Lick Creek
e.g., Lick Creek
ca. A.D. 1450-
Transitional
e.g., Etowah Village
ca. A.D. 1540
Citico
e.g., Williams Island
ca. A.D. 1600-1700
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Notes:
These styles begin with a fairly naturalistic form that dates to the mid-15th century to the north of Knoxville, Tennessee.
It is only in the transition from the Lick Creek style to the later Citico style that this theme appears further south and at Etowah. Although by the time Etowah had this kind of gorget, the motifs had become those of the later Citico style, the structural form of the gorgets remains essentially the same as in the earlier Lick Creek style.
Only later are the new motifs restructured into the organization of the design field characteristic of the developed Citico style. These latter Citico forms are those found associated at a number of sites with historic Cherokee. Moreover, we have indications of the use of the Etowah site by the Cherokee in early historical times.
What can we conclude?
In case after case, we simply do not have the evidence that supports a fundamental reorganization of our dating of artistic representations in the Southeast. We do not need to extend the occupations of Kincaid and Cahokia into times when all our other data tell us that they were essentially abandoned. Nor do we need to ignore the great mass of stylistic analysis that assures us that artistic representations in shell, or in any other media, were not a brief flash before the European invasion.
There is more than one Southeastern iconographic tradition. In several of these traditions, we can see both change over time, and diverse local and regional traditions and horizons.