Past Exhibitions

Paleo to Present: The Archaeology of Fort Benning and the Chattahoochee Valley

November 8, 2015 - February 28, 2016

Yarbrough Gallery

Complementing the Museum’s Legacy Gallery, Paleo to Present: The Archaeology of Fort Benning and the Chattahoochee Valley takes a closer look at the native inhabitants of the fertile land we now call home. This exhibition is guest curated by archaeologists at Fort Benning, which has generously loaned more than two hundred artifacts from archaeological excavations done on and around post to help bring to life the history of the area. Traveling through time, beginning in the Paleoindian Period (9550 BC – 8050 BC), the artifacts demonstrate how Southeastern Indians adapted to environmental changes in the area in order to survive and flourish. The exhibition will tell the story of the transition from nomadic hunter/gatherer societies, facing climate changes which affected their environment and food sources, into the agriculture-based mound complexes that came to dominate the Mississippian Period (900 AD – 1540 AD).

Decades of archaeological investigations on Fort Benning have provided a variety of artifacts on display, including stone tools, reconstructed ceramic vessels, gaming pieces and beautiful trade items from the Historic Period (1715 AD – 1835 AD) such as jewelry and metal adornments, reworked glass tools, and guns and ammunition. Through the use of these artifacts and the information learned from archaeological investigations, we will connect the present with the past and give an exciting glimpse into the lives of the Southeastern Indians that are still deeply connected to the Chattahoochee Valley.

This exhibition is made possible by the generous funding from Mr. and Mrs. Jerry B. Newman and the Edward Swift Shorter Bequest Fund.