During the eighteenth century, southwestern North Carolina and surrounding areas were home to several groups of Cherokee towns. These groups of towns included the Lower Towns along the headwaters of the Savannah River; the Overhill Towns in the lower Little Tennessee Valley in eastern Tennessee; the Valley Towns along the upper Hiwassee River and headwaters in southwestern North Carolina; and the Out Towns in the Tuckasegee and Oconaluftee valleys in North Carolina; and the Middle Towns in the upper Little Tennessee Valley. Towns were, first and foremost, local groups of households, rather than particular places on the landscape. The core members of Cherokee households were members of one of seven Cherokee clans. What forms of public and domestic architecture were built by Cherokee towns? How did Cherokee towns connect themselves to the landscape through these architectural forms? Evidence relevant to these topics includes Cherokee myth and legend, documentary sources about visits by European colonists to Cherokee towns in the southern Appalachians, and remnants of architecture at archaeological sites. One such site, dating to the period just before and after European contact in North America, is the Coweeta Creek site, located in the area of the Middle Cherokee settlements in the upper Little Tennessee Valley.

Archaeological surveys in the upper Little Tennessee Valley, and excavations at Coweeta Creek, were conducted as part of the Cherokee Archaeological Project by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in the 1960s and 1970s. Excavations at Coweeta Creek uncovered several successive stages of a townhouse, a ramada or covered arbor built beside the townhouse, a plaza covered with sand and clay, domestic houses placed around the plaza, and a ring ditch south and west of the townhouse and plaza.

At least six stages of the townhouse were built and rebuilt in place. Each stage was burned down, and each stage was built atop the burned and buried remnants of its predecessors, forming a low mound. The original townhouse had four roof support posts placed around the hearth, and this arrangement was preserved in at least the first four stages of the townhouse. The entryway to the original townhouse was placed in the middle of the southeastern wall, but in the second stage, the entryway was moved to the southernmost corner, although it followed the same alignment as its predecessor. The townhouse was square with rounded corners. Between the townhouse and plaza was a rectangular structure.

The plaza was covered with clay and sand, and several small ramadas were built along the southwestern edge of the plaza, across from the townhouse ramada.

Placed around the plaza were several domestic houses, most of which were rebuilt, and most of which followed the same alignment as the townhouse.

South and west of the townhouse were segments of a semicircular ditch, which may have been associated with an earthen mound or embankment, marking a significant point on the landscape before the townhouse was built nearby.

What are the dates for the Coweeta Creek site, and how did the built environment at this site change through time?

How is Coweeta Creek similar to and different than other sites in surrounding areas from the same period, and from preceding and later periods?

What does the placement of burials at Coweeta Creek contribute to our knowledge of social relations within Cherokee towns?

European trade goods have been found in some pits and structures at the Coweeta Creek site, but what was the nature of contact and interaction between native people and European colonists?