TUGALOO TOWN - Council house mound excavation

Cherokee

TUGALOO: Pronounced "Too'ga-low" "Too'ga-loo" or "Too'goo-loo." The name Tugaloo (or Tugalo) is derived from the Cherokee settlement DUGILU-YI, which was situated at the confluence of Toccoa Creek with the Tugaloo River, an upper section of the Savannah River where it borders Georgia and South Carolina.

In 1957-58, the Smithsonian Institute, the University of Georgia, and other interested parties excavated the council house mound at Tugaloo Town. The Anderson Independent carried an extensive article describing the excavation (page 1 & page 2) and The Laboratory of Archaeology at the University of Gerogia has an archive of pictures of the excavation and some of the artifacts uncovered describing the excavation.

We appreciate their contribution to this site through the use of their documents.

This drawing was made by Dr. William Caldwell of the Smithsonian Institute and accompanied an introduction to the article.

It shows his reconstruction of the mound and council house as it appeard in the last Etowah period - about 1200 or 1300 AD. Since the sketch was made, he has found two "temples" and decided the smoke hole should have been made larger and the walls should sland inwards. Excavations of other Cherokee sites have shown that to be common of council houses.