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.

Georgia’s Secretary of State’s website includes useful reference materials including the Georgia Archives. Current featured content on that website includes the Virtual Vault, which, the website says:

is your portal to some of Georgia’s most important historical documents, from 1733 to the present. The Virtual Vault provides virtual access to historic Georgia manuscripts, photographs, maps, and government records housed in the state archives.

The “Touring Georgia” section of the Virtual Vault includes four photographs from around Clayton, including one of this lovely and bucolic farm.

While you are likely to expect digital versions of important government records, like tax digests and death certificates, take a look and see what else you find—and let us know what surprises you or what you’re glad you’ve found—online!

On the highest hill in Astoria, Oregon, near the mouth of the Columbia River, stands a 125-foot tall column, patterned after Trajan’s Column in Rome. The exterior of both have a series of carved scenes winding around and up the column. The Astoria Column was built in 1926, and has an interior stairway of over 160 steps, and observation deck near the top.

The Astoria Column has fourteen different scenes carved by Italian immigrant artist Attilo Pusterla. They are in temporal order, and begin at the base of the column and wind upward. However, by the time of the dedication of the monument in July 1926, only a portion of the sgraffito bas-relief carved scenes were complete. The now-complete scenes, if unwound, would extend for over 500 feet.

The carvings quickly began to deteriorate in this location, exposed to storms from the Pacific and the freeze-thaw of winter. It was only in the mid-1990s, with the assistance of conservators from J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, that the column’s art was better stabilized.

Even a cursory examination of cross-cultural data indicates that around the globe, in many societies, peoples with many belief systems have built structures important to them on high places. In addition, the structures are often unusually tall when compared to residential buildings. Indeed, important buildings are often tall, large, or both.

Why do you think this is so?

Website of Friends of the Astoria Column.

Wikipedia entry on Trajan’s Column.

An important event in the history of the telephone happened on Jekyll Island. If you wander around the historic area south of the Jekyll Island Clubhouse, now the Jekyll Island Club Hotel, you will find a plexiglass box encompassing an old telephone. A plaque erected by the Dixie Chapter of the Telephone Pioneers of America below the phone dated January 1965 reads:

The first transcontinental telephone call was transmitted by a telephone instrument of this type on January 23, 1915. Mr. Theodore N. Vail, President of American Telephone and Telegraph Company, talked from Jekyll Island to Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone in New Your; Thomas A. Watson, Assistant to Dr. Bell, in San Francisco; and to President Woodrow Wilson in Washington, D.C.

Thus, four men at four locations participated in that first transcontinental call. The AT&T website notes that:

At one point during the call, someone asked Professor Bell if he would repeat the first words he ever said over the telephone. He obliged, picking up the phone and repeating “Mr. Watson, come here, I want you.” To which Watson, in San Francisco, replied, “It would take me a week now.”

The modern company AT&T used to be American Telephone and Telegraph Company. In 1908, Theodore N. Vail, President of the company, prioritized completion of a transcontinental telephone line. Their goal was to have the transcontinental line open in time for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, scheduled for 1915 in San Francisco.

The final pole for the transcontinental phone line was erected and the line strung in June 1914, but officials waited for the Exposition before they made the first call, to heighten the fanfare.

Why was Mr. Vail on Jekyll Island for this historic event? How does this compare to our modern satellite and cell phone services? Why are new phone systems in the Third World most commonly cell networks?

Panama-Pacific International Exposition on the web.

Downloadable digital copy of Exposition Fact-Book: Panama-Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco, 1915.

Jekyll Island Club Hotel website.

The Appalachian Trail is a famous footpath that extends over 2100 miles from Georgia north all the way into Maine, the northeastern-most state in the United States of America.

Although prehistoric peoples walked across the landscape, they probably wouldn’t have followed much of the route of the Appalachian Trail. Why? The earliest Euro-American traders and explorers also would have traveled along different routes, too. Why?

The Appalachian Trail is designed to stay on higher ground, in mountains and along high ridges. Mostly, it traverses lands owned by Federal or State governments, including the US Forest Service. These lands often were not settled and bought up because they were too rugged for agriculture, and the early Euroamerican settlers needed to live near their fields, and thus their food source.

What about the Native Americans, though? Depending on whether they grew much of their food, or instead sought it out across the landscape, their travel routes, whether along footpaths or via canoes, would have been between settlements and other preferred areas. Although they might sometimes have ventured into the mountains and to the mountain-tops, probably they spent the most time at lower elevations. Why would they have found it uncomfortable to live on top of Blood Mountain?

Many famous modern roads in Georgia follow historic footpaths. Indeed, historic footpaths often followed Native American footpaths. What did the Native Americans follow? Did they cut paths through the wilderness? Some scientists think at least some prehistoric footpaths followed animal trails, perhaps including paths made by mammoths.

Back to the shelter in the picture above. It is on Blood Mountain, which is the highest point in Georgia on the Appalachian Trail. Hikers take refuge their in inclement weather, and sleep there overnight. This is a beautiful place to camp, with great views, but there is no water close by. I was standing on a rock outcrop above the shelter when I took the picture, that’s why the perspective is so strange.

Elberton is a community east-northeast of Atlanta, not far from the state line. Elberton is atop the northern end of a subterranean deposit of granite that extends southwest past Lexington. Scientists refer to this as the Lexington-Oglesby Blue Granite Belt; it is at least twenty-five miles long and as wide as fifteen miles.

For over a century, Elberton granite has been commercially quarried and used to clad buildings, for burial monuments, and for statues.

If you are lucky enough to travel to Elberton, try to visit the Granite Museum. Last time I was there they had a bin of spalls, or waste chips from a quarry, and you could take one as a souvenir. This is the one I picked!

You can see that Elberton’s granite is mostly gray, and is often described as blue-gray. This granite is composed of three different mineral grains, all visible to the naked eye, and in this sample. The white grains are feldspar, and they are the most abundant. The light gray, shiny grains are quartz. The black, flake-like bits are biotite, or black mica. All together, they present a very pleasing appearance.

Italian stone cutters emigrated to Elberton in the early 1900s, making its inhabitants rather different demographically than those of other rural communities in Georgia.

Fact: in the quarries, they use very high-powered and focused jets of water to cut pieces of stone away from the geological deposit.

The Southeast Region Archives, supported by your tax dollars, house diverse historical records collected by the government. They note on their website:

Records in the National Archives tell the story of southern families and communities, technological advances that changed lives, and social and economic forces that shaped the makeup of our society.

Most people go to the Archives to look up records and do research. I went there recently and looked at photographs and records of houses and farms purchased and destroyed to create an impounded lake in Tennessee. This project was done by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which was chartered by Congress in 1933. The lakes were created primarily to reduce flooding and to enable power generation at the dams. They also became important recreational destinations, and improved opportunities for economic development.

Below is a photograph of a farm that was destroyed so the land could be flooded, I think to make Douglas Reservoir, near Dandridge, Tennessee.

The Douglas Dam was completed in 1943, and lies on the French Broad River, which is part of the Tennessee River drainage, which has nine TVA dams with hydroelectric plants. Hydropower constitutes only about 10% of the power TVA generates; other power sources are from fossil-fuel plants (60%) and nuclear plants (30%). Green power contributions are negligible. Hydroelectric facilities are integrated into the dams that impound the water, and use the power of the water flowing because of gravity from higher in the reservoir to the lower elevation below the dam to generate electricity. The water flows through a turbine as it falls, making the turbine move. This movement is converted into electricity. The TVA provides a drawing of this here.

The TVA cautions fisherfolk to eat smaller, younger fish and avoid the fatty flesh and skin to reduce exposure to toxins like PCBs, chlordane, DDT, dioxins, and mercury, which are mostly in the mud at the bottom of the reservoirs, rather than in the water.

Many families were uprooted when these dams and reservoirs were built. The government can legally take people’s land through laws pertaining to eminent domain, even if the owners do not consent. The government can do this if the land is converted to public use.

Eminent domain laws are a legal means for our country to balance the needs of all (public needs) against the rights of the few. In the USA, eminent domain was adopted from British laws extant at the time the Constitution was drafted in the late 1700s. However, our government cannot take lands (property) without just compensation, and only if it benefits the public good.

A family who loses their farm and lands so that a dam and reservoir can beconstructed suffers a great loss; however, a whole region that endures less flooding and has more and more inexpensive electricity enjoys considerable benefits. Nevertheless, balancing the good of all against the rights of few is tricky and difficult. Should the family receive the same money for their farm as they would if they sold it to another farmer or a neighbor? Should they receive more or less?

Bottle photograph from Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website.

If you’re interested in historic bottles, you may enjoy browsing the Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website. The website aids visitors in finding out how old a bottle is, and what type it is. The website is limited to bottles made in the USA, and to some extent, Canada, between about 1800 and the 1950s. That’s still a lot of bottles, and some major changes in bottle making technology!

Why, you might wonder, is this information presented via a website, and not a more traditional printed publication? The website states:

In order to answer or address questions related to the dating and typing a bottle, a lot of information must be presented in a way that is accessible to the user of this site. A major benefit of using the internet to accomplish this task is the ability to use hundreds (or thousands) of illustrative pictures that would not be possible (or affordable) if published in book form. Another benefit of the internet is the relative ease of revising and/or adding information to a website as corrected or new information becomes available. As soon as the information is added it is available to everyone immediately; an attribute not possible with a printed publication. Finally, the ability of the internet to easily reach more potential users than any other communication medium makes it the most powerful tool of education and enlightenment available today.

You might especially enjoy perusing scanned pages of the 1906 Illinois Glass Company Illustrated Catalogue and Price List. Thumbnails of the scans are on this webpage.

The website is sponsored by the Society for Historical Archaeology and the Bureau of Land Management of the US Department of the Interior. Click here to visit it.

Image of Springfield Baptist Church, the heart of Springfield community, in downtown Augusta. Image from Google Maps streetview (which is why there’s a funny partly opaque parallelogram on the right half of the image).

Next time you’re in Augusta, take the time to go downtown and visit the Springfield community. Springfield community is just west of the original downtown Augusta.

According to the fine website dedicated to the history of this community, Springfield was

a free African American community established around the time of the Revolutionary War. The Springfield Community was not an officially recognized subdivision of Augusta, Georgia. Despite this, the neighborhood, roughly bounded by the Savannah River and Jones Street on the north and south and Ninth and Fifteenth streets to the east and west, became one of the few homes to free African Americans who escaped the bonds of slavery prior to the Civil War. Springfield began to evolve after the American Revolution when many escaped slaves sought refuge, eventually growing into a thriving neighborhood in northeastern Augusta. In the South, free African Americans congregated in urban communities because they offered the best opportunities for employment. Although it is difficult to draw a boundary around this community, especially for its early years, Springfield came to represent a center of African American life in Augusta, especially in the late nineteenth century as official attitudes and policies became more segregationist. Over time, the symbol of this community, and its anchor, was the Springfield Baptist Church, still located at Twelfth and Reynolds Streets in Augusta.

Also,

The

Springfield Baptist is the nation’s oldest continually operating African American church. The congregation was established shortly after the American Revolution, probably between 1787 and 1793….

Springfield Baptist Church’s own website notes that:

Springfield Baptist Church is of national significance because it is the oldest African-American church in the United States; because it is an example of the determination of African-Americans to be independent during the slavery era; because the Georgia Republican Party originated there; because Morehouse College, which has produced so many nationally prominent black leaders, was founded there; and finally because the Springfield Church stands today as proof that African-American’s too can look to history with pride in their achievements.

For more information on the web:

Springfield community website, developed by New South Associates of Stone Mountain and funded by by the City of Augusta and the Georgia Department of Transportation, and the Federal Highway Administration.

New Georgia Encyclopedia on Augusta

Wikipedia entry on Augusta

Website of the Springfield Baptist Church

New Georgia Encyclopedia on Springfield Baptist Church

For a lesson plan on Springfield community, click here.

Thanks to Jim Pomfret, Archaeologist with the Georgia Department of Transportation, for suggesting that this topic might be of interest to readers of the SGA’s website.

Humans are humans; we tend to like some of the same places on the landscape no matter who we are and when we are alive. This means that some of the same places were occupied over and over. The view from Lookout Mountain must have been as compelling to prehistoric Native Americans as it is to us today.

What makes a location more—or less—attractive to human visitors or inhabitants?

Southern Research has recently carried out a number of projects in Georgia that may be of interest to the members of SGA.

Barnes Cemetery Relocation, Bibb County

The Barnes Cemetery was first recorded in 2007 during a reconnaissance for the Macon-Bibb Industrial Authority conducted by Southern Research. The reconnaissance was required by a site certification program for Georgia Allies and the Georgia Department of Economic Development. The Authority gained the important certification and began to market the property for development. When Kumho Tire Corporation selected the Authority’s Property to build a new manufacturing facility, plans to relocate the Barnes Cemetery were developed. In April 2008, Southern Research delineated the cemetery and conducted genealogical research for the Authority. The Industrial Authority petitioned the Superior Court of Bibb County, Georgia for a permit to disinter and relocate the human remains present in the Barnes Cemetery, an Abandoned Cemetery as defined by state law (OCGA 36-72). The Court issued a Consent Order permitting the activity as proposed in the Permit Application’s Disinterment and Relocation Plan. The Authority enlisted the services of Southern Research to carry out the Court’s Order. The Disinterment and Relocation was conducted in late October (yes, on Halloween) and early November 2008. The work discovered 13 individual graves interred in the Barnes Cemetery: four adults, one adolescent and eight children or infants. The results of this effort determined that the living direct descendants included Mr. Thomas Carlton Barnes, his children and grandchildren who live nearby. Based upon the genealogical research, we determined that the individuals were interred between the 1880s and 1907.

Fort Valley State University Reconnaissance Survey, Peach County

During the first two weeks of June 2008, Southern Research, Historic Preservation Consultants, Inc. conducted a Level One Archaeological Reconnaissance at Fort Valley State University in Fort Valley, Georgia. This effort was part of the development of the first Campus Historic Preservation Plan by a team of preservation professionals. The purpose of the reconnaissance survey was to conduct a literature and records search to determine if previously identified archaeological sites had been recorded on the university campus and to assess the potential for as yet undiscovered sites to be present. The archaeological reconnaissance survey recorded artifacts and features dating from the establishment of Fort Valley High and Industrial School (started in the early twentieth century) as well as evidence of earlier mid-nineteenth century occupations. Using the 1920 Sanborn Insurance Map, we projected the footprints of earlier buildings long since demolished, onto a modern aerial photograph using ArcGIS 9.2. Locating the earliest features of the school contributed to the sense of place that will enhance the students, faculty, staff and alumni’s appreciation of the school’s history as well as what came before.

Don Carter State Park Survey, Hall County

Southern Research has completed the fieldwork and laboratory analysis for an archaeological survey of the portions of Don Carter State Park. A Draft Final Report is in preparation. The area surveyed for the Don Carter State Park consisted of three separate parcels encompassing approximately 400 acres belonging to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District (USACE). The land lies adjacent to Lake Lanier in northeastern Hall County, Georgia. The tracts that were surveyed are where the first improvements will occur on the largely undeveloped property. The land belonging to the USACE was surveyed under Archaeological Resources Protection Act Permit Number DACW01-4-09-0457 issued to the DNR. The survey resulted in the identification of 20 previously recorded archaeological resources: 18 sites and two artifact occurrences. Site 9Hl530 is a cemetery with at least 15 marked and unmarked graves dating to the mid to late nineteenth century. Additional unmarked graves are likely present. Archaeological sites 9Hl537, 9Hl540, and 9Hl542 are house sites that date to the mid nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. All three have retained some integrity as witnessed by intact stone and/or brick ruins and have the potential to yield important information about the history of Hall County. Archaeological sites 9Hl538 and 9Hl540 are prehistoric artifact scatters that yielded pottery sherds from the Middle Woodland Period. These two sites also produced quartz and chert lithic artifacts, fire-cracked rocks, and charred plant remains in sufficient quantities and in context that would suggest they have retained enough integrity to yield important new information regarding prehistory in the Upper Chattahoochee River Valley. Other archaeological sites included quartz lithic scatters of unknown age.

Survey of the Mountain Creek Drainage, Harris County

In 2008, Southern Research conducted a reconnaissance survey of private property located on and adjacent to Pine Mountain in Harris County, Georgia. The work included a search of archaeological records for information regarding past archaeological research on the property and in the region. Historical research in the Harris County Court House yielded important chain of title data for several land lots on the property. During a fieldwork, archaeologists examined at a reconnaissance level, approximately 1,000 of the 8,000 acres. Two previously recorded archaeological sites are located on the property and the field crews found 52 previously unrecorded resources during the survey. These include Native American camp sites, a stone mound, a prehistoric quartzite quarry, historic house sites, cemeteries, a steel truss bridge and a water powered mill site. Most of the sites are disturbed to the extent that little important scientific information about the past remains intact. Poor agricultural practices in the nineteenth century and subsequent timber harvesting activities have contributed to the erosion and disturbance. These resources are for the most part small Native American camp sites probably from the Archaic and Woodland periods. There are some very important resources that are judged to be significant or potentially significant with further investigations. These include the previously recorded archaeological sites, the stone mound, eight cemeteries, a Champion steel truss bridge, the small water powered mill site and four archaeological house sites. These resources are unique, or have retained enough integrity to be able to contribute substantially to our understanding of the past through additional research. The property owners intend to protect and conserve the sites.

How Hoboken got its name

Southern Research recently conducted a cultural resources survey for a client in Hoboken, Georgia. While no archaeological resources were discovered, our historian uncovered the origin of this South Georgia town’s name. Historical research was conducted using traditional published sources, online sources such as NAHRGIS, and informant interviews. It is the latter interviews that proved so interesting. Below are excerpts from some of the informant interviews (edited for general audiences).

One informant suggested that the town was named for Hobo Ken, a country music singer who appeared on the Grand Ole Opry in the 1940s. Another informant countered that Hobo Ken was a professional wrestler on the Southern circuit back in the 1950s to early 1980s. This elderly gentleman went on to say “I went up against him a few times when I was on the circuit, wrestling under the nom de guerre Buddha the Magnificent back in the mid to late 1970s. He was getting on in years back then, while I was an up-and-coming slab in my late 20s. You might have caught us out at the J & J Center on the Commerce Highway (north of Athens) on Tuesday nights back then.”

Another informant suggested that while he had not actually seen the match, he had heard that Hobo Ken whupped Buddha’s a**. Another old timer who said he witnessed the match added “… it’s been many a year since I thought of ‘Buddha’ the Magnificent and his match with Hobo Ken. First off, and this is a fact, ‘Buddha’ started his career as Bubba the Magnificent. But the kid was dyslexic, often getting his b’s and d’s mixed up. So when he wrote his name in Elmer’s glue and glitter on the back of his bathrobe, it came out ‘Budda’ the Magnificent. Now, concerning his match with Hobo Ken at the J & J, it wasn’t really an a** whuppin’, with bodies bouncin’ off the ropes and lots of blood and all. Ken just applied his own form of the ‘sleeper’—a hobo armpit over the nose. It was over in a couple of seconds.” Informant Buddha disputes this version in a tersely worded retort that cannot be repeated here! Further research uncovered this fact: “Hobo Ken” is track 4 on the A side of Ain’t But the One Way written by Vaetta Stewart (aka Vet Stone), little sister of Sylvester Stewart (aka Sly Stone). This was the last album by Sly and the Family Stone released in 1983. Vet Stone was with the vocal group Little Sister which sang backups for Sly and the Family Stone and also did their own thing. Little Sister included Mary McCreary who married Leon Russell, which some say resulted in the recording of the “Wedding Album.”

Finally, our historian settled on this version: Hoboken, Brantley County was incorporated as a city August 16, 1920. This town in the western part of the county may have been named for the city in New Jersey, which was named from the Algonquian word hopocan, meaning “tobacco pipe” or “pipe country.”

Now, who you gonna believe?

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).

This year our Society held its Fall Picnic on November 3 at Fife Plantation, later than usual due to warnings about heat and mosquitoes, the hazards of visiting a Savannah River plantation. Nevertheless, after a slightly chilly start, it was a perfect fall day with brilliant sunshine lending a glow to what were once rice fields and a sparkle to the windruffled waters of the many canals. We took a mile-long selfguided tour of the old rice dikes and “Oscar’s house”, the lone surviving 1920s era tenant house. Prior to our walk, our host, Robbie Harrison, gave us a wonderful hands-on talk about what really goes into preserving an old river plantation. Although no rice is raised there, the fields are kept grassed for the cattle and the canals and sluice gates or “trunks” maintained to regulate water flow. The problems he described ranged from salt water intrusion and repairs to gates, to eagles that killed a herd of sheep.

CGAS members touring Fife Plantation.

On October 18, CGAS members enjoyed attending the “Diversity of Coastal Archaeology” conference in Midway, and contributed by adding yet another dugout canoe to the known inventory. The canoe was probably built in Effingham County around 1870, and is on exhibit at the Savannah-Ogeechee Canal Museum. Our usual December meeting, at the Oyster Roast with the Elderhostel, has been cancelled, and we are in the process of planning another activity. Future events planned for spring 2008 include our annual archaeology lecture jointly sponsored with the Savannah College of Art and Design. Anyone wishing to contact CGAS can do so at (912) 920-2299 or Carndt2651@aol.com.

Ca. 1870 canoe from Effingham County.

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.