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Brentwood Library Site
(40 WM 210)

Location within Tennessee today
Location	Williamson County, Tennessee,  USA
Region	Williamson County, Tennessee
Coordinates	35°59′45.06″N 86°47′23.60″W / 35.9958500°N 86.7898889°W / 35.9958500; -86.7898889
History
Cultures	Mississippian culture
Site notes
Excavation dates	1997
Responsible body: City of Brentwood

The Brentwood Library Site (40WM210), also known as the Jarman Farm Site, is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located in the city of Brentwood, in Williamson County, Tennessee. The substantial town was occupied during Regional Period IV of the local Mississippian chronology, and there was an associated burial ground, where nearly 50 stone box graves have been found. Artifacts from the site have been radiocarbon dated to between 1298 and 1465 CE. These include several types of Mississippian pottery, with Beckwith Incised found in the highest number.

Excavations

The Brentwood Library Site is located on a low ridge next to the Harpeth River and a small spring-fed creek. The site was first mentioned by Frederic Ward Putnam as part of a Harvard Peabody Museum Expedition in 1882, but the exact location was not mentioned. Putnam excavated forty-eight stone box graves at the site. At least one example of a Nashville style shell gorget was found by Putnam during his excavations of an infant's grave, along with a notched-rim bowl, a human effigy-hooded bottle, and eight marine shell beads.

The site was essentially forgotten until 1997, when construction for the new Brentwood library uncovered remains of a substantial Mississippian town and associated burial area. Professional archeological excavations were undertaken at the site to document these finds.

Ceramics

Mississippian culture pottery vessels and sherds found at the site were made with techniques and forms found across the Mississippian world. Common shapes include bowls with notched rim straps and jars with a direct rim. Strap handles were the only closed handle style found, although bifurcate and tabular lugs were sometimes attached. Some sherds were found to be fabric impressed. Other artifacts were made with a technique known as negative painting. The background was painted, enabling the natural buff or grey of the clay to create the positive image. Notable pottery classifications found were examples of Mound Place Incised, Matthews Incised var. Matthews, Manly Incised, and Beckwith Incised; examples of Beckwith Incised was found in the largest numbers. A few pieces of effigy pottery were also found, mostly of zoomorphic figures such as fish, frogs, and ducks, although some examples with anthropomorphic shapes were found. These humans effigies often depicted a standing woman with top-knots in her hair, a pronounced hunchback and ear spools. Similar ceramic and stone statues are found throughout the Middle Tennessee area.

See also

• Fewkes Group Archaeological Site (40 WM 1)
• Old Town Archaeological Site (40 WM 2)
• List of Mississippian sites

References

1. ^ Moore, Michael C.; Cmith, Kevin E. Moore (2009), Archaeological Expeditions of the Peabody Museum in Middle Tennessee, 1877-1884 (PDF), Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Archaeology, research Series No. 16.
2. Lankford, George E.; Reilly, F. Kent; Garber, James F. (2011-01-15). Visualizing the Sacred: Cosmic Visions, Regionalism, and the Art of the Mississippian World. University of Texas Press. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-292-72308-5.
3. ^ Moore, Michael C. (2005), The Brentwood Library Site: A Mississippian Town on the Little Harpeth River, Williamson County, Tennessee (PDF), Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Archaeology, research Series No. 15.
4. Fundaburk, Emma Lila (2001) . Mary Douglass Fundaburk Foreman (ed.). Sun Circles and Human Hands: the Southeastern Indians - Art and Industry. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. pp. 170–171. ISBN 978-0-8173-1077-6.

External links

v t e Mississippian and related cultures
List of Mississippian sites Timeline of Mississippi valley
Middle Mississippian	American Bottom and Upper Mississippi Aztalan Big Eddy Cahokia Monks Mound Mound 34 Mound 72 Ramey state Woodhenge Cloverdale Dickson Mounds Emerald Acropolis Emmons Cemetery Horseshoe Lake John Chapman Kuhn Station Larson Lunsford-Pulcher McCune Mitchell Orendorf Sleeth Starr Steed-Kisker culture Sugarloaf Mound Lower Ohio River and Confluence area Adams site Dogtooth Bend Mounds Kincaid Mounds Marshall Site Millstone Bluff Orr-Herl Rowlandton Mound Towosahgy Turk Site Twin Mounds Ware Mounds Wickliffe Mounds Middle Ohio River Angel Mounds Angel phase Annis Mound Bone Bank Caborn-Welborn culture Ellerbusch Hovey Lake-Klein Hovey Lake District Murphy Prather Slack Farm Tolu Welborn Village Yankeetown Tennessee and Cumberland Backusburg Beasley Mounds Brentwood Library Brick Church Castalian Springs Dunbar Cave Fewkes Group Hiwassee Island Link Farm Mound Bottom Riverview Sellars Obion Old Town Swallow Bluff Central and Lower Mississippi Belle Meade Boone's Boyd Campbell Carson Chucalissa Denmark Eaker Janet's Menard-Hodges Murphy Nodena Nodena phase Owl Creek Parkin Quigualtam Tipton phase Tunica Koroa Yazoo Walls phase
South Appalachian Mississippian	Adamson Avery Beaverdam Creek Bell Field Mound Bessemer Biltmore Blair Bussell Island Chauga Chiaha Chota Citico Coosa Dallas phase Dyar Etowah Garden Creek Hoojah Branch Irene Jere Shine Joara Joe Bell King Lamar Lamar phase Liddell Little Egypt Long Swamp Mabila Mandeville McMahan Moccasin Bend Moundville Mouse Creek phase Mulberry Muscogee (Creek) Nacoochee Nikwasi Ocmulgee Park Mound Pisgah phase Punk Rock Shelter Rembert Roods Landing Rucker's Bottom Savannah Shiloh Sixtoe Summerour Taskigi Tomotley Toqua Town Creek Waddells Mill Pond Wilbanks
Fort Walton culture	Anhaica Apalachee Apalachee Province Cayson Corbin–Tucker Fort Walton Mound Lake Jackson Leon-Jefferson culture Letchworth Velda Yon
Pensacola culture	Bottle Creek Dauphin Island Fort Walton Hickory Ridge Cemetery Naval Live Oaks Cemetery Pensacola people
Plaquemine Mississippian	Anna Atchafalaya Basin Emerald Fitzhugh Flowery Fosters Ghost Glass Grand Village of the Natchez Holly Bluff Jaketown Jordan Julice Mangum Mazique Medora Mott Natchez Taensa Pocahontas Routh Scott Place Sims Transylvania Venable Winterville
Caddoan Mississippian	Battle Belcher Blue Spring Shelter Bluffton Caddo Caddoan Mounds Gahagan Hughes Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village Keller Spiro
Upper Mississippian cultures	Oneota Anker Beattie Park Blood Run Carcajou Point Fifield Fisher Mound Group Gentleman Farm Grand Village of the Illinois Griesmer Hartley Fort Hotel Plaza Hoxie Farm Huber Juntunen Knoll Spring Mero site Moccasin Bluff Oak Forest Palos Plum Island Roche-a-Cri Petroglyphs Schwerdt Summer Island Fort Ancient culture Alligator Effigy Mound Clover Dodge Leo Petroglyph Serpent Mound SunWatch Indian Village
Culture	Agriculture Beans Chenopodium Little barley Maize Marshelder Pumpkin Squash Sunflower Three Sisters Tobacco Artwork Emmons mask Copper plates Rogan plates Spiro plates Wulfing cache Duck River cache Long-nosed god maskette Mill Creek chert Pottery Shell gorget Stone statuary Languages Caddoan Central Algonquian Cherokee Mobilian Jargon Muskogean Natchez Taensa Siouan Timucuan Tunican Yuchi Religion Ballgame (Southeastern) Northern Black drink Burial mound Ceremonial pipe Chanunpa Chunkey Earth/fertility cult Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Platform mound Red Horn Sacred bundle Village bundle Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stone box grave Thunderbird Underwater panther
Related topics Chevron bead Clarksdale bell Mound Builders de Soto Expedition

• Middle Mississippian culture
• Mounds in Tennessee
• Geography of Williamson County, Tennessee
• Archaeological sites in Tennessee
• Native American history of Tennessee