Did you know that there was a band of snail-eating Native Americans living between modern West Point and Iron City a few centuries before the birth of Christ? On March 25, 1962, three archaeologists conducted the first-ever archaeological dig in Lawrence County history to learn more about them.

The dig occurred at the site of a 2-acre mound of snail shells on the western bank of Shoal Creek, on land owned by Dr. J.W. Danley. For years, according to Danley, people had found arrowheads near the site and sold them to collectors. The mound of snail shells on Danley’s property constituted a midden, or ancient trash-heap of garbage discarded by the nearby Native American settlement.

The archaeologists dug 4 five-foot sections at the mound. Their excavations uncovered three main pits of discarded materials, each rounded and roughly 18″ in diameter. The first pit yielded a Narrow Stemmed Adena Point, a Cotaco Creek variant, six flake knives, and one Wheeler Punctate potsherd, among other artifacts.

The only human remains found in the midden were in the second pit, which contained a human humerus bone. The third pit contained 200 snail shells and 5 flint flakes. Among the other artifacts dug from the midden were 1 Flint Creek point (which the archaeologists recognized as a common find on other Shoal Creek sites where a large number of digging and chipping tools are found), 2 Benton Stemmed points, 3 pebble hammers, 2 bifaced knives, and 31 flake knives.

Due to the large quantity of deer bones and snail shells found in the midden, the archaeologists determined that the settlement of Native Americans at the Danley Site ate mostly venison and freshwater snails as a protein source. The archaeologists also determined that the settlement existed in the late Archaic or Early Woodland periods, which would date the site at its most recent to several hundred years before the birth of Christ.

While the remains of agricultural implements such as primitive hoes were found in the midden, the archaeologists believed that these implements were indicative that the people of the Danley Site probably did “extensive digging for roots” as opposed to large-scale crop cultivation.

For more information about the dig, and to see a complete listing of the artifacts recovered from the site, check out the article written by the archaeologists in ‘Tennessee Archaeologist,’ vol. XVIII, no. 2, pages 66-69.