Eva site

Kentucky Dam, located nearly 80 miles (130 km) downstream from the Eva site, was completed in 1944 and created a lake that spans most of the state from north-to-south.

Hills that comprise the western fringe of the Highland Rim rise as high as 300 feet (91 m) above the river to the east and west.

Before inundation by Kentucky Lake, the Eva site was located on a flood plain that stretched for nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) between the river bank and the hills to the west.

Stratum II contained artifacts associated with a Middle Archaic people known as the Three Mile culture, who occupied Eva around 4000-2000 BC.

Stratum III contained only scant cultural material, indicating that the Eva site was unoccupied for a period around 4000 BC.

Pathological analyses conducted on the site's human remains indicates that Eva's Archaic inhabitants were healthy compared to the region's later cultures.

[9] While Clovis points and other Paleo-Indian artifacts have been found along the Tennessee River in Benton County,[10][11] major occupation of the site didn't begin until around 6000 BC during the Middle Archaic period.

[15] Cultural materials uncovered from Stratum I and the plowzone (which correlate to the site's Big Sandy phase) include burned clay, a hearth, a mortar, hammerstones, and bone needles.

Deer still comprised the greatest percentage of animal bones, but, as with the site's Three Mile phase, birds and fish were providing major supplements.

Diagram showing a rough pre-inundation profile of the floodplain upon which the Eva site was located. Approximately one mile separated the site from the Tennessee River.
The Eva site, looking north from Eva Beach