known. Excavations were carried out at Icehouse Bottom in 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1977. The site's location in the river's flood plain meant that each heavy rain had added a fresh layer of earth to the site, making it easy to stratify. Archaic period inhabitants The 1969-1971 excavations uncovered the charred remains of numerous clay hearths situated along the river at Icehouse Bottom. Radiocarbon dating has established the date of the earliest of these hearths at around 7500 BC, during the Early Archaic period (8000-6000 BC). This is one of the oldest-known semi-permanent habitation sites within the boundaries of present-day Tennessee. Some of these hearths still displayed impressions made by netting or basketry resting on the clay while it was still moist. Other Archaic-period artifacts uncovered at Icehouse Bottom include a unique type of Early Archaic bifurcate projectile point and Late Archaic (3000-1000 BC) netsinkers. Throughout the Archaic period, Icehouse Bottom was likely used as a "base camp" and occupied by indigenous peoples on a seasonal or other semi-permanent basis. The camp consisted of several dozen dwellings that were built along several hundred feet along the river terrace. Rockcrusher Bluff contains various outcroppings of chert, which would have been sought for use in making tools and weapons. The early inhabitants of Icehouse Bottom had a diet primarily of white-tailed deer, black bear, acorns, and hickory nuts. They also hunted and ate smaller animals, including squirrel and rabbit. Woodland period inhabitants The Woodland-period (1000 BC-1000 AD) material recovered from Icehouse Bottom is notable primarily for the presence of maize, an important crop cultivated by indigenous peoples, that dates to as early as 100 AD. Because maize could be grown and stored, it supported increases in population density and the development of centers with a variety of skilled artisans. The Woodland period materials also include non-local pottery sherds, attesting to the people being part of a large trading network. Pottery fragments uncovered at Icehouse Bottom show that the site's inhabitants were interacting with people of other Middle Woodland sites around the region, including the Hopewell people of Ohio. Woodland-period human burials and cremations have frequently been found in the Icehouse Bottom vicinity. Icehouse Bottom may have been a manufacturing center of sorts during the Middle Woodland period. Sherds confirm a trade network that included not only the Hopewell centers, but also the Sylva and Garden Creek areas of North Carolina, the McMahan