In the Overhill period, Cherokee townhouses found in the Carolinas in the same period were circular in design, with, In the late 20th century, the Tomotley site was submerged by Tellico Lake, an impoundment of the lower Little Tennessee River and lower Tellico River, after construction of a dam managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

[3] Others have theorized that Tomotley was formed by Lower and Valley town Cherokee refugees fleeing warfare with the Creek in the mid-18th century.

That same year, a small English force under Captain Raymond Demeré arrived in the area to build and garrison Fort Loudoun on the Little Tennessee River near the Tellico.

The garrison was greeted at Tomotley by the chief, Conocotocko (Old Hop), who told Demeré, "I am now old and lie upon a bad bearskin.

[6] Around this time, a sharp political rift occurred in the Cherokee hierarchy between those who were aligned with pro-French and pro-English factions.

When pro-French sentiments began to prevail in the key Overhill town of Great Tellico, its pro-English headman Ostenaco was forced to flee to the Little Tennessee Valley.

Because Tomotley was located at a strategic ford along the Little Tennessee, it was the first of the Overhill towns to be captured in 1776 by William Christian's expedition.

The University of Tennessee Department of Anthropology (under contract with the National Park Service) was commissioned to survey the area in 1967.

[12] In fact, the dwellings excavated at Tomotley provided some of the strongest evidence of occupation prior to the Overhill Cherokee period.

Archaeological investigations at Overhill sites such as Toqua, Chota, and Citico also uncovered substantial evidence of such circular structures.