|
The Bennett Museum has a large
collection of artifacts representing the Amerindian cultures
that preceded the European arrival in the Southeast. Projectile
points, atalatyl weights, chunky stones and pottery shards are
among the cultural remains of ancient cultures. In the Long
House are artifacts and text panels telling the story “Of Sky
and Earth,” a narrative of the earliest encounters between
Europeans and the peoples of the southeast with accompanying
artifacts. This is funded by Georgia Power.
Carefully arranged according to the
periods that gave rise to their forms, a large display of
artifacts can be found in the glass hallway. Beautiful stone items, made by contemporary
earth-skills craftsmen can be seen in the dioramas in the Hall
of Ancients. These were
created so that appropriate wooden handles could be attached
using reproductions. In an “Archaeologist’s Corner” an
assortment of shards and points suggest the materials unearthed
by archaeologists, showing what tools they use to unearth them
and the creativity, hard work and scientific knowledge required
of those professionals who unlock the past.
The physical appearance of artifacts
changes abruptly with the European arrival in the late 15th century.
The deerskin trade that dominated the lives of European traders
and native peoples alike, is characterized by trade goods such
as beads, copper pots, and iron or steel tools such as
tomahawks ( or “hawk-bills”), guns, and ultimately plows, locks,
nails, hoes, froes and shovels. Until the American revolution,
the deerskin trade was Georgia’s main economic enterprise. The
Sellars Tool Collection, described elsewhere, suggests the
revolution wrought by iron that occurred when Amerindians were
introduced to iron implements and their New Stone Age culture
abruptly ended.
The Age of the Deerskin Trade
brought not only changes in the physical life of Native Peoples,
it also transformed European life as well, introducing new
materials, attitudes and political ideas, as philosophers,
writers and manufacturers incorporated the “New World ” and its
many cultures into their frame of reference.
|
