When humans enter an ecosystem, they displace some species and prey upon others. This is true of both plants and animals, including species most of us don’t really notice (for example, nematodes in soil and rotifers in freshwater).

As human populations increase, and peoples intensify occupation of the environment (demographically, populations become denser), demands on environmental resources increase. The impacts of displacement and predation increase. They must; more people mean demands for food, shelter, and other material goods increase.

Photographs in this story are from the IUCN report.

In the Great Plains of North America, bison populations have decreased over the last two centuries—a response to increasing human populations and the consequences of that proliferation.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature is “a democratic membership union with more than 1,000 government and NGO member organizations, and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in more than 160 countries” (according to the IUCN website). In early March 2010, the IUCN released a report called American Bison: Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines 2010. The report discusses the current status of the American bison (Bison bison).

The American bison ranged across the Great Plains in large herds, browsing on the vast prairie grasslands. Notes the report, “there is little doubt that prior to Euroamerican settlement, plains bison numbered in the millions, and probably even in the tens of millions” (page 8).

Through the late 1800s, bison herds were hunted commercially, to “open” lands for colonization by peoples from the east. There was also sport hunting. Environmental factors, including introduced bovine diseases, also reduced bison populations. Their numbers became so diminished that in 1905 the American Bison Society was formed and sought to establish bison herds at several federal landholdings (page 9).

Chapter 2 of the report, downloadable from this webpage, discusses bison prehistory and history, including the species’ original range. On page 11, the report notes:

With increased resolution and clarity afforded by ethnohistoric and ethnographic investigations, human-bison interactions among historic native peoples are better described and documented than for the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Bison continued to be the preferred game for many native North American cultures, especially on the Great Plains and Prairies, providing food, clothing, shelter, and tools…. Sustained by bison and plant resources, many native groups likely affected densities of other large herbivore species…. In addition to significant ecological relationships, the bison was a central element in oral tradition, rituals, dances, and ceremonies of native peoples of the Plains…, and it remains symbolically important in the cultural traditions of many native Tribes to this day.

The arrival of Europeans in North America, after 1492, resulted in significant changes in human-bison interactions, and changed the fabric of Native American life forever. Introduced diseases such as smallpox decimated indigenous human populations…, and altered subsistence, settlement, demography, and social organisation for many different groups. Bison hunting by native people was seasonal in nature. Bison were incorporated into a broad spectrum of plant and animal procurement activities…. Bison provided the economic basis for stable, resilient land use regimes and social systems. However, effects of Native American warfare and raiding during the historic period disrupted and destabilised these land use and social systems. The spread of horses into Great Plains aboriginal economies by the 1750s, and increasing commoditisation of bison products caused by the emergence of a European commercial market for wildlife products by the 1820s, contributed to the near extinction of the bison…. Native peoples traded bison hides for Euro-american commodities, with the market in bison robes reaching a peak in the 1840s. Hide hunters began to significantly participate in the market hunting of plains bison in the 1850s, and by the 1890s had decimated the herds. Even bones were cleaned for sale to the eastern fertilizer market, an activity that continued to 1906….

The bison is now extirpated from its original range across North America. Extirpation is a word ecologists use to refer to a species that no longer exists naturally in a particular area. In the case of the American bison, it no longer roams wild across an unlimited range, so it is considered extirpated—although it is not extinct. Extinct, in this context, means individuals of that species no longer exist.

Now, however, modern land use, including roads, communities, fields, and fenced pastures, mean that today’s bison cannot roam and graze as they did prior to this development. As the IUCN report notes:

Bison can best achieve their full potential as an evolving, ecologically interactive species in large populations occupying extensive native landscapes where human influence is minimal and a full suite of natural limiting factors is present. While such conditions remain available in the north of the continent, it is challenging to find extensive landscapes for restoring and sustaining large free-roaming wild bison populations in southern, agriculture-dominated regions. [page 2]

In the final summary, the report concludes:

The next 10-20 years present opportunities for conserving American bison as a wild species and restoring it as an important ecological presence in many North American ecosystems. Taking an ecosystem approach, which puts people and their natural resource use practices at the centre of decision-making, offers a paradigm for balancing the sometimes competing demands of bison conservation, the use of bison and biological diversity by people, and sustaining human communities in areas where there are many resource users combined with important natural values. To achieve ecological restoration at broad scales (large herds roaming across vast landscapes, at numerous locations) will require flexible approaches that can be adapted to a variety of legal and socio-economic conditions. Assembling large landscapes for conservation herds will typically involve several land tenure holders, potentially including public agencies, tribal governments, non-profit private organisations, and for-profit corporations or individual entrepreneurs. Diverse mandates, interests, and incentives will influence how stakeholders choose to manage land and wildlife, including bison. Creative new approaches are needed for forging enduring partnerships among land tenure holders for cooperative undertakings. Strategies may range from top-down government programmes to bottom-up market-based or cultural-based initiatives. Progress towards large-scale restoration will require a much more supportive framework of government policies and significant investment by both public and private sectors. Awareness and substantial public support are necessary at both the local level where restoration occurs, and among national constituencies for whom the bison is an iconic component of North America’s natural and cultural heritage. For ecological restoration of bison to be successful, careful assessment and understanding of biophysical, social, economic, legal, and political conditions are required for planning and implementation. This is particularly true where both community and agency support and involvement are required. This chapter provided guidelines for planning and implementing an ecological restoration project for bison, including feasibility assessment, selection of stock, preparation and release methods, assessing socio-economic and legal requirements, monitoring, evaluation, and adaptation. [page 112]

Although viable preservation of the species is the focus of the IUCN report, it also provides a good summary of the past of the American bison in North America, including a review of our understanding of human occupation of the Great Plains. Bison are known archaeologically from the Southeast, and bison trails are commonly believed to have been been incorporated into networks of human foot-trails (which later became the routes of roads and railroads).

Why do you think bison trails would have been used by humans?

Portrayal of Native American life on Jekyll Island (original painting by Melissa Crawford, Art Major at the University of West Georgia).

People have called the small barrier island now known as Jekyll home for many centuries, but only the most obvious and recent reminders of that history are usually recognized today. Each year thousands of visitors are introduced to the splendid “cottages” and manicured landscapes of the Jekyll Island Club and their connection with the rich and famous industry giants of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many also see the ruins of tabby structures that stand as silent memorials to English colonization of the Georgia coast during the 18th century and to the later plantation endeavors of the French owners of the island, the DuBignon family.

As important as these historic resources are, they represent only part of the total cultural heritage of Jekyll Island. What now stands above the ground is a fraction of the fragile evidence that marks this island’s remarkable past. Much more survives below the ground as archaeological evidence—the buried structural elements, landscape features, artifacts and food remains from the day to day lives of people over the millennia. At least 95 percent of the total patrimony of the island preceded British interests here. This place was the home of Native Americans for more than 4000 years before the first European arrived. Their history is Jekyll Island’s hidden cultural heritage, a past marked by traces of oyster shell on the ground surface and the buried archaeological remains left behind by countless generations.

Archaeological research has been undertaken from time to time on Jekyll Island for over 50 years, providing a basic sketch of the island’s cultural history. Dozens of archaeological sites have been recorded through survey efforts and limited excavations on the island and its nearby hammocks. The best-known historic sites—Horton House and Millionaire’s Village—were also the locations of major prehistoric sites, indicating that these high-ground areas that are easily accessible by water have remained prime real estate for many centuries. Other, mostly smaller, prehistoric settlements are located elsewhere on the island where good access was offered to important food resources.

The earliest known Native American occupation of Jekyll Island was by an early foraging culture associated with the St. Simons phase. Dating to as early as 2400 B.C., these people may have lived in permanent settlements used as central bases for collecting estuarine, riverine, and oak-forest food resources during a time of rising sea levels and evolving ecosystems. Overall population density was low all along the coast, with groups living on the barrier islands in settlements atop and around shell rings (large ring-shaped mounds of oyster shells and other food refuse) and along freshwater rivers on top of large shell mounds (which also were deposits shell and other refuse). Occupation was concentrated on the northern end of Jekyll Island at this time, perhaps the result of short-term visits by foraging groups from large nearby sites on St. Simons Island. However, the possibility exists that a shell ring may have been located along the northern edge of Jekyll Island in an area that now has been submerged by rising sea level and eroded by tidal actions and currents.

When sea level dropped to a temporary low-stand around 1,000 B.C., there were dramatic changes in the coastal ecosystem and St. Simons phase settlements were disrupted and their populations dispersed. An archaeological culture known as the Refuge phase then developed along the coast, perhaps representing descendents of the St. Simons phase groups, but no sites of this period have been recorded on Jekyll Island.

Occupation resumed on Jekyll Island sometime between roughly 500 B.C. and A.D. 700. Probably the first to resettle the island were small bands of semi-nomadic hunters-fishers-gatherers who were seasonal visitors to the island during the Deptford phase. These people overlapped with others of a different cultural tradition known as Swift Creek, marked by groups who immigrated to the coast from inland areas of Georgia. The largest identified Swift Creek settlement was located in the interior of the island and contained an earthen burial mound.

Sporadic occupation on the island occurred during the following Wilmington phase, beginning about A.D. 700 and continuing for some 300 years. Very little is known about the genesis of this culture and its adaptive patterns anywhere along the Georgia coast. It is suspected that small residential groups visited the island intermittently during this time for hunting, fishing, and gathering purposes.

Intensive Native American settlement occurred on Jekyll Island during the Savannah phase, beginning about A.D. 1000 and perhaps continuing until Spanish contact. This was associated with large populations who lived in permanent villages and had a mixed economy based upon horticulture (growing maize, beans, and squash) along with substantial reliance on estuarine and oak forest resources. A central adaptive characteristic of this socially and politically complex culture was the periodic movement of family groups from their villages during the year to harvest seasonally available resources in other areas. The prehistoric archaeological sites at the Horton House and Millionaires Village date primarily to the Savannah phase and, although severely disturbed in places by historical construction activities, they are two of the largest and most complex Native American settlements on Jekyll Island.

Little information is available about Native American occupation on Jekyll Island during the early historic period. The island was known to the Spaniards as the Isla de Ballenas (Island of Whales) and while 17th-century Franciscan missions among the Mocama natives evidently were located to the north on St. Simons Island and to the south on Cumberland Island, none were reported on Jekyll Island. However, archaeological evidence indicates there was a native presence on the island during the 16th and 17th centuries. Irene phase and Mission period native pottery types, more common at sites associated with the Guale in areas north of Jekyll Island, are rare but present at some of Jekyll’s archaeological sites. Pottery vessels associated with the Mocama in more southern areas of the Georgia coast appear to be very similar to earlier Savannah phase wares, suggesting the possibility that some sites on Jekyll Island now assigned to the late prehistoric period may contain materials that actually reflect Native American occupations during the Spanish Mission period.

Only the barest of details about Jekyll Island’s Native American past are known and much remains to be learned about this heritage. Archaeologists now have many more questions than they do answers. Buried beneath the feet of visitors to Jekyll Island is a complex and multidimensional puzzle of archaeological evidence, each piece an irreplaceable clue about the lives of people in the distant past who once called this island their home. As archaeological methods and scientific techniques advance, more and more will be learned about this hidden past and our lives in the present will be enriched by a better understanding of that heritage. However, the pieces of our puzzle are fragile and once destroyed are forever lost. In recognition of their importance to current and future generations, archaeological sites of Jekyll Island are protected under Georgia laws and Federal statutes, with civil and criminal penalties for their destruction or disturbance.

An artifact of Jekyll Island’s history of tourism.

Jekyll Island, owned by the people of Georgia and managed on their behalf by the Jekyll Island Authority, is a natural and cultural treasure to be both enjoyed and protected. Visitors to our remarkable island should be aware of the past hidden beneath their feet, marvel at its mysteries and untold stories, always act to sustain rather than disturb it, and walk away as advocates for archaeological preservation. The past is present on Jekyll Island and its legacies precious.

View east down Williamsburg’s Duke of Gloucester Street, from Google Earth, a free downloadable program.

If you want to have coffee in an historic eighteenth century coffeehouse, you can now do so! The drinks that are offered are tea, chocolate, and, of course, coffee!

R. Charlton’s Coffeehouse was dedicated at Colonial Williamsburg on the afternoon of Friday, November 20th, 2009. The present building is rebuilt from the ground up. The original structure is only known from archaeological and archival data. Notes the Colonial Williamsburg website and press release:

Archaeological evidence recovered from the coffeehouse site reflects the importance of fine dining as well as the consumption of tea, coffee and chocolate. Charlton offered an epicurean menu that included fish, shellfish, all kinds of meat and game, even peacock. Besides hot beverages, patrons could choose from a section of wines, beer and spirits. A fragment of a Cherokee pipe suggests the presence of Indians who may have been part of an official delegation. Other finds include a number of wig curlers, indicating Richard Charlton’s connection to the wig-making business, and several bones from an anatomical skeleton that was likely used in scientific presentations.

R. Charlton’s Coffeehouse is built on its original foundations with 18th-century construction techniques and in compliance with modern building codes. The finished reconstruction will appear as close to the original structure as historical, archaeological and architectural evidence permits. It incorporates substantial portions of the building’s original brick foundations. The one-and-a-half-story framed portion of the building—35 feet square—is constructed of hand-sawn timber framing covered with cypress weatherboards and white cedar roof shingles. A central brick chimney allows two of the three first floor rooms to have functional fireplaces, while in the cellar a massive hearth is the central feature of the reconstructed kitchen. Research indicates that at least two of three first floor rooms were used for serving food and beverages which were prepared in the cellar. Other rooms on the first and second floors may have been rented or used for lodging or living quarters.

The general history page of the Colonial Williamsburg website notes:

Williamsburg was the thriving capital of Virginia when the dream of American freedom and independence was taking shape and the colony was a rich and powerful land stretching west to the Mississippi River and north to the Great Lakes. For 81 formative years, from 1699 to 1780, Williamsburg was the political, cultural, and educational center of what was then the largest, most populous, and most influential of the American colonies. It was here that the fundamental concepts of our republic—responsible leadership, a sense of public service, self-government, and individual liberty—were nurtured under the leadership of patriots such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and Peyton Randolph.

Tickets to Colonial Williamsburg start at $36 for adults, so your visit to R. Charlton’s Coffeehouse will not be inexpensive, but where else can you enjoy am eighteenth-century style coffeehouse!

Maps, a video of the coffeehouse, and an online tour can also be found at the Colonial Williamsburg website.

All photos used in this story are copyright 2009 by Colonial Williamsburg, and were obtained from their website.

The Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta announces a lecture by SGA President and Fernbank Curator of Native American Archaeology Dennis Blanton, to be held on Sunday, November 1st, at 4 pm. The lecture is titled “De Soto’s Footsteps: New Archaeological Evidence in Georgia.”

The Fernbank press release says:

Hear first hand from Fernbank archaeologist Dennis Blanton as he discusses newly discovered Spanish artifacts and their significant contribution to our understanding of early Georgia History.

Fernbank archaeological expeditions have recovered elusive evidence of Europe’s expansion into the New World nearly 500 years ago. Rare artifacts of Spanish origin are turning up at an excavation in southeast Georgia where no one expected to see them. An unusually large number of metal objects and jewel-like glass beads, characteristic of the period 1500-1550, have been found in and around a surprisingly large Native American building. The findings are indicative of a place where initial, face-to-face contact occurred between exploring Spanish and native Indian people. The most plausible source of the Spanish artifacts is none other than the infamous conquistador, Hernando de Soto, who led a small army through the area of Georgia in 1540.

Access a PDF of the lecture announcement by clicking here.

You must pay the Museum admission fee to attend, unless you are a Museum member. Read more about the event at the Fernbank website by clicking here.

Download an archaeological report and list of artifacts recovered during recent research to locate, identify, and determine the level of preservation of as many locales as possible in the City of Savannah that are related to the October 9, 1779 Battle of Savannah. In short, for this research, archaeologists and SGA members Rita and Dan Elliott assembled all map information about the battle, then combined it with a recent digital map of the city to discover where prospecting for intact remains might be productive. They focused ground-truthing in modern green spaces, which again reminds us of another value of green spaces beyond their “greenness.” They examined specific locations in Madison Square, Lafayette Square, Emmet Park, Colonial Park Cemetery, Cuyler Park, Dixon Park, and Myers Park.

The report, authored by the Elliotts, is titled “Savannah under Fire, 1779: Identifying Savannah’s Revolutionary War Battlefield” and is dated June 2009. In part, the report abstract notes:

The project was extremely successful. Archeologists located a defensive ditch (almost two meters deep) dug by the British in 1779, defended during the battle, and in-filled by the Americans in 1782. The ditch lies in what is now Madison Square. Brick fragments/rubble in the ditch was part of the brick from the barracks razed by the British less than two weeks before the battle. The brick was used in the defenses around the Central redoubts and was pushed into the British trenches following the British evacuation of the city in 1782. In nearby Lafayette Square, archeologists discovered artifacts that were likely discarded by British soldiers occupying the defensive lines near and in the Central Redoubts, and by civilians associated with the soldiers. Emmet Park revealed a deep (3.5 ft.) feature that may have been constructed as part of the river battery associated with nearby Fort Prevost. Not only did archeologists discover evidence of numerous unmarked graves in Colonial Park Cemetery, but also an anomaly that appears to be one of the ditches running toward a redoubt. Archeologists found no evidence of Revolutionary War activity in Cuyler, Dixon, and Myers parks.

Perhaps surprisingly, the archaeological resources identified by this research were found to be in excellent condition.

This research was conducted by archaeologists with the Coastal Heritage Society, and primarily funded through the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program, with some matching funds from The LAMAR Institute. The Coastal Heritage Society, founded in 1975 and based in Savannah, has three historic archaeological sites: Old Fort Jackson National Historic Landmark, the Savannah History Museum, and the Roundhouse Railroad Museum.

Go to this page to download the report “Savannah under Fire, 1779″ and the project’s artifact catalogue. The report is a large PDF file, over 88 MB.

Read William Bartram’s Travels Through North & South Carolina, Georgia, East & West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges, or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws; Containing An Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions, Together with Observations on the Manners of the Indians, published in 1791, on the internet. You will miss the experience of turning aging pages, but you can read every word, and see some pictures, too!

This picture of the Seminole Chief (mico) is the book’s frontispiece. The mico wears many feathers, including attached to his headband and to an instrument or wand he’s holding. These may be symbols of his office and visually convey his high status.

During his travels in the late 1700s, Bartram was most interested in recording natural history, especially plants. But he traveled with Native American guides and stayed in their communities, so this book contains lots of first-person observations that archaeologists have combed to help them reconstruct Late Mississippian and early historic period Native American customs, foods, etc. Bartram also lists the names of Native towns, and some Native words.

Bartram notes on pages 32–34 about traveling up the Savannah River valley from the coast to Augusta, and of events he experienced in that then-frontier town in 1776:

THUS have I endeavoured to give the reader a short and natural description of the vast plain lying between the region of Augusta and the sea coast; for from Augusta the mountainous country begins (when compared to the level sandy plain already passed) although it is at least an hundred and fifty miles west, thence to the Cherokee or Apalachean mountains; and this space may with propriety be called the hilly country, every where fertile and delightful, continually replenished by innumerable rivulets, either coursing about the fragrant hills, or springing from the rocky precipices, and forming many cascades; the coolness and purity of which waters invigorate the air of this otherwise hot and sultry climate.

THE village of Augusta is situated on a rich and fertile plain, on the Savanna river; the buildings are near its banks, and extend nearly two miles up to the cataracts, or falls, which are formed by the first chain of rocky hills, through which this famous river forces itself, as if impatient to repose on the extensive plain before it invades the ocean. When the river is low, which is during the summer months, the cataracts are four or five feet in height across the river, and the waters continue rapid and broken, rushing over rocks five miles higher up: this river is near five hundred yards broad at Augusta.

A FEW days after our arrival at Augusta, the chiefs and warriors of the Creeks and Cherokees being arrived, the Congress and the business of the treaty came on, and the negociations continued undetermined many days; the merchants of Georgia demanding at least two millions of acres of land from the Indians, as a discharge of their debts, due, and of long standing; the Creeks, on the other hand, being a powerful and proud spirited People, their young warriors were unwilling to submit to so large a demand, and their conduct evidently betrayed a disposition to dispute the ground by force of arms, and they could not at first be brought to listen to reason and amicable terms; however, at length, the cool and deliberate counsels of the ancient venerable chiefs, enforced by liberal presents of suitable goods, were too powerful inducements for them any longer to resist, and finally prevailed. The treaty concluded in unanimity, pace, and good order; and the honorable Superintendant, not forgetting his promise to me, at the conclusion, mentioned my business, and recommended me to the protection of the Indian chiefs and warriors. The presents being distributed amongst the Indians, they departed, returning home to their towns. A company of surveyors were appointed, by the Governor and Council, to ascertain the boundaries of the new purchase; they were to be attended by chiefs of the Indians, selected and delegated by their countrymen, to assist, and be witnesses that the articles of the treaty were fulfilled, as agreed to by both parties in Congress.

Bartram’s final observations, on pages 521–522, are on the architecture of the Native Americans:

BUT in all the region of the Muscogulge country, South-West from the Oakmulge River quite to the Tallapoose, down to the city of Mobile, and thence along the sea coast, to the Mississipi, I saw no signs of mountains or highways, except at Taensa, where were several inconsiderable conical mountains, and but one instance of the tetragon terraces which was at the Apalachucla old town, on the West banks of that river; here were yet remaining conspicuous monuments, as vast four square terraces, chunk yards, &c. almost equalling those eminent ones at the Oakmulge fields; but no high conical mounts. Those Indians have a tradition that these remains are the ruins of an ancient Indian town and fortress. I was not in the interior parts of the Chactaw territories, and therefore am ignorant whether there are any mounts or monuments there.

To conclude this subject concerning the monuments of the Americans, I deem it necessary to observe as my opinion, that none of them that I have seen discover the least signs of the arts, sciences, or architecture of the Europeans or other inhabitants of the old world: yet evidently betray every sign or mark of the most distant antiquity.

This document is offered by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as part of its digital resources called “Documenting the American South,” available here.

SGA’s 2008 poster for Archaeology Month is “Archaeological Encounters in Georgia’s Spanish Period.” In this dramatic and eye-catching presentation, three human figures in outline dominate the poster’s imagery.

The figure on the left is of a Spanish Conquistador. He is identifiable because of the shape of his helmet, and because of his sword.

The figure in the middle is a Native American. He wears a breechclout and carries upward-pointing arrows.

The figure on the right is a Spanish Catholic friar or priest. He wears a baggy garment and a Christian cross.

All these figures are male. Why do you think the poster was designed with only men, and no women and children?

SGA’s 2008 Archaeology Month topic was “Archaeological Encounters in Georgia’s Spanish Period” and the Society produced an accompanying lesson plan for teachers. Part of the background text reads:

We may never know exactly how the first meeting went between Spanish explorers and Native American Indians in Georgia. However, archaeologists have found enough evidence to get a pretty good idea.

At first, it seems that Indian people tried to understand the Spanish strangers in traditional ways. Before the Spanish showed up, the Indians had given certain objects special meaning. Some goods were so unique that they were considered to have a really high value. Goods like these were owned and controlled by the leaders of the Indian chiefdoms. They included objects that were rare or hard to make like shell beads and monolithic axes. These items were so special that they were buried with their owners.

When the Spanish showed up, they brought brand new goods made of brand new materials that the Indians had never seen before. These new things were made of materials like iron and glass, and they included objects like beads and tools. At first, the Spanish only traded with the Indians leaders. The new European objects were considered to be just as special as the traditional high status goods. They too were kept in special places and buried with the few elite Indians who owned them.

Early Spanish visitors came with different plans. Some came to search the land for gold and riches. Others came to capture native Indians to be used as slaves. Still other Spanish visitors came to set up permanent colonies in Georgia so that they could stay and control the land.

The first known meeting between Indians and the Spanish happened in 1526. A Spanish explorer named Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón tried to start a new Spanish settlement on the coast of Georgia. He brought 600 people with him. The new town didn’t last for long however. After only six weeks, the colony broke apart because of many hardships and disagreements.

Archaeologists have no firm evidence where Ayllón’s colony actually was but European goods have been found near the coast. They were found through archaeology conducted on Indian burial mounds. These excavations revealed artifacts like beads, coins, and iron tools.

Click here to download the lesson plan on this topic.

This has been another great year for the Greater Atlanta Archaeological Society, with membership increases and excellent monthly meeting programs. We are pleased to have new members from many backgrounds, including professional archaeologists, students, and avocational archaeologists. We want to thank SGA for continuing support in helping to recruit members and speakers for our monthly meetings.

Our November meeting attracted more than 40 members and guests who participated in the hands-on examination, identification and classification of pottery sherds from the southeastern Georgia site of Santa Isabel de Utinahica, the Spanish mission first built around 1506. Dennis Blanton, Archaeologist in Charge, provided the artifacts, instructions, supervision, and encouragement for the proper completion of the lab work by GAAS participants. Much more is yet to come, as there will be an additional three weeks of work done at the site before 2007 expires! Predictions are that‚ “history will be changed” by the findings. EXCITING!

December 11th is our annual meeting date. Allen Vegotsky is Chair of the nominating committee, and he has a slate of new officers and board members who will produce new growth and activities in 2008. GAAS members, former GAAS members, and visitors are invited to join our Pre-Meeting Potluck Dinner at 7:30 on December 11, 2007. If you have not already done so, please call our hotline—(404) 315-8088—to reserve your place and get directions to the meeting place.

January will feature Lloyd Schroder who will present‚ “An Overview of Florida’s Anthropology.” Lloyd has published a book recently which provides in-depth descriptions, with history and illustrations of lithic points and tools found in Florida and South Georgia. The book is a single source for identification of points going back to the Paleo-Indian occupation. It will be a good opportunity to get an autographed copy of the book for your library.

February will bring Carey Geiger‚ “back from Mobile” with a new PowerPoint presentation of recently recovered Clovis and Pre-Clovis artifacts from the Topper Site. This will be a MUST SEE program.

GAAS is pleased to have a new Program Chair, Christine Van Roosen, who is working hard and rapidly to fill the program dates for 2008. Please contact Christine with your suggestions and ideas via email at crz3@cde.gov.

Southeastern Archaeological Research, Inc. (SEARCH) of Jonesville, Florida conducted limited Phase II test excavations at two archaeological sites (9CF17 and 9CF71) located within the proposed Broxton Rocks wetlands mitigation bank near the Ocmulgee River in Coffee County, Georgia, in September of 2005. The project report was completed in March of 2006. The scope of work for the project was developed in consultation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District.

Background research conducted prior to entering the field included interviews with archaeologists Frankie Snow and Nancy White and an examination of existing collections from both sites, which are curated at South Georgia College in Douglas. Both sites were originally recorded by Snow, who conducted surface collections over a period of several years during the 1970s. Snow also excavated a burial from 9CF17 that was exposed by erosion and later conducted a salvage excavation of an elliptical arrangement of mussel shells and faunal bone that he interpreted as representing a Spanish Mission-period aboriginal dwelling. The collection from 9CF17 includes over 3,000 ceramic sherds, (fiber-tempered, Deptford Check Stamped, Swift Creek Complicated Stamped, Ocmulgee Cord Marked, Lamar Incised and Complicated Stamped, and San Marcos Simple Stamped, Check Stamped, and Complicated Stamped), a small but exceptionally well-preserved sample of faunal remains (bone and freshwater mussel shell), a large number of projectile points and lithic waste flakes, several pipe fragments, steatite fragments, clay pipe fragments, a few glass beads, and a small copper ornament. The collection from 9CF71 is much smaller and consists of a few sherds (fiber-tempered, cordmarked), a concave-base projectile point, and some waste flakes.

During 16 field days, a crew of four archaeologists excavated 298 shovel tests at 20-m intervals across both sites, visually inspected the ground surface for any exposed artifacts or features, and excavated six 1×2-m test units (four at 9CF17 and two at 9CF71). The results indicate that 9CF17 contains intact archaeological deposits dating from the Kirk phase of the Early Archaic period through the Ocmulgee phase of the Late Woodland period. A possible historic Mission period component also was identified. 9CF71 was found to contain very few artifacts within the recorded site area. No features or midden staining were encountered.