Pee dee culture
“The people of one fire” is how many Native American archaeologists, of 1937, describe the Pee Dee people, named after the river flowing through the region (Foundation, 2000). The ceremonial center of Town Creek held purification rituals during busk, where people from outlying villages came and gathered. These rituals included: ceremonial bathing, fasting, scratching the body with garfish teeth, and taking cathartic medicine. “Poskito”, the closing of busk, was when everyone would prepare for the new-year by eating the new corn. When busk ended visitors would gather embers from the scared fire to relight their homes once they returned to their villages. Sharing their fire, the Pee Dee people, symbolized their unity with other, making them “people of one fire” (Ferguson, 1995).
The Pee Dee people’s culture was traditionally described as “invaders” from the south (South Carolina and Georgia). The term “invaders” is not the best way to speak of the sudden appearance of the Pee Dee culture. It seems as though they appeared in the region suddenly, bringing a vast amount of specific culture with them to the region that had not yet been seen before by surrounding groups of the area (Foundation, 2000). They were seen as travelers who brought an entirely new and different way of life to the southern North Carolina piedmont (Ferguson, 1995).
The Pee Dee people’s culture was traditionally described as “invaders” from the south (South Carolina and Georgia). The term “invaders” is not the best way to speak of the sudden appearance of the Pee Dee culture. It seems as though they appeared in the region suddenly, bringing a vast amount of specific culture with them to the region that had not yet been seen before by surrounding groups of the area (Foundation, 2000). They were seen as travelers who brought an entirely new and different way of life to the southern North Carolina piedmont (Ferguson, 1995).
The southern piedmont region of North Carolina is archaeologically significant. Between the Uwharrie mountains and the North and South border of North Carolina, during Late Woodland Times, the cultures of this area did not actively engage in the Piedmont Village Tradition, like most of the cultures at this time in the southern piedmont region. These cultures, instead, were influenced by a different cultural traditional called the South Appalachian Mississippian. The South Appalachian Mississippian culture was politically complex. They built mounds for their elite, engaged in intrinsic ceremonialism, and ruled over large territories (Ferguson, 1995).
The Pee Dee culture of the southern piedmont is the best expression of South Appalachian Mississippian tradition in this area. The most affluent area of archaeological site dealing with the Pee Dee culture is at Town Creek Indian Mound (Ferguson, 1995). The South Appalachian Mississippian societies have been described to have strongly organized and strict political/social hierarchies, which were determined by heredity or in war. The Pee Dee Indians were one of the few representatives of the S.A. Mississippian culture found in prehistoric North Carolina (Claggett, 1996)
The Pee Dee culture of the southern piedmont is the best expression of South Appalachian Mississippian tradition in this area. The most affluent area of archaeological site dealing with the Pee Dee culture is at Town Creek Indian Mound (Ferguson, 1995). The South Appalachian Mississippian societies have been described to have strongly organized and strict political/social hierarchies, which were determined by heredity or in war. The Pee Dee Indians were one of the few representatives of the S.A. Mississippian culture found in prehistoric North Carolina (Claggett, 1996)
Originally, the Pee Dee culture was thought to have arrived around 1550 A.D. and to have quickly disappeared by 1650, “like a beam of light flashing across a dark sky”. This is not the knowledge of today’s archaeologists. They now know that the Pee Dee culture arrived much earlier and that it was not introduced as a mass “invasion” into the North Carolina Piedmont. It is now believed that the fourteenth century saw the loss of many South Appalachian Mississippian centers like Town Creek. Archaeologists believe that a shift in power of government of the elite to government by public choice was a reason for abandoned temple mounds and different burial rituals. The people chose to use public council houses, rather than priestly temple on mounds. The large number of burials found at Town Creek may mean that the Pee Dee Indians faced prolonged drought conditions, which caused a large decline in agricultural production due to the decline in chief-like power ultimately leading to their decline in population and eventually migration from the region (Ferguson, 1995).