In Tennessee, Prehistoric is generally defined as the time between the appearance of the first people in the region (c. 12,000 BC) and the arrival of the first European explorers (c. 1540 AD).
The term cultural affiliation refers to the archaeological period when a site was created and/or occupied.
An example of a multicomponent site would be American Civil War earthworks constructed at the same location as a prehistoric Mississippian village.
The cultural affiliation category in the list below refers only to periods in which the most significant occupation or event (e.g., a battle) took place at the site.
For example, the trinomial 40DV11 designates the eleventh archaeological site recorded in Davidson County (DV) , Tennessee (40) .