Green River Shell Middens Archeological District

The Green River Shell Middens Archeological District is a historic district composed of archaeological sites in the U.S. state of Kentucky. All of the district's sites are shell middens along the banks of the Green River that date from the later portion of the Archaic period.[2] Studies of this assemblage of sites were critical in the development of knowledge of the Archaic period in the eastern United States.

Green River Shell Middens Archeological District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District
Location	Along the Green River
NRHP reference No.	85003182
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	May 5, 1994[1]
Designated NHLD	May 5, 1994[1]

Kentucky's Green River runs through a broad alluvial plain, from which outcroppings of bedrock project. The plain is an area that was inundated during the Pleistocene by a water body dubbed Lake Green, which resulted in the deposition of large amounts of silt. The middens of this district are typically located along the prehistoric routes of waterways that were established after Lake Green was drained. Archaic period Native Americans were drawn to these waterways by an abundance of mussels.[3]

The district was established and named a National Historic Landmark on May 5, 1994.[2] Each of the district's twenty-three contributing properties had previously been listed on the National Register of Historic Places by itself. The sites are distributed among five counties: Butler County (BT), Henderson County (HE), McLean County (McL), Muhlenberg County (MU), and Ohio County (OH).[4]

Contributing properties

The district comprises the following sites, listed by their Smithsonian trinomials; names are provided for named sites.

Number[5]	Name[5]	Location	City	Photo	Comments
15BT5	Carlston Annis	Eastern side of the Green River off Kentucky Route 403 37°16′28″N 86°48′19″W[6]^:56	Schulztown
15BT6	DeWeese	Eastern bank of the Green River in Horseshoe Bend, west of Taylor Lake 37°18′26″N 86°49′4″W[6]^:358	Highview
15BT10	Read	Northern side of the Green River, west of Morgantown 37°14′33″N 86°47′27″W[7]^:120	Monticello
15BT11	Russell	Eastern bank of the Green River in Horseshoe Bend 37°16′16″N 86°48′1″W[6]^:358	Logansport
15BT41	Rayburn Johnson	Eastern bank of the Green River in Horseshoe Bend, northwest of Taylor Lake 37°19′28″N 86°49′4″W[8]^:41	Prentiss
15BT67	Woodbury	Left bank of the Green River immediately above Woodbury 37°10′51″N 86°37′39″W[8]^:41	Woodbury
15HE160	Bluff City	0.5 miles (0.80 km) above Bluff City on a Green River bluff 37°47′58″N 87°22′20″W[9]^:440	Hebbardsville
15HE580	None	Right bank of the Green River, 1 mile (1.6 km) above Bluff City 37°48′25″N 87°21′56″W[8]^:40	Hebbardsville
15HE589	James Giles	Left bank of the Green River, east of Bluff City 37°48′20″N 87°19′31″W[8]^:40	Rumsey
15HE635	None	In the lawn of a house on Reed Bluff City Rd., northeast of Bluff City 37°48′54″N 87°22′12″W[8]^:40	Hebbardsville
15McL2	R.D. Ford	Along the Green River off Kentucky Route 256, west of Calhoun 37°33′36″N 87°22′0″W[10]^:4	Ashbyburg
15McL7	Butterfield	Southern bank of the Green River across from the mouth of the Rough River 37°28′57″N 87°8′3″W[10]^:31	Livermore
15McL15	Austin	Left bank of the Green River, 4 miles (6.4 km) below Calhoun 37°32′36″N 87°18′21″W[10]^:4	Rumsey
15McL16	None	Left bank of the Green River immediately above Rumsey 37°31′48″N 87°15′5″W[10]^:4	Rumsey
15McL17	None	Above the right bank of the Rough River, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Livermore 37°29′3″N 87°6′21″W[10]^:4	Livermore
15McL109	Crowe	Left bank of the Green River, 1 mile (1.6 km) above Livermore 37°28′26″N 87°7′27″W[8]^:41	Kirtley
15MU12	Baker	Left bank of the Green River, 3 miles (4.8 km) above the Paradise Fossil Plant 37°14′18″N 86°56′47″W[11]	Skilesville
15OH1	Chiggerville	Right bank of the Green River, 3 miles (4.8 km) above the Paradise Fossil Plant 37°14′24″N 86°56′29″W[11]	Knightsburg
15OH10	Smallhous	Right bank of the Green River at Smallhous 37°22′49″N 87°5′33″W[9]^:443	Smallhous
15OH13	Bowles	Northern side of the Green River opposite Rochester 37°12′51″N 86°53′52″W[12]	Rochester
15OH19	Jimtown	Jimtown Hill, 2 miles (3.2 km) above Livermore 37°28′0″N 87°6′32″W[8]^:41	Kirtley
15OH95	J.T. Barnard	Across the Green River from South Carrollton 37°20′12″N 87°7′48″W[8]^:41	Central City
15OH97	None	Foot of Kirtley-River Rd. at the Green River above Livermore 37°26′12″N 87°6′8″W[8]^:41	Kirtley

See also

• Indian Knoll, another shell midden in the region not included in the district
• List of National Historic Landmarks in Kentucky

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. "National Historic Landmarks Program (NHL)". National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2010-06-03. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
3. "Green River Shell Middens of Kentucky TR". National Park Service. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
4. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
5. National Historic Landmark Nomination: Green River Shell Middens. National Park Service: 1994-05-05.
6. Funkhouser, W.D., and W.S. Webb. "Archaeological Survey of Kentucky: Butler County". University of Kentucky Reports in Anthropology 7.5 (1950).
7. Milner, George R., and Richard W. Jefferies. "The Read Archaic Shell Midden in Kentucky". Southeastern Archaeology 17.2 (1998): 119-132.
8. Claassen, Cheryl. Feasting with Shellfish in the Southern Ohio Valley: Archaic Sacred Sites and Rituals. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 2010.
9. Moore, Clarence B. "Some Aboriginal Sites on Green River, Kentucky". Journal of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences 16 (1916): 431-487.
10. Webb, William S., and William G. Haag. "Archaic Sites in McLean County, Kentucky". University of Kentucky Reports in Anthropology 7.1 (1947): 1-46.
11. Moore, Christopher R. Production, Exchange, and Social Interaction in the Green River Region of Western Kentucky: A Multiscalar Approach to the Analysis of Two Shell Midden Sites. Diss. University of Kentucky, 2011, 163.
12. Emerson, Thomas E. Archaic Societies: Diversity and Complexity Across the Midcontinent. Albany: SUNY Press, 2009, 655.

External links

• Green River Shell Middens of Kentucky TR Multiple Property Submission