Between 2004 and 2006, Southern Research conducted two separate data recovery investigations at the Leake site, located in the Etowah River floodplain just southwest of Cartersville in Bartow County. Conducted for the Georgia Department of Transportation, Bartow County Water Department, and Georgia Power, both of these data recovery projects were limited to the newly expanded right-of-way in advance of the widening of Highways 61/113. Through mechanical stripping and test unit excavation, the data recovery excavations uncovered approximately 4,650 square meters of the site.

The Leake site is comprised of state sites 9BR2, 663, 664, 665, 666, 667, and 668 and covers at least 115 acres; three sites (9BR17, 24, and 194) on Ladds Mountain across the river appear to have been important components of the Leake cultural landscape as well. The primary occupation dates to the Middle Woodland period circa 300 B.C. – 650 A.D, while a significant Late Mississippian village component, investigated by David Hally, Jim Rudolph, and Jim Langford during the 1988-1990 University of Georgia field schools, is present in the area of Mound A. Investigations at Leake have documented significant archaeological deposits, including the remains of three mounds, extensive midden deposits, structural remains, craft production and ceremonial feasting deposits, and a probable circular ditch/moat enclosure. With each end appearing to connect to the river, the ditch enclosure situates Mounds A and B on an island and separates the Cartersville and Swift Creek components. Non-local and ideologically-valuable artifacts indicative of Hopewellian interregional interaction, such as Ohio Flint Ridge blades, human and animal figurines, cut mica, copper, galena, and quartz crystals are present at the site, particularly within the Swift Creek area of the site. The cultural and geographical positioning were important factors for the development of Leake into a major Hopewellian ceremonial center that linked the Southeast and the Midwest during the Middle Woodland period. In short, the data indicate that the Leake site served as a gateway city between these two regions, a place where peoples from both areas congregated for rituals and ceremonies.

The Leake site complex is an archaeological resource of state (and national) significance. With this in mind, it was at the Fort Daniel Faire in Gwinnett County that the idea for attempting to place the site on the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2010 Places in Peril listing was born (Fort Daniel was on the 2009 Places in Peril list). The Places in Peril list includes historic resources in Georgia that are in danger of being destroyed, whether from neglect, development, or otherwise. In conversation with Larissa Thomas at the Faire, The Profile editor, revealed that the Trust was looking for an archaeological site for inclusion on the Places in Peril list, which predominantly lists above-ground historic resources. Larissa introduced me to Jordan Poole, Georgia Trust Field Services Manager and director of the Places in Peril, who encouraged me to submit the Leake site for consideration. Dean Wood and I completed and submitted the application, and a few months later we learned that the site was chosen.

While the site boundary has never been systematically defined, the known area of the Leake site extends across several different ownership parcels. Significant portions of the site are owned by the City of Cartersville and Bartow County, both of whom have done an outstanding job of protecting their parcels. However, the preservation of several privately-owned parcels is in doubt, as the Leake site area is being rapidly developed. Although the known extent of the site does not extend to the north much beyond the railroad tracks, the area north of the railroad is an industrial park. Given the nature of the Leake site, it is not unlikely that related deposits are present north of the tracks, and there is some evidence of a fourth mound north of the railroad adjacent the river.

Less than 30 years ago, there were no modern buildings within the known boundaries of the site (see 1981 aerial photograph). By the time of the first UGA field school in 1988, one had been erected east of Mound A, while two were constructed in the area of Mound C, one of which sits atop the northern half of Mound C. By the late 1990’s when Southeastern Archaeological Services tested the site, two modern buildings had been erected in the area of Mounds A and B.

During the course of the data recovery excavations, the City was looking into purchasing a two-acre parcel on which a portion of Mound A is located. However, the landowner of the adjacent parcel, who operates a business on the site, purchased the two-acre parcel, an immediate threat to Mound A due to his plans to expand the parking lot. Already having graveled over the northern portion of Mound A on the existing parcel, the future of the southern portion of Mound A was in serious doubt. Thus, a group of concerned persons worked to get the City to swap an adjoining non-mound parcel they own with the business owner. While the southern portion of Mound A was protected in this manner, a large area immediately southwest of this mound (including a portion of the ditch) is now under the expanded parking lot.

Further, piecemeal attrition of the site has continued. The northeastern corner of the site, an approximately 6 acre area contained by the ditch feature and bounded by the highway and River Court has recently been developed despite the documented presence of a midden in this area.

During the coming year, we plan to use the exposure and support from the Places in Peril listing to raise awareness of the site in hopes that the remaining portions can be protected. We plan to conduct educational meetings in the community and with county and city officials to raise support for protection of the site. We plan to have an event at the site for the 2010 Archaeology Month. We will be doing interviews, we are forming a “Friends of the Leake Site” group (we have an informal one on Facebook), we will be regularly updating the website about Leake, and we will be giving talks and lectures. Perhaps most importantly, our goal is to raise money to purchase the privately-owned parcels for preservation. So spread the word, get involved, help us out, so that we can protect the remaining portions of the Leake site from being lost. Please do not hesitate to contact Scot Keith (home email, work email) or Dean Wood (work email) for more information.

Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia has been the focus of an important archaeological discovery over the last three years. In August of 2006 during excavation for a fiber-optic utility line in the heart of the Airfield’s cantonment, construction workers encountered several bones quite unexpectedly. All work on the utility trench ceased immediately and the Installation’s archaeologist, Brian Greer, investigated the disturbed burial and determined that the remains were that of one individual buried in a coffin. It was at that point the Installation realized there was a strong possibility that an unknown cemetery may have been lost to time.

New South team member Andrew Belcourt shovel skims a burial feature taking care not to disturb the remains that lie beneath (photograph courtesy of New South Associates, Inc.).

In order to complete the excavation of the utility trench and avoid disturbing any other graves that may be in the vicinity, a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) unit was brought in to guide the remaining portion of the trench. As a result of the GPR, additional suspected graves were noted nearby and the path of the utility trench was altered slightly to avoid any further disturbances. Additional work was halted and the Installation initiated a larger radar sweep of the surrounding area. The location under examination consisted of two boulevards, a paved parking lot, and several grassy medians. After extensive radar sweeps of the location, the potential for a significant number of burials was suggested by the radar.

Upon the realization that this initial single burial may actually be part of a much larger unknown cemetery, the Installation contracted the services of New South Associates, Inc. in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District. The initial goal was to determine the size and origin of the cemetery. Although archaeological surveys had been previously conducted nearby, no signs of any cemetery were ever encountered. According to base records, the parking lot and boulevards had been in existence for over 50 years.

Remnant of the only inscribed grave marker recovered (photograph courtesy of New South Associates, Inc.).

Upon the discovery of the initial burial, the Installation contacted the State Historic Preservation Office. Through close coordination and monitoring by staff archaeologists, the Installation was able to successfully complete the installation of the fiber optic cable without disturbing any additional suspected remains.

The discovery of a cemetery in such an environment created a challenge to the contracted mortuary archaeologists. Since the cemetery lies beneath asphalt and concrete, a significant amount of time and effort was required to remove this obstruction. The parking lot and road removal was carefully monitored by the Installation and New South Associates, Inc. over several days to ensure no burials were damaged. After 2 acres of asphalt and concrete were removed, the underlying soil was exposed. Due to the sandy nature of this hill, the grave outlines were not discernable until approximately 10 cm above each burial. Typical burial shafts that would normally be visible closer to the original surface had been obliterated over time. After weeks of careful backhoe excavation and hand shoveling by New South Associates, a total of 37 burials were discovered.

Of these 37 graves, a sample was examined to determine their condition and potential for eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as a cemetery of significance. With minimal intrusion, it was determined that the cemetery represented an African-American cemetery dating from the 1880s to the 1910s. Furthermore, the condition of the burials indicated good preservation, and therefore the cemetery was considered to be a potential candidate for the NRHP.

This small bisque lamb figurine represents one of the various grave goods found during excavation of the cemeteries (photograph courtesy of New South Associates, Inc.).

Initial examination of Installation documents and historic maps did not provide any clues to the origins of this lost cemetery. Therefore, the Installation looked to the public for help. Since the area was planned for further development, the Installation solicited public input from the surrounding communities through newspaper announcements, television interviews, and public meetings. Unfortunately, no members of the public came forward with information pertaining to this cemetery. Although this cemetery was just over a hundred years old, it appeared the memory of its existence had faded completely.

After efforts to solicit comments from the public, consultation with the SHPO, and through the course of an Environmental Assessment, it was determined that the best course of action was to archaeologically excavate the cemetery and respectfully reinter the burials within an existing cemetery elsewhere on the Installation (known as Belmont Cemetery). With future upgrades to the road and parking lot associated with the construction of a new barracks complex for the Rangers, a research plan was developed through a Memorandum of Agreement with the Georgia SHPO in order to mitigate the adverse effects of relocation of this NRHP eligible cemetery.

Custom engraved cufflink depicting an unknown church (photograph courtesy of New South Associates, Inc.).

Upon completion of the regulatory process, the mortuary archaeologists began the long task of hand excavating each grave, mapping every burial, and carefully recovering all grave materials for future reburial. Over the next several weeks, all burials were fully documented and the remains transferred to secure mortuary caskets for future reburial. The entire contents of the coffin, including the coffin fragments themselves, were stored with each burial. This entire assemblage was measured and photographed in order to document all available clues to the identity of the individuals interred.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Installation, another cemetery was being investigated. During the 1950s and 1970s, several burials were encountered during construction of an exercise course for the Rangers. At that time, all remains were excavated and moved to Belmont Cemetery. In 1994, during upgrades to the exercise course, an additional burial was encountered. Work halted and the burial was moved to the Belmont Cemetery. Due to the number of burials encountered, the Installation initiated a GPR survey of the exercise field in 1995. Several potential graves were identified and a sample of these radar “anomalies” were excavated. No additional graves were encountered, and it was believed that the likelihood for additional burials was very low to non-existent. However, a small portion of the exercise field had not been sampled due to large oak trees and other obstacles that interfered with the radar. With mortuary archaeologists and an available radar unit already on site, the Installation decided that an attempt to examine the areas missed by the previous radar survey was in order.

An unusual collection of 9 sets of eyeglasses from a single burial (photograph courtesy of New South Associates, Inc.).

Initially, the radar results of this second look indicated only a small number of potential graves. All suspected graves were examined archaeologically, and it was not until the very last radar anomalies were examined that a single grave was encountered. As a matter of procedure, a 20-foot area around this grave was excavated to ensure no other graves had been missed by the radar. It was this 20-foot expansion that eventually led to the removal of almost an acre of topsoil to expose the boundaries of this other lost cemetery. After all exploratory work was done, an additional 385 burials were recovered from this missing portion of the 1995 radar survey.

1889 map depicting “Negro Cemetery”.

During the investigation of this second cemetery, an extensive document search in the city of Savannah finally revealed a single map from 1889 labeling the area as a “Negro Cemetery.” Coupled with the examination of the skeletal remains as well as the age of coffin materials recovered, it was determined that this second cemetery was an African-American cemetery dating from the same time period as the first cemetery (i.e. 1880s to 1910s). Similar to the first cemetery, the remains were relatively well preserved and held the potential to provide significant information about a segment of the population of Savannah that has gone virtually unrecorded. Consequently, this cemetery was also deemed significant as a historical cemetery and underwent the same regulatory and decision making processes to respectfully move the graves to a more peaceful resting place in the Belmont Cemetery.

After all regulatory requirements were met and all burials were carefully excavated, the remains were all reinterred to the Belmont Cemetery. This cemetery was established in 1951 when the Army encountered several unmarked graves during the expansion of the airfield, and it proved to be the most suitable resting place for the newly discovered remains.

Final resting ground for the 2 relocated cemeteries- Belmont Cemetery named after the Old Belmont Plantation.

During African-American History Month in February 2009, the Installation coordinated a rededication ceremony presided over by the Installation’s Garrison Commander and Chaplain. Members of the community were invited to this important ceremony, which was held for both cemeteries. Although no descendants have been identified from these two cemeteries, the rededication ceremony provided important closure to one individual in attendance. Mr. Drayton, who learned of the upcoming ceremony through his family, sat quietly in the audience. It was quickly learned that Mr. Drayton’s grandfather was buried in the original portion of the Belmont Cemetery when it was established in 1951. For Mr. Drayton, the ceremony “was a wonderful thing,” and he considered it “one of the greatest days of his life.” Until that ceremony, Mr. Drayton and his family never knew where their grandfather’s grave had been relocated. For now, at least one of the unknown markers in the Belmont Cemetery has a name and is among the honored dead.

Research continues by New South Associates on the information collected during the excavation of these important cemeteries; one goal is to find names for the remaining forgotten individuals. From this work, future researchers will begin to shed new light on the lives of African Americans during the Post-Emancipation era in the Savannah area. New South Associates’ final report of investigation is nearing completion and is expected to be completed in the months ahead. From these two cemeteries, a significant amount of information pertaining to the lifeways of African-American residents of the Georgia Coastal Plain will shed light on a relatively recent, yet forgotten past.

Archaeological crews from the American Museum of Natural History have been excavating on St. Catherines Island for over 30 years. This fall we returned to the island with a very specific, yet far reaching research plan.

Over the past four years, much of our research has focused on two Late Archaic shell rings (2400–1800 B.C.); the St. Catherines Shell Ring and the McQueen Shell Ring. These sites are roughly 70 m in diameter and are represented by a ring of deposited marine shell that measures about 10 m wide and 2 m deep and an interior “plaza” that measures between 30–40 m in diameter (see The Profile, Winter 2008 for a brief synopsis). Our research at these sites thus far has been comprised of geophysical prospection (soil resistivity, ground penetrating radar, gradiometry, topography, and shell density) and both minor and major archaeological testing (shovel test pits, vibra-cores, test units, trenches, and block excavations). Despite all of this work, we have been ignoring one of the most intriguing aspects of these sites; the surrounding landscape.

To better understand the archaeological landscape around the rings, we conducted a shovel test pit survey (at 20-m intervals) around the St. Catherines shell ring in the fall of 2008. Out of 458 shovel test pits, only 7 produced ceramics that are contemporaneous with the shell ring. The data suggests that the ring was the only substantial Late Archaic presence in this section of St. Catherines Island. This interesting revelation sparked a series of questions concerning the landscape the shell rings occupy. For instance; do contemporaneous sites exist outside the shell ring? During what other time periods did people utilized this space? What are the stratigraphic differences/similarities between the rings?

Marc Lorenc and Leigh Davidson excavating a shovel test pit at McQueen Shell Ring.

With these questions in mind we devised a survey that would incorporate our previous shovel testing while at the same time improving on the quantity and quality of information previously gained. A 20-m shovel testing interval was conducted within 250 m of the shell ring while an additional finer 10-m interval was used within 150 m of the ring.

Fieldwork for this project has just wrapped up and therefore, specific results of the survey are pending. However, preliminary distribution maps generated in the field have provided some interesting insights. The area immediately surrounding the shell rings seems to lack any Late Archaic material, suggesting a lack of significant contemporaneous activity around the rings that would lead to deposition events. The only contemporaneous Late Archaic material comes from 3–4 isolated test pits 100–150 m away from the ring.

GIS map of the McQueen Shell Ring (shell density in blue at center) surrounded by proposed 10- and 20-m interval shovel test pits. The green circle marks the 150-m radius; the blue circle marks the 250-m radius.

This survey has given us a fantastic opportunity to juxtapose two intriguing archaeological sites and their archaeological surroundings. Currently we have plans to complete the artifact analysis and integrate those data with our current GIS platform in the effort to better understand the distribution of material culture and the landscape setting upon which these shell rings exist.

Families visiting the rock shelter site during the Winn Faire.

The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society (GARS) held a public archaeology day at the Creekside Rock Shelter on the property of the historic Elisha Winn House in the Gwinnett County during the 2009 Winn Faire (October 13 and 14). The Faire, sponsored by the Gwinnett Historical Society (GHS), brought hundreds of visitors to the site where Jim D’Angelo and GARS members answered questions about archaeological method in general, and the on-going work at the rock shelter site in particular. Several youths lent a hand at screening. Though no new artifacts were recovered that weekend, previous digs at the site have produced an Archaic projectile point, a trade bead and Lamar ceramics (see the story on this website).

Catherine Long screening with young visitors to the rock shelter site.

The Creekside Rock Shelter final photograph after clean-up.

GARS and the newly incorporated, not-for-profit, Fort Daniel Foundation (FDF), also had a booth at the Faire where Fort Daniel artifacts as well as artifacts from previous GARS excavations on the Winn property, were featured. The exhibit was displayed in FDF’s 1812 War period wall tent that was purchased through donations for this purpose. Shannon Coffee, GHS, GARS and FDF historian and GARS/FDF member Christine Durgan greeted visitors dressed in late 18th–early 19th century clothing.

The FDF expects to have tax-exempt status in early 2010, after which it can aggressively pursue grants for development of the proposed approximately 15-acre Fort Daniel Historic and Archaeological Research Park. The master plan for this park was developed by jB+a, inc. in 2009 with a preservation grant the Friends of Fort Daniel obtained from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation (see http://thesga.org/category/publications/the-profile/summer-2009-issue/). Even though purchase of the 3 tracts for the proposed park from SPLOST funds has been deferred due to the poor economy, the Foundation is proceeding with optimism.

On November 14 GARS members, under the direction of Jim D’Angelo, continued limited excavations at the Fort Daniel site, focusing on “chasing” the palisade wall trenches of the south and west walls in order to determine the size of the fort (see the story on this website). At its November 17 meeting, member Scot Keith spoke about the Leake site, recently named to the 2010 Georgia Trust Places in Peril list. GARS active membership now stands at 31 and includes 4 Georgia archaeologists.

Both GARS and FDF have web sites, which detail their respective missions and activities as well as meeting times.

Satellite view of the Poverty Point site, from Google Earth. North is to the right in this screen grab.

Poverty Point is a famous prehistoric mound and village site in far northeast Louisiana, along a terrace adjacent to a tributary of the Mississippi River now called Bayou Marçon. The most dramatic earthen structures are a series of broken concentric arcs; however, several more traditionally shaped circular/rectangular mounds predate the arc-shaped earthworks. The arcs “face” east, or toward the rising sun. In the photo above, east is to the bottom of the image.

This summer (2009), the site, a State Park, hosted a research team lead by Diana Greenlee, of the Department of Geosciences at University of Louisiana at Monroe. According to the online news website thenewstar.com of Monroe, Greenlee and ULM students undertook excavations in the central plaza area to enable them to better understand buried circular features. Greenlee says that they can now date each of the four circles they tested. “We were able to establish that the different magnetic characteristics of the circles in the plaza correspond to different kinds of constructions,” she said, according to thenewstar.com article.

The Poverty Point are dated to the Terminal Archaic, approximately 1650–700 BC. Artifacts from the site include stone tools and other objects that came from afar, so the occupants of the site had access to a long-distance trading network, or traveled far themselves to bring these special objects back home.

The Louisiana park website for Poverty Point includes the text of a 1996 (second edition) volume on the site called “Poverty Point: A Terminal Archaic Culture of the Lower Mississippi Valley” by Jon L. Gibson. The text has been divided for easier loading and reading:

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.

Overhead satellite view of Herodion/Herodium in screen grab from Google Earth, a free program available via the Internet.

Archaeology abounds in mysteries, a few solved and many, many unsolved.

One of the latter has been the location of Biblical King Herod’s tomb. Historical records introduce details that we would not know if all we had were archaeological data, and thus records—for example, manuscripts, diaries and bureaucratic archives—indicate real events and places that also become archaeological mysteries when we seek to substantiate them.

The cover story of the July 2009 issue of Smithsonian magazine discusses the search for Herod’s tomb, assumed from records to be in or around Herod’s fortified mountain-top palace, known variously as Herodion, Herodium, and Jabal al-Fraidees (the latter in Arabic). Barbara Krieger, author of the Smithsonian article, notes:

Ongoing excavations…reveal the impressive variety of facilities that Herod built at his desert retreat, including a royal theater that accommodated some 450 spectators.

In May 2007, an archaeological team headed by Professor Ehud Netzer of Hebrew University “discovered hundreds of red limestone fragments buried in the mountainside”—not in the palace at the top of the mountain.

Reassembling some of the pieces, Netzer concluded they were all that remained of a sarcophagus more than eight feet long with a gabled cover. The high quality of the craftsmanship suggested the sarcophagus was fit for a king. Plus, the extent of the fragmentation suggested that people had deliberately smashed it—a plausible outcome for the hated monarch’s resting place. Based on coins and other items found nearby, Netzer surmises that the desecration occurred during the first Jewish revolt against the Romans, from A.D. 66 to 73.

Read the Smithsonian article by clicking here.

Click here to read the May 2007 article announcing the find by ScienceDaily.

Read the Wikipedia entry on this dramatic hilltop archaeological site by clicking here.

This huge planter built of natural stone cemented together is one of several pieces of nineteenth-century decorative architecture you can see in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park.

These eye-catching planters, along with paved walkways and fancy stairways, are all the obvious architecture that remain of the stone construction for two massive fairs, the 1887 Piedmont Exposition, and the 1895 International and Cotton States Exposition. A huge oval track built for horse races has been converted to a walking or jogging track—no horses, or even dogs, allowed!

The huge display halls from the Exposition are long gone, but these modest architectural features still survive. Note that a modern building that’s part of the Atlanta Botanical Garden complex, looms not far behind this planter.

Superposition is a big word that refers to locating one thing atop another thing. Archaeological researchers discover superpositioned objects all the time. Sometimes it’s difficult to determine just when the superpositioning occurred—whether the two objects were abandoned more or less simultaneously, or whether they were left during events hundreds of years apart. In the case of these two features of the built environment, the planter and the garden building, they indeed were built over a century apart in time.

Earthworms leave the soil (at least some species do) when there’s a lot of rain, because the soil can get so moist they begin to drown.

Archaeologists mostly deal with abandoned objects and places where people once lived or did other activities. After abandonment, these objects and locales are subject to various disturbances—from natural processes, from wild creatures, and from later human visitors—and even from dogs!

One post-abandonment disturbance we think about is the effect of earthworms. They burrow through the soil, producing micro-tunnels that can introduce organic matter and allow air and water to move through the soil more easily, and change the soil chemistry. Although these processes happen at a small scale relative to many archaeological features like foundations and fire pits, they still disturb the abandoned remains. Earthworm activity is an example of bioturbation, or natural processes by living things, including both plants and animals.

Researchers report that even soils that are not very hospitable to earthworms may host tens of thousands of them per acre. If an archaeological site has been abandoned for five centuries, how great an effect do you think earthworms have had on the site? What if the site has been abandoned five times that long?

Scientists have to figure out how to solve all kinds of problems that seem like they shouldn’t be problems until you think about them.

So, how do you describe a color so I know the exact shade you’re talking about?

Sure, we know navy blue, which most of us know as a distinct shade of dark blue. And we have fire-engine red, which most of us would also recognize.

But.

What if you’re an archaeologist carefully digging in the soil, and you pick up your notebook and you want to describe the exact shade of yellowy-browny-beige soil that you have just exposed. How do you do that so, even twenty years later, a reader will know just what color that soil was?

Well, use a Munsell Soil Color Chart!

These charts are published in special (expensive!) books with little carefully made color chips on each page. You take a small soil sample and hold it behind the page and move it around until you see it through a hole that’s next to a color that’s identical to it. Thus, Munsell Soil Color Charts provide a standard way of identifying colors.

An archaeologist who has excavated across the Georgia piedmont will recognize that 10YR5/4 refers to a soil of a particular, pleasant medium-brown hue. That color is on the chip in the fourth row from the top, and fourth chip from the left in this picture.

10YR refers to a certain saturation or brightness of yellow-red (the YR part). The five refers to a medium darkness, and the four refers to how yellowy the brown is.

Got it?

For technical information about how the colors have been determined, check this web page on the US Department of Agriculture website.

Careful excavation and detailed note-taking are hallmarks of well-managed archaeological projects. This is because archaeology is a destructive science—any square centimeter of an archaelogical deposit can only be excavated once. There is no second chance.

Therefore, when archaeologists excavate, not only do they look for solid objects (for example, artifacts), they optimize the opportunity for noticing faint color and texture changes in the soil that signal something significant. Drip lines are an example of a kind of subtle evidence that a sharp eye can spot in the soil.

A drip line is made by falling water, usually rainwater. It looks like a series of little holes made by the action of drips repeated in one place. The little holes etch in the soil an echo of an edge up above, like the upper brow of a rock shelter or the margin of a roof that doesn’t have a rain gutter.

The photos record another kind of drip line, made by the slats of a hanging bench in an Atlanta park.

After the object that allows the drip line to form is gone, soil fills in the little holes the water made. The new soil may be a different color and texture. Therefore, when this part of the site is carefully excavated, the drip line can look like a line of dots. The archaeologist knows there was some kind of “edge” above the drip line.

Go find a drip line. Think about what valuable information it indicates about the object above it that made the drip line. Did a roof edge make the drip line? If this were an archaeological site, and you found this drip line, what would it tell you? What if you had information about other nearby features, like building foundations?

In October 2007, TRC began data recovery excavations at The Spirit Hill Site, 1JA642, a multi-component prehistoric site on the Tennessee River in northeastern Alabama. We completed the fieldwork in May 2008, and are currently involved in the analysis and reporting. Data recovery operations focused on a 2.81-acre tract in the central portion of site that received 100 percent excavation coverage, but our investigations also included the removal of prehistoric human burials that were unexpectedly encountered in a 1.52-acre area to the south. The work consisted of test unit excavation, backhoe trenches, mechanical stripping, and feature excavation. Because of the site’s complex stratigraphy, mechanical stripping to expose cultural features was conducted in multiple episodes after each level of burial and feature excavation was finished to expose additional features further down the soil column. During the data recovery efforts, pit features, postholes, structures, canine burials, and human burials, were identified, mapped, and documented. Early Archaic, Early, Middle, and Late Woodland, and Mississippian components have been identified at the site, but the vast majority of features are associated with Late Woodland and Early Mississippian occupations.

We excavated over 600 non-burial features at 1JA642, including small to very large hearths, storage/refuse pits, smudge pits, and rock clusters. A majority of the features consisted of shallow or amorphous pits with a monolithic fill zone, but some exhibited zoned, multi-event fill layers. Many of the largest and deepest pit features are associated with the Archaic period components. Non-burial features are yielding ethnobotanical and zooarchaeological data on subsistence and seasonality, while the lithic and ceramic assemblages from those proveniences will provide perspective on the material and social aspects of technology. Due to outstanding preservation, we also have a rare opportunity to examine bone, antler, and perhaps wood artifacts, and determine how those tools and ornaments were integrated into specific technological traditions. We collected over 900 soil samples from non-burial features for flotation. Botanical analyses are in progress, but the results to date indicate that a variety of plants were being utilized. Maize and squash have been identified in some cases, but hickory nut, acorn, maygrass, chenopodium, and other species are more common. Although we are still at a preliminary stage of analysis, the relative low abundance of maize suggests that the Late Woodland and Early Mississippian inhabitants were primarily focused on hunting and gathering rather than horticulture.

Excavations in one portion of the Spirit Hill site with rectangular structure in foreground.

Post patterns indicate that palisade walls were present, and at least 10 discrete structures have been identified. The structures are rectangular and circular in shape, some with partitions. Over 4,000 post holes were excavated, mapped, and documented, and we expect that additional structures will be identified once a more detailed analysis of posts and non-post features is conducted. Four structures have been radiocarbon dated; the calibrated intercept dates are A.D. 600; A.D. 660; A.D. 880; and A.D. 1010. Thus far, it appears possible that prehistoric people from the Late Woodland/Early Mississippian periods lived at this site more or less continuously for over 400 years.

A total of 27 canine burials were excavated at 1JA642. Most were articulated and in a flexed position within discrete burial pits. However some were in association with human burials and refuse pits.

Spirit Hill dog burial.

TRC excavated the human burials at the site in accordance with a plan developed in consultation with the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee. A total of 278 human burials were discovered, and with a few exceptions, they appear to be arranged in 12 clusters, some or all of which could be formal cemeteries. Radiocarbon dates confirm that burials date to the Late Woodland and Early Mississippian periods. The burials were found immediately below the plowzone, and up to 2.7 m below the surface. Most burials contained mussel shell fill, but not all. Some graves were superimposed over deeper interments, and it appears that soil was deliberately added on top of existing graves to allow burial of additional people in the same location. Some interments appear to have been part of a burial mound. Single and multiple interments were present, and burial methods include tightly flexed, flexed, semi-flexed, and extended. Although post-cranial elements were well preserved, the entire skull was missing in a few cases. Projectile points were discovered in contexts that suggest some individuals were wounded or killed by them. A few individuals could not be associated with a formal burial pit, and some were found without a skull lying face down with the feet bent behind them. Most graves did not contain burial goods, and those that did had no more than a few items. Some burials contained bone hair pins, needles, or awls. Others contained undecorated limestone slabs, and in other cases, large pitted cobbles were found within the burial matrix. Four intact shell tempered ceramic vessels were encountered within a burial pit of an adult male.

Analysis is on-going, but TRC expects that 1JA642 will greatly expand our understanding of the late prehistoric period in the region.

David Macaulay is an author and illustrator who has written many interesting books. One of my favorites is Motel of the Mysteries, published in 1979 by Houghton Mifflin (Boston). The book is now out of print, so I always look for a copy at yard sales and flea markets—and every once in a while I’m lucky enough to find one!

The publisher’s blurb about Motel says:

It is the year 4022; all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judging from the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from an archaic doorknob, was clearly the entrance to a still-sealed burial chamber. Carson’s incredible discoveries, including the remains of two bodies, one of then on a ceremonial bed facing an altar that appeared to be a means of communicating with the Gods and the other lying in a porcelain sarcophagus in the Inner Chamber, permitted him to piece together the whole fabric of that extraordinary civilization.

Thus, Macaulay imagines being an adventurer in the future, when civilization had been destroyed by being overrun with junk mail—remember, the book was written before there was internet spam! So, in the book, Howard is trying to understand the ruined walls and other architecture he finds. Can you guess what the “porcelain sarcophagus” is?

Howard is an intrepid explorer, and he is certain, based on the architecture and artifacts he finds, that he has found funerary architecture. In his eyes, he is seeing special ceremonial buildings complete with burial goods distributed in separate chambers, similar to the archaeological remains we see today that survive from ancient Egypt.

As you might guess from the title of the book, what Howard had found were the decrepit remains of a modest, twentieth-century, highway-side motel somewhere in this country. His interpretations of the remains are erroneous in extremely funny ways.

This book leads the reader to think about the processes of scientific thinking, and how scientists assemble a wide variety of data to attempt to understand complex systems and situations. Sometimes, theories are developed based on what turn out to be scanty data. Thus, the theories turn out to be wrong, sometimes in humorous ways, when more data are collected.

You may also be interested in other volumes by Macauley, such as Cathedral (1973), Pyramid (1975), Underground (1976), and Castle (1977). All have been reprinted in paperback. Macauley is probably most famous for his award-winning international bestseller The Way Things Work (1988), which he later expanded, updated, and renamed The New Way Things Work (1998).

Jennifer Salinas and Elizabeth Drolet screening soil during the Back Creek Village shovel test pit survey.

This past October, the American Museum of Natural History returned to St. Catherines Island for three weeks of fieldwork, tackling a range of interrelated projects. We monitored on-going construction projects occurring on the island, launched a largescale shovel test pit survey at Back Creek Village (a late prehistoric site, occupied A.D. 1300–1580), and another at the St. Catherines Shell Ring (a Late Archaic site constructed 2200–1800 B.C.). We also excavated several shell-heavy units at McQueen Shell Ring (also occupied during the Late Archaic).

Back Creek Village consists of at least seven discrete shell middens perched around a very large depression, which seems to have been dug out during precontact times to enhance the flow of an artesian spring. We undertook the recent shovel-testing program to delineate the northern, southern and western site margins. Excavating 231 shovel test pits, spaced at 20-m intervals, we recovered mostly prehistoric and historic ceramics, a couple of lithics, and some faunal remains. Overall, we discovered 28 subsurface shell deposits. The artifacts are currently being processed and we can’t wait to interpret the information.

The St. Catherines Island Shell Ring is a perfect circle, a dense deposit of marine shell roughly 70 m in diameter, defining an interior plaza, which is virtually shell-free. In the fall survey, we were looking for Late Archaic components located outside of the shell ring. We dug 458 shovel tests pits along a 20-m grid. Surprisingly, most of the artifacts recovered were ceramics dating to the Late Prehistoric (Irene) period. Only on the last day did we recover any fiber- tempered ceramics, suggesting that the shell ring might not have significant outliers. But we won’t really understand the Late Archaic landscape until we work through these new data in more detail.

Matt Sanger excavating shell-heavy unit at McQueen Shell Ring.

Toward the end of the dig, we excavated six units in the shell-heavy portion of the McQueen Shell Ring. We were primarily interested in shell deposition and comparisons with different sections of the ring. We found that the shell deposits are not as deep as expected (only 30–50 cm). Although all shell deposits consist primarily of oyster, clam, mussel, and periwinkles, each unit seems to have a different combination of these taxa. Do these variable results indicate that the ring was being utilized in different ways or during different seasons? Decorated and undecorated fiber-tempered ceramics were recovered, as well as pieces of bone pins, possible whelk tools, and large quantities of fauna.

This fall trip ends the 2008 field season. There is plenty of lab work to keep us busy until the spring field season.

Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) archaeologists met in September at New Echota State Historic Site in Gordon County with members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Elder’s Advisory Council and Federal Highway Administration to discuss the proposed bridge replacements and roadway improvements to State Route (SR) 225. Tribal elders and members of EBCI Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) traveled from Cherokee, North Carolina, to New Echota to discuss the proposed project, including the 2003 Traditional Cultural Property study, results of cultural resource surveys, and proposed mitigation measures such as context-sensitive design, archaeological data recovery (including a co-op program to provide Cherokee students an opportunity to participate in the excavations), the development of a landscape plan, as well as additional interpretive initiatives. The elders had the opportunity to discuss the project and contribute their thoughts and preferences regarding project aspects such as the proposed context-sensitive design. In addition to the presentation by GDOT, the elders—many of whom had never before visited New Echota—were given a tour of the historic site by Park Supervisor David Gomez. The meeting offered members of the EBCI, beyond the THPO office, an opportunity to participate in the ongoing consultation efforts between GDOT and the EBCI for the proposed improvements to SR 225. Consultation for the SR 225 project has also taken place between GDOT and the Cherokee Nation, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

In October the Department hosted a two-day workshop entitled “Geophysical Applications in Archaeology.” The workshop was presented by Dr. Tim Horsley who has a Ph.D. in Archaeological Prospection from the Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, United Kingdom, and is currently a Research Scientist with the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Michigan and a Visiting Scholar with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. The workshop’s goal was to present how geophysical methods can be applied to archaeological investigations. Attendees learned the scientific principles of geophysical methods, collected data in the field (using ground-penetrating radar, gradiometer, and resistance meter), and learned the basics of post-processing. GDOT hopes to host a yearly geophysical workshop and expand the class by adding additional days and/or instructors.

In advance of a bridge replacement project on US 17 over the Back River in Chatham County, Tidewater Atlantic Research, Inc. (TAR), conducted underwater archaeological mitigation on a late nineteenth-century barque. Based on collected wood samples, the vessel was most likely constructed in Maine or the Southern Canadian Maritime Provinces. Although the vessel could not be specifically identified, TAR concluded that the vessel was involved in the lumber trade and was also fitted to carry other cargo. At some point in the vessel was condemned and towed into the Back River to be salvaged. In addition to the archaeological data recovery, this project also involved a public outreach component. TAR developed a series of 15 interpretive panels. Each panel tells a different story related to the maritime history of Savannah. The signs will be numbered, creating a trail for visitors along the River Walk.

The Department recently conducted archaeological mitigation on site 9FL174 in advance of the bridge replacement on SR 100 over the Coosa River in Floyd County. Excavations by Southern Research Historic Preservation Consultants, Inc., revealed a multi-component site, with short-term occupations from the late Paleoindian through Middle Woodland. In addition to the archaeological mitigation, Southern Research Historic Preservation Consultants, Inc., also completed a public outreach initiative as part of their contract. An archaeological display was donated to the City of Rome’s public library. The display is aimed at elementary and middle school aged students and consists of three wall mounted panels, a display case filled with artifact reproductions, and teacher handouts.

On November 17, 2008, GDOT’s Terri Lotti and Lynn Pietak of Edwards-Pitman took cadaver dogs out to site 9CK1. The cadaver dogs are to be used to try and relocate the mound through human remains identified during Robert Wauchope’s excavations in 1939. The results of the cadaver dogs survey, the geophysical studies, the aerial photography, and the high definition scanning used at this site will be presented in a paper presented by Ms. Lotti at the Society for American Archaeology meeting this April.

Figure 1. Trench feature with hearth feature in background, both at the bottom of the plowzone.

The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society (GARS) has put excavations at Fort Daniel on hold until analysis of recovered artifacts, representing more than one year of investigations at the site, and preparation of a technical report are completed. On the last day of field work in September, it was determined that two features, which had been the focus of the summer’s fieldwork, were definitely a hearth with probable toppled firebox, and a stockade wall trench (Figures 1 and 2). In his 1813 letter to the Commander at Hog Mountain, giving specific instructions about how to rebuild the circa 1790s fort, Major General Allen Daniel had stipulated that the stockade wall be constructed of timbers sunk 3 feet into the ground. The bisected trench feature, completed on the last day in the field, exhibited a post mold about 36 inches deep that was filled with surface soils, charcoal and brick fragments and ceramics, suggesting that the wall’s timbers had been pulled when the fort was abandoned sometime after 1815.

Figure 2. Bisection of trench feature with post mold outlined.

GARS archaeological advisor and site archaeologist, Jim D’Angelo, believes these features represent the west end of a stockade wall where it abutted a corner block house within which was the fireplace. The block house timbers would have been horizontal and sitting on the ground, perhaps on a brick foundation, accounting for the brick that has been found. Based on other results across the site, if this interpretation is correct, this would be the southwest corner of the fort.

In October, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation announced that Fort Daniel is one of 10 sites included on its 2009 Places in Peril list. The Trust, together with GARS and Friends of Fort Daniel, a local group organized to save the site from development, will host a “Spotlight on Fort Daniel,” at the Fort Daniel Elementary School, which is located near the site. Speakers at the December 8 event will include Mark McDonald, President of the Georgia Trust, Dennis Blanton, President of the Society for Georgia Archaeology, and State Archaeologist, David Crass. Jim D’Angelo and Shannon Coffey, site historian and conservator of Fort Daniel glass and ceramics, will give presentations on the archaeology of Fort Daniel and the site’s artifacts. Beverly Paff, chairperson of the Friends of Fort Daniel will speak on efforts to purchase the site and adjoining tracks to create a passive park where continuing archaeology can take place.

Progress on work at Fort Daniel can be followed via the GARS website.

About twenty years ago I heard of a “serpent” that had been constructed out of stone on Dick’s Ridge in northwest Georgia. Last year a local informant, Wade Gilbert, led me to not one but three such stone constructions in the same area. The third and largest that was shown to me is the subject of this report.

Dick’s Ridge crosses northwest Georgia in a south to north direction for approximately 30 miles and parallels Taylors Ridge. The few gaps in the ridges are how people have traditionally crossed these ridges in historic times and by inference prehistoric times. Indian trails and pioneer roads have been transformed into modern highways in the last few decades. All three of these stone walls are located near the most prominent gaps in the ridges.

Figure 1. Sketch of Dick’s Ridge Serpentine Wall.

The Dick’s Ridge stone wall runs parallel to the top of the ridge for approximately 300 feet (Figure 1). It is constructed of local stone ranging in size from 3 inches (fist size) to over 36 inches (washing machine size) in diameter. The stone is a limey sandstone, the same as is found in the surface exposures of bedrock on the ridge. There is very little tumbled down loose stone on the slopes indicating that the core wall is largely intact. At the southern end of the wall it makes a sharp turn and the end of the wall points to the east. The last 15-foot section of the wall is carefully stacked so that the wall maintains a close to level plane as it drops off the slope. This gives the end a thicker and taller appearance or possibly the intention is for this end of the wall to be the “head” of the serpent. Interesting stuff.

Moving northward along the wall there are sections that are only one or two layers of stone in height that connect and incorporate the existing exposed bedrock into the wall construction (Figure 2). Walls that incorporate bedrock and boulders are a recurring theme in the Southeast. In my opinion this also demonstrates that the wall was not used as a defensive barrier in conventional warfare. I have to say it would be hard to load a rifle or notch an arrow while lying on one’s side next to a 12 inch high wall. An embrasure or inset located near the center of the length of the wall could make the argument that this is a defensive structure except for the fact that it is inset on the wrong side of the wall (Figure 3). Similarly, much of the wall is not located at the optimum crest of the ridge so that defenders would be exposed to multidirectional fire. Some of the large stones used in the construction of the wall have been shimmed to bring them into a level plane (Figure 4). Why shim a rock that would have to be moved by several people to its final location in the wall and then picked up again to add a 2-inch shim? Other stones in the wall are obviously out of plane and that did not stop the stacking of more stones onto them. Why bother with this technique only in certain locations?

The north end of the wall terminates near an obviously looted circular stone mound (Figure 5). (I say “circular” but one must keep in mind that many of these type constructions appear circular at first glance but may have other shapes.) The mound proper is approximately 8 feet in diameter after deducting the loose stones around the mound that may have been removed from the center of the pile. The height of the soil in and around the edge of the mound gives the indication that the mound may have originally been composed of soil and rock. It is not unusual for stone mounds in northwest Georgia to be constructed in this way. There are stones located in the center of the mound that are standing edge up and form what may be a rectangular box grave about 2 √ó 3 feet in size. This rectangle is on an eastwest axis. Stones at the center of the box have been displaced but not removed. The subsoil at the stone-soil interface may be intact. A proper quarter excavation of the mound beginning at the center and extending beyond the edge of the pile into undisturbed residual soils would yield a comparative profile. I hope that sometime in the future qualified persons may do this.

Dick’s Ridge is one of the best examples of serpentine walls in north Georgia and as usual, the examination of the wall raises more questions than answers. It would come as no surprise to those who know me that I would view the wall in the context of the tri-level cosmos that was the basis of all Native American belief systems. With that in mind I would ask the following:

• 1 – Are these types of walls defensive in terms of a serpent guarding the gap and/or the summit?
• 2 – Is the serpent emerging from the stone mound? A lower world creature entering the middle world to access the upper world?
• 3 – Is this an underworld serpent located on a middle world ridge guarding the access to a transition point on the sacred landscape such as the gap or an upper world staging area such as the nearby summit? Is it both?
• 4 – Are the various stone pile and wall complexes in the Southeast illustrations of serpents emerging from the underworld through stone mounds?
• 5 – Is the serpent emerging from the boulders and bedrock that are incorporated into its construction or do the boulders and bedrock demonstrate that the serpent’s origins are from the underworld. Or both?
• 6 – Did Woodland and early Mississippian societies move their belief system staging locations from mountains to mounds? Mounds, after all, are meant to be mountains.
• 7 – Were mountain locations a diminished property at some point in favor of more controlled and publicly visible mound-plaza sacred areas? Mississippian mound-plaza configurations are also typically located in high yield agricultural areas.

Questions 6 and 7 may not appear to be germane at this time, but I believe that future research will prove otherwise. Dick’s Ridge is one of a dozen similar sites in north Georgia, and all of them have a purpose, which makes for interesting research.

 

Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc. (EPEI), under a contract with GDOT, has completed a large-scale data recovery project at 9CK1, the Long Swamp site, situated on the Etowah River outside of Ball Ground, Georgia. The site was first professionally examined by Robert Wauchope in the late 1930s. He excavated on the east side of what is now State Route (SR) 372, where a low mound was located with an associated village. Lewis Larson also completed some fieldwork on this portion of the site at its northern end in the late 1940s. EPEI’s work was conducted on the west side of SR 372, in an area surveyed and tested by Southeastern Archeological Services in 2003 and 2004.

View of Edwards-Pitman’s excavations at 9CK1.

During EPEI’s project, test units were excavated, the entire +4-acre site was stripped, and numerous features were explored. On the terrace, a complete, burned structure with a central hearth was identified. The structure was circular with a diameter of approximately 6 m. There are 22 posts that make up the exterior walls of the structure. A 1-m wide entranceway consisting of two 25-cm wide trenches with a 50-cm walkway is located along the southeastern side of the structure, and extends roughly 2 m from the wall. One radiocarbon date has been processed and the date returned
was A.D. 1610. Additional dates are planned.

In the floodplain, a second structure was found, also with evidence of burning. This structure was constructed of posts, roughly square, and measured 7 by 8 m. It had a central hearth and pit features. In addition, a palisade wall with an associated ditch was located. The palisade was traced from the previous location of the bank of the Etowah River to its turn under SR 372. Various features including refuse pits and roasting pits as well as apparent borrow pits situated on the outside of the palisade were excavated. At present, no radiocarbon dates have been run for this portion of the site. However, the occupation appears to date to the Early Mississippian, Late Etowah phase, approximately A.D. 1100-1200.

Laboratory analyses and report writing are currently underway. EPEI has planned a symposium discussing our findings at the 2009 Society for American Archaeology meetings, scheduled for Atlanta. New South Associates is undertaking the subsistence studies for the project and Keith Seramur is the geomorphologist. GDOT archaeology staff, led by Terri Lotti, conducted geophysical studies at the site during the early fieldwork phase. In addition, EPEI is preparing a public document regarding the prehistory and history of the Etowah Valley region in conjunction with this project.

The recent amendment to one of Georgia’s archaeology laws might affect you, whether you are an avocational or professional archaeologist.

Code Section 12-3-621 has always required a person who is going to dig on an archaeological site to first notify the Office of the State Archaeologist. This recent amendment has made that notification a lot easier. You can send an email from HPD’s website, at www.gashpo.org—see Archaeological Services, and under that click on “Notify State Archaeologist before you dig.” The text of the law is there as well. The other way is by calling the archaeology notification hotline phone number toll-free, at (866) 755-0014. Leave a voicemail message at that number anytime, giving your contact information and the location of your intended excavations.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact the State Archaeologist, Dr. David Crass, david.crass@dnr.state.ga.us, (404) 656-9344, or HPD’s Archaeology Program Coordinator, Christine Neal, christine.neal@dnr.state.ga.us, (404) 657-1367.

Tom Gresham talking about rock pile sites at the February GARS meeting.

The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society has moved their monthly meeting date to the first Wednesday of the month, but is still meeting 7:30 to 9:00 PM in the Gwinnett County Justice and Administration Building, 75 Langley Road, Lawrenceville. In February we had a stimulating presentation by Tom Gresham of Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc., on north Georgia’s enigmatic rock piles, the epicenter of which, we learned, is Gwinnett County. The March 5 speaker was Jack Wynn who spoke to the group on archaeological methods. For programs and updates on archaeological projects visit our web site at: www.thegars.org.

Work at Fort Daniel resumed in February with an expansion of the site grid onto the adjoining property. Results of metal detection survey on these additional 6000 square feet were meager with only four artifacts that could be from the period. As the tract that contains the archaeological site is again for sale, a committee to “save” Fort Daniel has been formed in cooperation with the Gwinnett Historical Society (GHS), and others. The effort includes descendants of Major General Allen Daniel, a militiaman who served at the fort. The Southeast Region of the Archaeological Conservancy (TAC) will be helping with the effort.

For Archaeology Month, GARS, in cooperation with GHS, will conduct a public archaeology excavation May 3 at the historic Elisha Winn property in Dacula, at the Creekside Rock Shelter. The Winn House will also be open for tours and there will be an exhibit of artifacts from GARS’ survey and excavations on the property.

If you want to have some fun trying to identify mystery artifacts visit our website here.

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) has been lucky enough to work on St. Catherines Island, Georgia for the last 30+ years. Since 2006, the museum has focused its attention on the Late Archaic Period (3000-1000 B.C.) on the island—specifically, we have been working on the St. Catherines Island Shell Ring. Shell rings are large, some say monumental, sites that occur only in the Late Archaic Period. Because of both their size, and the apparent planned nature of the sites, the function of shell rings has been a very contested issue. Likewise, to many archaeologists, the complexity found in shell rings brings up questions of sedentism, power, control over labor, and hierarchy to a period of time that just twenty years ago was considered populated by roving bands of egalitarian hunter-gatherers.

AMNH has carried out a variety of field methods on the shell ring including detailed topographical mapping, remote sensing surveys (including magnetometry, ground penetrating radar, and resistivity), and small-scale excavations. During May 2007, the museum decided to conduct a large block excavation within the interior of the ring. Historically, the interiors of shell rings have often been ignored, or only lightly tested, as most archaeologists focused on the areas of high shell deposit, which make up the ring itself. Based on earlier remote sensing results, along with the findings from a trench excavation, the museum decided that the interior of the ring held information that was key to understanding the function and usage of the ring. To uncover this information, the museum decided to open up a relatively large block excavation (roughly 24 square meters). The plan paid off and the field crew was excited to uncover over 20 large features in the center of the ring.

Figure 1. Topographical map of St. Catherines Island Shell Ring.

These features are all very similar in shape, color, and contents. All of them are circular, have straight walls, and flat bottoms. Their dark color appears to be caused less by burning (very little charcoal was recovered) and more by organic deposits. Not only was very little charcoal found in the features, but little cultural material of any type was found. However, several of the features did have a small amount of bone and fiber-tempered pottery, but over-all most were nearly devoid of artifacts. A single feature had a significant amount of shell in it while all the rest were empty of shell save for a single piece on occasion. The main attribute that distinguished the features was how deep they went. Some of the features were shallow—only 20-30 cm—while others went very deep; several went over a meter deep. The museum has 15 C14 dates from the features and is currently analyzing the artifacts found within them. Numerous flotation samples were gathered from each feature and they will also be analyzed as soon as possible.

The Museum looks forward to returning to the island this fall and continuing our work on the Late Archaic Period. This much-studied, but poorly understood time period holds the answers about why the Native Americans of the southeast decided to construct a series of monumental shell rings throughout the coastal regions and what those rings mean to larger questions of complexity, power, and sedentism in the region. The museum is grateful for the continued patronage of the St. Catherines Island and Edward John Noble Foundations as well as the support from the staff on the island, especially Royce Hayes. None of this work would be possible without their backing.

It is was once said, “June is the month for weddings”. Not in our field of avocational and vocational interest. June is the first full month when schools of all kinds release students of anthropology and archaeology, along with their professors, to “get down to earth” in archaeological pursuits. And sometimes, they allow volunteers to use their vacation time to assist them in their endeavors. In June of 2006, there were three such opportunities to work alongside professionals, before the unbearable heat (for digging in middle and lower Georgia), took over in July and August.

In Macon, the foundations of Fort Hawkins were to be exposed by Dan Elliot and his crew. Dennis Blanton would be leading a team of mostly volunteers in a search for the lost mission of Santa Isabel de Utinahica in Telfair County. Also, Dr. Thomas Pluckhahn would be returning to the Kolomoki Mound complex at Kolomoki State Park in Early County to search for remains of domestic living there during the Late Woodland time period.

As all three of these worthy endeavors were to take place at the same time, choosing among them was difficult. For this writer, that decision was made easier by the opportunity of camping under beautiful pines, three minutes from work and two minutes from fishing. The choice proved fortuitous, as upon arrival, I was offered a berth at an old ranger cabin. It was a small room with three beds, shared with two other male volunteers. To sleep under a small window air conditioner, suddenly seemed preferable to sleeping under the beautiful pines.

There has been a wide range of opinion on how to interpret the cultural remains left by the builders of earthen mounds at Kolomoki and other mound complexes in America. But much progress has been made in the last century. To keep things in perspective, it may not hurt to include a few quotations from the writings of early mound investigators. As late as 1904, John Patterson MacLean, a historian, concluded this from his own research and that of the archaeologists of the late nineteenth century: “An ancient race, entirely distinct from the Indian, possessing a certain degree of civilization, once inhabited the central portion of the United States. They have left no written history, and all that is known concerning them is gathered from the monuments consisting of mounds, enclosures, implements, etc., which they have left behind. These remains have been carefully examined, and after long and patient investigations, the archaeologist has arrived at certain definite conclusions, and so apparently accurate are they that we may safely say that we are very well acquainted with this lost race.”

By 1905, archaeologist Cyrus Thomas, addressed the “Lost Race” theory with these words: “A single voice raised at intervals in protest against this conclusion was overwhelmed by the declarations of leading authorities of the time. Research and careful scientific investigation, however, have to a large extent cleared away the mist that surrounded the subject, and it is now generally conceded that the authors of these works were the immediate ancestors of the Indians found inhabiting this section when visited by the first European explorers.” Most archaeologists working at Kolomoki have investigated the site by digging into the mounds, a practice that has not provided all the answers to questions surrounding the largest Woodland mound complex in the Southeast. Dr. Pluckhahn believes additional understanding can be achieved by excavating living areas next to the mounds. Features of a Middle Woodland house were recorded in 2001. Now, the search is on for a Late Woodland period house that might shed light on any changes in construction and use.

Figure 1. The Core Crew at Colomokee (seated, left to right: Buck, Bobby, Elsbeth, Sarah; standing: Rae).

My partners in grime for this dig were a good representation of the academic spectrum (Figure 1). There was Bobby Butler, a high school student from Savannah, Buck Brown, grad at the University of North Carolina, Elsbeth Field, a Princeton graduate who was in a graduate program at the University of Oklahoma, and Rae Harper, with a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of South Florida (USF). Thomas Pluckhahn topped the tower of technical talent; with a 2003 Ph.D. from the University of Georgia, three years teaching at the University of Oklahoma, and now, Assistant Professor of Archaeology at USF. Rae was the invaluable right-hand person at the project. She was uniquely qualified for the task, having entered a post graduate program in public archaeology.

The Summer 2006 excavation was funded by the National Geographic Society. Support was provided by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. During previous visits, shovel tests and excavated test units had shown a relatively high concentration of Late Woodland artifacts on the south side of the access road.

Figure 2. Units excavated (illustrations courtesy of Dr. Thomas Pluckhahn).

Multiple units were excavated in this area and 18 m2 of earth were screened (Figure 2). Six features were excavated and others were exposed. These were covered and backfilled in anticipation of Dr. Pluckhahn’s 2007 summer field school at the site. The units shown in Figure 2 contained deep storage pits, which are larger than those of Middle Woodland sites excavated in previous years. Although features representing a Late Woodland structure were not definitely found, an arcing line of possible post holes were visible. The pattern is very different from that previously observed in Middle Woodland house sites at Kolomoki.

Figure 3. Excavation in progress.

Digging at Kolomoki in June of 2006 was about as good as it gets. The weather was hot and sunny, but not unbearable. This article gives me an opportunity to thank our leader, Dr. Thomas Pluckhahn, for his humanity in having us dig in shaded spots as much as possible (Figure 3). He, in turn, wishes to thank all those who participated. After brush was cleared, top debris removed and squares laid out, the digging commenced. The soil being mostly alluvial, there were few rocks to contend with. But roots were an annoyance to bear. This was made easier by keeping in mind that tree roots are a good trade off to digging in a field under a hot sun. After reaching a depth where the roots thinned out; excavating the loamy soil was easy.

It impressed me that no artifacts from the historic period were present and that prehistoric artifacts were in such a thin layer once encountered. Something else that surprised me, was that pottery sherds of different traditions were at the same level, or nearly so. It was the same with the relatively few lithics (compared to pot sherds), that were found. In one square I was digging in, a lanceolate biface was at the same level as a crude looking spike.

Figure 4. Stemmed projectile point from Kolomoki excavations.

The Swift Creek Complicated Stamped and Weeden Island decorations appeared to be well executed, especially the Keith Incised sherds. The most exquisite bifaces were excavated by other members of our group in nearby squares (Figure 4).

The project was a lot of fun and I enjoyed helping to shed light on Georgia’s prehistory.

Editor’s note: Dick returned for Dr. Pluckhahn’s second field season at Kolomoki, which was completed on June 21, 2007. This time he chose to stay in the campground, which he has dubbed “Falling Timbers,” as a tree came crashing down behind his tent at 3:00 AM one morning. Some branches broke up ten feet away, but his tent was untouched. Ahhh‚ communing with nature is always so relaxing. We’re glad Dick is safe.

References cited

MacLean, John Patterson
1904 The Mound Builders, Being an Account of a Remarkable People That Once Inhabited the Valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi, Together With an Investigation Into the Archaeology of Butler County, Ohio. 7th edition, The Robert Clarke Company.

Pluckhahn, Thomas J.
2003 Kolomoki: Settlement, Ceremony, and Status in the Deep South, A.D. 350 to 750. The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.
2007 Personal Communication.

Thomas, Cyrus
1905 The History of North America, Vol. 19, Prehistoric North America. George Barrie & Sons, Philadelphia.

After several years in which the position was vacant, the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest filled the position of District Archaeologist on the Oconee Ranger District in Eatonton, Georgia, in April 2005. James Wettstaed took this position after working as an archaeologist with the U.S. Forest Service for 13 years in Missouri and four years in Montana. Most of his time over the last year and a half has been spent getting the files and basic aspects of the program up to speed; clearing up a backlog of projects requiring surveys or review, and learning Georgia archaeology. In addition to several small run-of-the-mill timber sale surveys, the Oconee Ranger District sponsored two Passport in Time public archaeology projects in 2006, one in May and one in November (see below).

In May, 12 volunteers from five different states assisted with test excavations of an historic site on the former location of the Head/Pearson Plantation in Putnam County, which was occupied by this family from 1816 until 1895. The U.S. government acquired the land in 1935. This project was the first of what we hope are several on this property designed to investigate life on a nineteenth through early twentieth century cotton plantation in the Piedmont. The site we investigated was thought by descendants of the Pearson family to be the house the family occupied in the 1800s. Based on the results of the excavations, it appears to be the remains of a tenant farmer’s house occupied in the early twentieth century. A final report of these investigations is being prepared. Volunteers also assisted in cleaning up and clearing brush from the Head Cemetery.

One accomplishment of note was the successful completion of a criminal investigation of violations of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) at the Ocmulgee Bluff site (9JA269), a multi-component prehistoric site located next to the Ocmulgee River in Jasper County. This site had been looted a number of times, and thanks to a tip from members of the public who witnessed some of the illegal digging, an arrest was made of a suspect and numerous artifacts were seized. This individual pled guilty to violations of ARPA in August 2006 and is awaiting sentencing.

In November 2006, four volunteers from Georgia, Florida, and Indiana assisted with test excavations at the Ocmulgee Bluff site to try to determine the extent of damage to the site as a result of the looting, as well as to assess the potential impacts of proposed Forest Service projects in the area. These excavations determined that at least part of the site remained undisturbed. Cultural material was found to extend at least 1.0 m deep and the primary periods of occupation are thought to be Late Archaic and Late Woodland, but analysis and report preparation have only just begun.

In possibly our busiest winter to date, New South Associates is currently at work on two data recovery projects and is about to begin a third, in addition to a number of survey and testing projects, including smaller corridor or bridge surveys conducted in Bartow, Lowndes, Douglas, Coweta, Paulding, and Washington counties.

Data recovery excavations at the Gay Farms site complex in Randolph County are ongoing. Recently, we took a two-week break from excavations at the historic site to focus on the prehistoric component. The site represents a Late Archaic campsite and several diagnostic points were recovered. Brad Botwick is currently in Augusta, directing the data recovery excavations at site 9RI1110. The site is associated with the Springfield Community, an early free African-American site. Excavations at the site are expected to address questions about African-American life in Augusta between 1865 and the turn of the twentieth century.

At the recent SEAC meetings in Little Rock, R. Jeannine Windham of New South Associates presented research of the Plum Creek Wetland Mitigation Bank located in Miller County. Her paper, A GIS Approach to the Plum Creek Quarry/Workshop Site Complex, was included within a symposium focusing on the interior Coastal Plain. Several papers within this symposium focused on research in southwest Georgia that presented a unique perspective to landscape utilization within the heterogenic landscape of long leaf pine forests and wetlands that is pervasive in the region.

In December, Jeannine Windham will begin excavations at 9BR34. This multi-component site is located on a levee and terrace of the Etowah River. It is our hope that excavations will provide greater information pertaining to Middle Woodland hinterland occupations in the Etowah Valley and Late Archaic lithic reduction of chert and slate.

Overview looking south of excavations at L1 and L2.

The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society (GARS) continues to work with the Gwinnett Historical Society (GHS) investigating areas of archaeological interest on the 20-acre Winn House tract in Dacula. Having completed excavation of an outbuilding location associated with the historic Elisha Winn house, where the public was invited to participate for two weekends as part of Archaeology Month, the group began excavations at a rock shelter on Labor Day weekend. The initial dig was for GARS members only with seventeen members, under the direction of Jim D’Angelo, participating over two weekends. Shovel testing and clearing and mapping of the site were completed during the summer months. The shelter has been divided into three loci and, after griding the site, 50- cm test trenches were placed at the central location (L1) and southern location (L2), and then expanded by 1 √ó 1-m unit increments (see photos). So far, fragments of a Lamar pot and one blue trade bead have been recovered from L1 above massive roof fall that has been encountered across the excavation areas. Plans are to return to the site October 9-10 as part of GHS’s annual Winn Fair.

A GARS web site will be up and running by mid-September where more information on this and other GARS archaeological projects will be posted.

Panorama of entire rock shelter during clearing and mapping phase.

Members of the Georgia Mountains Chapter have recently conducted a preliminary test on the newly discovered Hummingbird Hill Quartz Quarry on the Chicopee Woods Nature Preserve near Gainesville.

A few months ago, Elachee volunteer “Doc” Johnson recognized a spread of quartz rocks on the lower part of a ridge nose in the preserve as a possible quarry site. He called Elachee Nature Science Center’s CEO Andrea Tempone’s attention to it, and then led chapter advisor Jack Wynn to inspect it. Soon after, Primitive Technologist Scott Jones was invited to examine the site, and with Wynn, plans were made to grid and possibly test the site.

Once the plans were made and SHPO notified, the GMAS members met on Saturday, February 4, to grid the site and begin the test. They decided to do very limited testing on the 20×50-m quarry area, in part because of the steep location. There was concern that digging there might exacerbate the already severe erosion into the Walnut Creek area. It was also expected that a limited amount of data could be retrieved from such a resource area, since it did not show signs of being used for finishing artifacts.

The test team was first composed of Lorraine Norwood, Erin Andrews, Joe Randazzo and his son Joseph Randazzo, supervised by Wynn. They began with a small, 50-cm test unit, more or less in the middle of the site area, and excavated it by 10-cm levels, parallel with the slope. The excavation methods included screening and removing all the stone from each level. The amount of stone there was truly amazing. The first work day, the crew removed nine bags of stone to the lab for washing and identification. Since it all had to be hauled uphill all the way back to the vehicles, the amount and weight of the stone became important.

Joseph and Joe Randazzo, Lorraine Norwood, and Erin Andrews working on the site.

The crew was so stimulated by the project the first day that they returned on Saturday, February 18 to finish the test into the red sandy clay subsoil at about 35 cm below surface. That day, they were joined by David Hughes, Janice and Tom Bagwell, Greg Britt, and site’s discoverer, Doc Johnson. At the base of that level, most of the square was taken up by large quartz boulders, but the crew still removed 5-6 bags of materials. Lab cleaning and analysis was conducted that day by Dan and Diedre Page, Pat LoRusso, and David Hughes.

The club members have begun the washing and examination of the stones removed, but much remains to be cleaned and sorted. They have found a few flaked tools and some bipolar percussion pieces, as well as lots of general shatter. Once it is all cleaned and initially sorted, Scott Jones has agreed to examine it for additional indications of stone working techniques.

Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc. (EPEI) recently completed Phase III fieldwork at 9PU20 near Hawkinsville, GA. The excavations were conducted on behalf of the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) as part of a proposed bridge replacement over Big Tucsawatchee Creek (also known as Big Creek) on State Route 230. The site is located on a fluvial terrace overlooking the creek and consists of a large, high-density scatter of lithics produced mainly from Coastal Plain chert.

Previous Phase I and II investigations by GDOT archaeologists in 1997 yielded two cultural features and a large collection of artifacts associated with Middle Paleoindian to Late Mississippian occupations. Lithic tools and debitage manufactured from locally available chert comprised the bulk of the assemblage. Most notable was the recovery of two Middle Paleoindian projectile points (Simpson and Suwannee), as well as those associated with Early Archaic, Late Archaic, and Mississippian occupations. The ceramic collection, while small, included fiber-tempered, Refuge, Deptford, Swift Creek, possible Etowah, and Lamar components.

Figure 1. Edwards-Pitman archaeologists and field mascot, Hunter, at Big Tucsawhatchee Creek Site (9PU20).

Recent data recovery investigations at 9PU20 were conducted under the supervision of Alvin J. Banguilan and included the excavation of nine small blocks totaling 39 m2 (see Figure 1). Despite the fact that only a narrow strip of right-of-way on both sides of SR 230 was examined, a large and diverse collection of artifacts was recovered and features were identified. Based on our initial impressions of the overall assemblage (we are only now beginning labwork), the site appears to have been extensively utilized during the Late Paleo/Early Archaic transition, Early Archaic, Late Archaic, Early to Middle Woodland, and Middle to Late Mississippian sub-periods. The collection consists of a large quantity of lithic debitage, projectile points, early and late stage bifaces, blade and bifacial core/ tools, scrapers, prismatic blades, and numerous retouched and utilized flake tools (see Figure 2). Lithic diagnostics that appear to have been recovered from undisturbed deposits include Taylor Side Notched, Kirk Corner Notched, and various Late Archaic and terminal Late Archaic Stemmed varieties. Woodland and Mississippian components, while numerous, appear mixed and largely limited to between 0–45 cm below surface. Further analysis should reveal if any additional spatial patterning exists in the upper strata.

Figure 2. Selected Projectile Points recovered from 9PU20.

A total of five features were identified during EPEI’s excavation; four, including two hearth-like features, one rock cluster, and one possible hearth maintenance/cleanout feature were found between 70–90 cm below surface and appear to be associated with the site’s Kirk/Palmer phase component. The remaining feature was encountered at 113 cm below surface and consisted of a faint soil lens associated with a Taylor Side Notched point and a small cluster of debitage and tools. It should be noted that the Simpson and Suwannee points mentioned earlier were found during GDOT’s Phase II investigation in shallow deposits mixed with later Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian components. At present, it remains unclear whether an intact Middle Paleoindian deposit is present at the site, although lithic material clearly extended below the identified Kirk/Palmer and Taylor horizons.

What became increasingly clear during the course of our field investigation was that site occupation was wide-ranging, extensive, and heavily oriented towards the local abundance of high quality Coastal Plain chert. Chert nodules could readily be seen in the shallow portions of Big Tucsawhatchee Creek and along its banks. Moreover, large chert outcroppings and dense of the site. Evidence of quarrying activity was also apparent in this area along with moderate scattering of debitage and tools. concentrations of boulder-size chert fragments were identified along an adjacent landform approximately 1 km northeast of the site. Evidence of quarrying activity was also apparent in this area along with moderate scattering of debitage and tools.

SGA’s 2004 topic for Archaeology Month revolved around the new edition of Frontiers in the Soil.

The book, with its compelling cartoon images, was the basis of the 2004 Archaeology Month poster.

Read more about the book Frontiers in the Soil here.

This entertaining, colorful cartoon book is about archaeology, particularly in Georgia; it is accurate and amusing. The book features hand-lettered text accompanied by eye-catching, vivid, often humorous artwork. The volume also provides various ideas for archaeological projects. Although oriented toward Georgia and Southeastern archaeology, this volume is useful for understanding general concepts in the archaeology of any geographical area, and is highly recommended for any audience.

Frontiers in the Soil begins with an introduction to the complex field of archaeology, which is often part of multidisciplinary projects and must deal with complicated issues related to chronological dating, and the meaning of the material evidence of past human behaviors. Dickens discusses the major prehistoric eras, and describes important locations occupied in prehistory. Dickens also describes an archaeological project at an imaginary sixteenth-century Native American community, including fieldwork methods, cleaning and analyzing artifacts, and finally authoring a report so that the information the site contained is preserved for the future.

The author of Frontiers in the Soil, Roy S. Dickens, Jr., was a well-known archaeologist who worked in Georgia, and across Southeastern North America. His engaging text is supported by the captivating artwork of James McKinley. The first edition, published in 1979, quickly sold out. SGA now owns the copyright to the book, and published a second edition with the assistance of the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government.

Concurrently with the second edition, the SGA published a new teacher handbook to assist teachers in instructing students in all aspects of archaeology, including methods and techniques (and advancements in the field since the original edition was published), preservation and stewardship, and archaeological ethics. The new handbook meets Quality Core Curriculum (QCC) standards for the state of Georgia (current at the time of its publication).

Click here for information for ordering this volume through the Carl Vinson Institute of Government online bookstore. The Teaching Handbook is available here.