If you haven’t visited bartowdig.com recently (or ever!), now’s the time to do so!

Read about the Leake Site, which is downstream of the Etowah Mounds and pre-dates it, and is on the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2010 list of Places in Peril. The website is chock-full of interesting information about this very unusual Woodland and Mississippian community….

Scot Keith—an SGA member—who is spearheading the preservation efforts that accompany the Places in Peril designation, authored a brief summary of recent research at Leake for our website.

Of course, at bartowdig.com, you’ll find all the details!

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.

Planning an outing to Etowah? Note that with budget cutbacks, the park is only open Thursdays through Saturdays, 9 am to 5 pm.

However, on Saturday, the 3rd of October, the park will be open for a torchlight tour from 7:30 to 9:30 pm. The walking tour will cover three-quarters of a mile, and includes a visit to the top of Mound A, the tallest and largest of the mounds on the site.

Entry fee is $2.50-$5.00.

Visit the Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site webpage by clicking here.

For Archaeology Month in May 2009, the SGA chose the theme Mounds in Our Midst. Georgia’s archaeological landscape features numerous sites with artificial, human-constructed earthen mounds. Created by diverse Native American cultures, mainly between 500 BC-AD 1550, these remarkable monuments are evocative reminders of prehistoric societies that once flourished in every corner of the state.

Archaeology Month 2009 was devoted to a celebration of their survival and a meditation over their purpose and meaning. Long gone are the days when the impressive tumuli were explained away with reference to a lost race of “moundbuilders,” somehow distinct from Native cultures known to the same area. More than a century of archaeological study tells us that indigenous peoples are, in fact, responsible for the mounds. The same work has established that the mounds are not all the same but varied considerably in their design and purpose.

Also long gone are the days when Georgians could take prehistoric Indian mounds for granted. Because knowledge is the foundation for stewardship, Archaeology Month 2009 featured new research that is improving our sense of the place these ancient constructions held in the societies that erected them. And important among these efforts are creative solutions for preserving more mound sites from looting and destruction.

Take a look at a larger version of the poster by clicking here.

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.

Initial view of dugout canoe in 1970.

In late December 1970, I assisted the Broward County Archaeological Society in the location, recovery, and restoration of an abandoned, twelve and a half foot long, cypress dugout canoe. It became the primary display in the small museum the group maintained for public education.

My friend Keith Hunt asked the Sunday school class he was teaching where they would like to go for a field trip. Several parks and historic locations were suggested. One boy named John raised his hand and said, “I know where there is a lost dugout canoe in the woods.”

At the end of class Keith asked John more about it. John said a few times in the past he tried shortcuts through the woods to get to school, but it had been over two years since he last went that way. Keith asked John if he could find it again, and if he would. He said he enjoyed exploring the swampy forest and agreed. Keith called me about one o’clock and we met John and his mother about three o’clock. By four we were at the canoe. It was about three hundred yards east of Andrews Avenue and about a hundred yards south of the canal that separates Pompano Beach from Fort Lauderdale, west of Dixie Highway and the railroad, and north of Cypress Road. The canal was a drainage canal for flood control from the Everglades. It was a river modified into a canal in the early 1900s. A wall of dredged sand fill on the south bank helped isolate access to the area. The ground varied from mushy, to water-filled areas, with very little dry ground in the area. The trees and ground vegetation were thick and difficult to walk through. Visibility was up to about fifty feet, maybe.

The canoe was covered with several inches of light green, thick, wet moss on some top surfaces. On one side there was a delicate fern about eight inches tall growing out of the wood. The canoe shape had a specific bow wedge at one end and a blunt, lower, stern at the other end. The bow had a vertical front edge to cut the water and kept a rounded deck shape at the top. The sides were slightly lower and about two to three inches thick. The walls became thicker closer to the bottom. The stern was not finished on the outside. It also had decay holes in the direction of the trees’ core at the stern. The canoe measured twelve feet six inches long and was pointed northnortheast toward the canal. About ten or more feet to the southwest was an obvious section of the same tree. It was about six feet long. From the far end of that segment it was only about ten feet west to the tree trunk. The trunk was about two feet high.

The condition of the ground at the canoe was interesting. There was an almost circular depression about ten feet across directly under the entire canoe. We did not think this was formed naturally as there was solid dirt under the other segment of the tree. We speculated how the canoe was to get to the river a hundred yards away. One line of thought was if a ditch were dug from the canoe to the river, it could be floated out. After tearing down the final wall at the river, water would flow to the canoe in the depression. It can then be floated out, by possibly only one person. It was not known to us how high the water in the river could be during different seasons, and how deep a ditch might need to be dug for the idea to work.

View of the canoe before recovery.

The canoe looked to be shaped by blade because there were sharp angles not likely formed by burning. I insisted we do not touch even the plants on it until photos were taken or an archaeologist gives an OK. We counted our paces out in the most direct path we could manage so we could find it again.

The next day was Monday. I worked less than a mile from the site. During my lunch break I brought my Polaroid camera and took several photos of the canoe. After work I had classes at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. I took my photos and started looking for someone in archaeology or anthropology. All the offices were closed at night. None of my classes of my major were in Anthropology so I had never spoken to, or knew any archaeologist. I noted Dr. William Sears was the Director. Tuesday morning I again had classes and I made a point of getting to Dr. Sears.

I showed him the pictures and asked, “Is there was some way it could be recovered before a bulldozer ran it over, or the land was developed?” He gave me the address of Mrs. Wilma B. Williams, in Hollywood, Florida, who was the director of the Broward County Archaeological Society, a chapter of the Florida Anthropological Society.

Next I wrote a short letter about the find and Dr. Sears’ referral, and mailed it to her. On Thursday afternoon the phone rang and I answered it. It was Wilma and her first words were, “When can we meet?” We set up Saturday. On Saturday about 9:30, my dad and I, Keith, John, Wilma, and Burt Mowers all met to look at the canoe. Wilma and Burt agreed it could be safely removed, and they would get it tomorrow.

On Sunday a group of almost thirty of us started the recovery. We picked the most direct route from the road to the canoe. With machetes in hand, the two lines spaced themselves with blades tip to tip apart and cut their way forward through everything. Replacements took over for the tired. The result was a direct path. It looked like a ten foot wide hole had been drilled through the woods and brush.

Four two-by-fours were tied across the canoe with two inch diameter rope. One youth had the job of passing the rope under the canoe in the water of the depression. This is how we found how long and deep the depression was under the water. Eight strong men then lifted the waterlogged canoe, but we could not hold it long enough to inch forward. Another board and two men were added. We could now lift and walk in six inch steps. We could move about twenty feet before everyone became exhausted. Many replacements were used by the time we got it to the truck for removal. The flatbed truck had a bed that tilted to make loading possible. Next, they hauled the canoe back to their workshop at Flamingo Groves, one of the orange groves west of Fort Lauderdale in Davie, Florida.

In the workshop they put down a thick plastic sheet. The canoe was placed on the sheet. A strong box was built around the canoe using the plastic as a liner to prevent leaking. The canoe was then covered in a solution of white Elmer’s Glue and water.

The ratio was 2 parts water to one part glue. A circulating pump was positioned to keep it all flowing and cover the exposed surfaces. This was done for fourteen months. The capillary action of the glue rising through the wood fibers displaced all the water. At that time, the tank was drained and the glue allowed to dry. When the glue was dry the entire canoe was very hard and ready for display. The glue did not change the color or appearance of the wood. The wood was so weak before preservation that you could crumble soft wood fibers away from the top of the sides by just rubbing it with your finger tips. After preservation it was so solid it rang like a wood bell when tapped.

View of the canoe after conservation.

The chapter had a small frame house that was their museum, generously rented to the group for one dollar a year. Admission fees were half a dollar, voluntary, and helped the chapter run the museum. They now had a major attraction and the donations increased as the number of visitors increased. The dugout canoe had its’ first museum home. This donation resulted in an offer to me to join the Broward County Archaeological Society, which I eagerly accepted. I worked as a volunteer with the group on most Sundays doing field work until we moved to Georgia over three years later.

Soon Wilma Williams was followed by a new member, Gypsy Graves, as director. She moved the museum contents from Flamingo Groves to downtown Fort Lauderdale, the second museum location. The new location was next to the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society. I visited it again and took pictures of the preserved canoe in this location. For a short time they moved to an empty store nearby. Then they moved to a large building in Dania Beach on highway U.S. 1. There was a name change with this fourth location.

From newspaper clippings sent to me by a friend, it appears there was a lot of leadership controversy about Graves. She and her daughter could not account for $100,000. The museum was in debt for $885,788. Their web page shows they are defunct, and the Bankruptcy Court had taken control of the museum. The Fort Lauderdale newspaper stated on February 17, 2003 that items worth $450,000 were sold for a very small amount to pay debt. There was no other information about what was sold, or what happened to the remainder. At that time, I didn’t know the status or location of the canoe, and I assumed it was lost. My depressing thoughts were it may have been discarded, sold privately, made into a decoration at a restaurant, or left outside somewhere to rot. This is what I had hoped would never happen.

Revisit and update: Canoe déjà vu?

On Wednesday, March 29, 2006 I went to Dania, Florida to where The South Florida Museum of Archaeology and Natural History had been located. A company called “E-tour and Travel” occupied a small office on one side of the otherwise empty January of 2005 all the contents of the museum were removed by a man named Frank. The remainder of the building is completely empty. A woman named Kirsty was the caretaker and had a key to show this location to possible renters. Her home was next to the museum and I might find her there. Nobody was home then, so I left my phone and email address at her front door. My note explained who I was, and why I was interested in the status of the canoe.

On Friday, March 31, 2006 I received an email from Ms. Kirsty Forgie. She is with the Broward Community College as the Museum Collection Coordinator, and the Coordinator of the World Cultures Collections, both associated with the B.C.C. Library Department.

She stated that nothing had been sold or auctioned. Everyone who brought papers to prove ownership of items loaned to the museum had their items returned to them. The bankruptcy court awarded the remainder of the collection to the Broward Community College on March 28, 2005. This included the dugout canoe.

On April 14, 2006 I found and scanned several black and white photos I took in 1970 and sent them to her. With them was included an early draft of this information. She responded with thanks for my interest, and for sending the background information. No one of the Broward County Archaeological Society, or the earlier museum staff, preserved any information about the background of the dugout. The notes I provided on my visit to the Historical Society did not survive. In the ten years of working in the museum she said she had not known any of this information or what conservation methods were used to preserve it. She said recently the B.C.C. executive board had approved the loan of the dugout canoe to be displayed at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale. It is a first class facility located near the Fine Art Museum and even includes an IMAX theater. The museum was founded thirty years ago and now serves about 400,000 visitors a year. Many of them are children on their school field trips.

In my view, this museum is an ideal location to loan the dugout canoe. Here it can reach and stimulate the maximum number of students and other viewers. The dugout canoe was found in Fort Lauderdale and ideally belongs in the Fort Lauderdale area. Now it will be available to the public again. I am very satisfied with this outcome. The loan to the Discovery Center has now ended. Ms. Forgie notified me on February 4, 2008 that it is currently on display at the college. They now have another canoe from South America, and the two form a new display together. Soon I will return to the Fort Lauderdale area to see it one more time. However, with déjà vu, this too, may not be the end!

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.