UA, Muscogee (Creek) Nation Partnership Hopes to Shed Light on Past

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Cultural Preservation Office are teaming up in an effort to find evidence that links prehistoric Muscogee people within different geographic regions.

The Office of Archaeological Research contracted a partnership with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma to provide a graduate research assistantship in UA’s department of anthropology to look at Creek homeland sites.

“The overall goal of the assistantship is to research possible links in the archaeological record from the Tennessee Valley area to the historic Creek archaeological record in Alabama and Georgia that may link these two geographic regions and possible material culture together,” said Johnnie Jacobs, manager of the Muscogee (Creek) National Cultural Preservation Office. “We have known for many years that our Muscogee (Creek) people lived in the Tennessee area since prehistoric times. We hope this research will add to the history that we have.”

Ted Clay Nelson, the award recipient, will be doing research in the Southeastern U.S., examining artifact collections from various archaeological sites. Nelson will be guided by Dr. Ian Brown, chair of the anthropology department, and Eugene Futato, deputy director of the Office of Archaeological Research and a 45-year veteran of archaeological research at UA. The artifact collections Nelson will be looking at are mainly housed in archival facilities, but he hopes to also examine private collections and include oral histories.

“My main goal is to better understand what was happening in the Southeastern U.S. after European contact. One of the great things about archaeology is that no matter what the results are, if the research was done with solid, explicit methodology, something new can be learned, and the human past can be better understood,” Nelson said. “I’m really excited. It still feels surreal because this assistantship is providing resources that allow me to go to school, focus on my studies, while also doing relevant research that gives me priceless experience and opportunity.”

While this assistantship is a first for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, it’s one that Jacobs said she hopes is just the beginning of an important and valuable relationship with the University of Alabama. Not only does it help support students while they are learning the trade, it helps provide research for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, which will hopefully connect a few more pieces of the puzzle.

“Where a people came from and how they were transformed is critical to appreciating what they are now in the 21st century, and Clay hopes to be able to explore these issues and perhaps tie some of the threads together,” Brown said.