Consisting of 18 earthen mounds and numerous additional habitation areas dating to A.D. 12501550, the Bottle Creek site was first professionally investigated in 1932 when David L. DeJarnette of the Alabama Museum of Natural History began work there to determine if the site had a cultural reipconnected to the north by a river system. This volume builds on earlier investigations to present extensive recent data from major excavations conducted from 1991 to 1994 and supported in part by an NEH grant. Ten anthropologists examine various aspects of the site, including mound architecture, prehistoric diet, pottery classification, vessel forms, textiles used to make pottery impressions, a microlithic stone tool industry, water travel, the persistence of mound use into historic times, and the position of Bottle Creek in the protohistoric world.

This book is a series of papers written by the author on aboriginal art, specifically focusing on the art of pottery, textile art, art in shell, and native tobacco pipes. The author notes that until recently, textile fabrics were not recognized as having a place among the materials used in the discussion of North American archeology, but recent studies have demonstrated their importance. By comparing textiles obtained from ancient mounds and graves with the work of living tribes, the author shows their practical identity in materials, processes of manufacture, and articles produced, adding an important link to the chain that binds together ancient and modern tribes.