Bussell Island, formerly Lenoir Island, is an island located at the mouth of the Little Tennessee River, at its confluence with the Tennessee River in Loudon County, near the U.S. city of Lenoir City, Tennessee. The island was inhabited by various Native American cultures for thousands of years before the arrival of early European explorers. The Tellico Dam and a recreational area occupy part of the island. Part of the island was added in 1978 to the National Register of Historic Places for its archaeological potential.[1]
Native American habitation of Bussell Island dates to the Late Archaic period (c. 3000–1000 BC).[2] The island is believed to have been the location of the capital of Coste—a Mississippian-period chiefdom visited by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in 1540[3]—and was later part of the domain of the Overhill Cherokee and the regional homelands of the Cherokee people.
In 1887 and 1919, archaeologists conducted extensive excavations at Bussell Island and identified its archaeological importance.[2] The island was drastically modified in the 1970s when the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) built Tellico Dam.
^ ab"National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. October 1, 2009.
^ abBobby Braly and Shannon Koerner, A History of Archaeology in Tennessee Archived 2013-11-03 at the Wayback Machine. Tennessee Archaeology: A Synthesis (Chapter 2). p. 12-14.
^Dye, David (2002). "Soto Expedition". Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
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