in the photograph on the upper right. The resulting collection includes over 11,000 specimens.
Archeological significance
By 1960, it was clear that north Alabama had possibly the densest concentration of Paleo-Indian sites within the United States, as evidenced by the discovery of the
Quad site near Decatur, Alabama. The importance of the Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter, one such Paleo-Indian site, lies in its ability to establish an accurate timeframe for Dalton projectile points.
This resulted in references to the site in almost every summary of eastern North American prehistory.
With over 150 projectile points recovered in the 1960 season alone, the site provided invaluable information on numerous early cultures in Alabama. The projectile points were divided into "fifty-six taxonomic types and six residual categories or provisional types."
Much of the information was incorporated into the ''Handbook of Alabama Archaeology''.
Both Robert E. Bell and Charles H. Fairbanks lauded the success of the North Alabama project in raising
funds
Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm uses ...
to further archaeological research.
References
{{authority control
South Appalachian Mississippian culture
Native American history of Alabama
Archaic period in North America
Archaeological sites in Alabama
Landmarks in Alabama
Geography of Colbert County, Alabama
Florence–Muscle Shoals metropolitan area
Former populated places in Alabama
Rock shelters in the United States
Properties on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage