![]() And so they settled down and became farmers around that time. Quinoa is the South American cousin, but people up here domesticated a similar relative of it, too. So, native peoples here, around 4000 years ago, domesticated a set of crops, including sunflower seeds, which we know today, squashes-a little bit earlier than 4000 years ago, even-another one called sumpweed, which is very similar to sunflower, and then, which is similar to quinoa. Hollenbeck breaks that down for us as the riverbanks transition over into farmland over the years.Ĭandace: Tennessee in the mid-south is one of eight to ten independent centers of domestication around the world. Rickey: Once people started to settle at the site, we can see their history in the archeological record. So, kind of imagining those communities I think is fun. You know, there’s a little hamlet and then some individual farmsteads, homesteads in between. And so, those are probably some of the most exciting parts of it. Hollenbeck.Ĭandace: There are these Mississippian time period villages down here houses, house structures, that are dotted along that area. Rickey: There have even been some interesting archeological finds from these digs, says Dr. And then, river stabilized, probably around 5000 years ago or such, and that’s when we start seeing people, even to 3000 years ago, and people could become more sedentary. Even going down four meters-12 feet or so-we may hit around 6000 years ago and could probably keep going. Hollenbeck says that this land has changed a lot over the past 10,000 years, with river movement and flooding, creating ‘build up’ as she calls it.Ĭandace: So, if we were to take a big backhoe and dig straight down right here, we could probably go down about four meters or so and maybe hit the bottom, maybe hit 10,000 years ago, or maybe not. Hollenbeck starts at the beginning.Ĭandace: Here in East Tennessee, pretty much anything flat next to a river is going to have several thousand years-five to ten thousand years-of occupation on it. And to help us put this area into its historical context, Dr. Candace Hollenbeck, a professor of archeology at UT, to help preserve that history and culture, and so we decided to visit her in her element on site at the Research Park to learn a little bit more. As they did that original archeological investigation, they actually found artifacts that date back to 6000 BC. The rest of it is down near the river and has been preserved in perpetuity because of its archeological significance. Tom: The site itself is 200 acres, but as they did the environmental scans required to get the development underway, only 75 acres of that 200 acres is really developable. What was this campus like before these buildings were built, before it was a dairy farm, and before the city had ownership of the property, back hundreds and even thousands of years ago, at a time when the land was inhabited by Native Americans? For that answer, I asked Tom Rogers, the current President and CEO of the University of Tennessee Research Park, who knows quite a bit about the site’s ancient history. And with the familiar sounds of running a creek and birds chirping, it’s easy to forget that behind us is a collection of modern buildings that make up UT’s Research Park. As researchers, we’re always focused on developing new and exciting projects, but every now and again, it’s worth taking a moment to pause and reflect.Īs we look over the waterway, Sequoia Hill stands in the distance. At one corner of the University of Tennessee Research Park lies a serene bank of the Tennessee River. To fully appreciate and understand UT’s Research Park, it’s important to start by looking back in time to understand the land’s Native American roots. This modern research park at the University of Tennessee would have never been possible without the vision of one influential scholar. We talked about what a research park does in the last episode, and today, we’re going to dive into how one came to be here in Knoxville, Tennessee, and what it’s already accomplished. I’m your host, Rickey McCallum, and throughout this podcast, I’m going to lead you on a journey through the gateway to collaboration. ![]() Rickey: Hello, and welcome back to The Research Park Chronicles.
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