Submitted by Lynn Pietak (lpietak@edwards-pitman.com)
UPDATED 12 Oct, 4:23pm. Join members and guests of the SGA at the Society’s Fall Meeting on the 22nd of October, in room 171 (first floor) of the Zell B. Miller Learning Center on the University of Georgia Campus in Athens (map below). Registration ($10 for members, $15 for non-members; $5 for students with ID; $25 for families) begins at 8:30am. SGA President Catherine Long will welcome attendees at 9:00am. Stay in Athens for evening activities, a SGA live and silent auction fund-raiser for the SGA that begins at 6:30pm, including an opportunity to tour the SGA’s ArchaeoBus, Georgia’s Mobile Archaeology Classroom (details on evening activities online here).
Access a PDF of the abstracts by clicking here. Access a PDF of the day-time meeting schedule by clicking here.
9:15am
Preston Holder’s WPA Excavations of the Evelyn Plantation Mounds in Glynn County, Georgia by Kevin Kiernan, Ph.D., SGA Board Member; Keith Stephenson, Savannah River Archaeological Research Program; and Karen Y. Smith, Monticello, Department of Archaeology. In 1937 Preston Holder excavated five prehistoric mounds at Evelyn Plantation in Glynn County, Georgia. The most knowledgeable and experienced WPA archaeologist of coastal Georgia, Holder developed the first definite regional ceramic chronology there, conducted the first investigation of a coastal Swift Creek mound there, and demonstrated that William Bartram’s “tetragon terrace” fortification of European construction was a basket-laid, flat-topped, ceremonial mound. Using previously unpublished documentation, we outline Holder’s reasoning that Evelyn Plantation was “essential for an adequate understanding of the prehistory” of coastal Georgia, and Arthur Kelly’s claim that it was “one of the top-ranking sites in the state.”
9:45am
A Fresh Look at Upatoi Town by W. Dean Wood, Elizabeth E. Williamson, and Kay G. Wood, Southern Research. Upatoi Town was a large, dispersed Creek Indian community settled in the early 1790s and abandoned around 1826. Archaeological and historical investigations in the 1990s confirmed its western extent on Fort Benning in west central Georgia. Recent archaeological surveys, test excavations and historical research by the authors examined the eastern portion of the town located on private property. This paper examines the new work focusing on one site that we think may be the location of a trader living in Creek County during the early nineteenth century.
10:00am
Conservation Archaeology and Georgia’s Regionally Important Resources Planning Program by Terry Jackson, Georgia Department of Community Affairs. The Georgia Planning Act of 1989 authorizes the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to establish specific rules and procedures for the identification of Regionally Important Resources (RIR), development of a plan for the protection and management of these resources, and for review of activities potentially impacting these resources. In 2009, DCA revised the original RIR rules to require the state’s 16 regional commissions to develop plans for their respective regions. The stated intent of these RIR rules and procedures were to: 1) enhance focus on protection and management of important natural and cultural resources throughout the state; 2) careful consideration of, planning for, impacts of new development on these important resources; and 3) improved local, regional, and state level coordination in protecting and managing of these important resources.
In 2009, the Ocmulgee Archaeological Society successfully nominated Fort Hawkins and the Old Creek Agency Reserve to be included in the RIR plan of the Middle Georgia Regional Commission. Also, in 2009, the Greater Atlanta Archaeological Society submitted a nomination of 188 sites to the Atlanta Regional Commission. This later nomination was later withdrawn by SGA due to a disagreement with ARC as to how the information could be published according to DCA’s RIR rules and with respect to protection provisions of the Georgia Open Records Act (GORA). In 2011, the SGA Board of Directors teamed with the Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists to develop a nomination process deemed to be an ideal compromise for nominating GORA-protected resources. From the list of 4,513 known sites in the ARC region, this latest nomination recommends 295 sites that have been listed, nominated, or recommended eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. This newest nomination is still under review by ARC.
10:30am
Break
10:45am
Carroll County’s Early Industrial Development on Snake Creek by Kay G. Wood and W. Dean Wood, Southern Research. Beginning in the 1840s, a 1.5 mile stretch of Snake Creek in Carroll County, Georgia witnessed the establishment of grist and saw mills, a cotton gin, three textile factories, and a paper mill and pulp mills. First called Bowenville, then Banning, a community of mill workers and owners settled on the ridge tops overlooking the gorge where the water-powered and steam powered industries were located. Archaeological surveys and historical research by the authors in 2005 – 2006 documented these industrial sites. Together, they represent a microcosm of the industrial revolution that took place across Piedmont Georgia during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
11:15am
Mineral Industries of North Georgia: Historic Contexts and Archaeology by Brad Botwick, New South Associates, Inc. Georgia has an extensive heritage related to mining and mineral industries. Mining and quarrying in the state involved numerous raw materials and extensive underground and surface operations. Despite a potentially rich source of information about the state’s economic and industrial development, there has been limited archaeological study of these sites and little appreciation of their potential for research and preservation. Recently, however, the Georgia Department of Transportation sponsored a historic context to assist in the identification, evaluation, and preservation of mining and quarrying sites in north Georgia. This paper summarizes the context, reviews the site and resource types expected at Georgia mining sites, and discusses the potential for archaeological research.
11:45am
The SGA Business Meeting
12 noon
Lunch Break
1:30pm
SGA and UGA, Partners in Archaeology by M. Jared Wood and Mark Williams, University of Georgia. The Society for Georgia Archaeology and the University of Georgia share a relationship stretching back over 60 years. This lengthy history is one of fits, starts, and determination as the field of archaeology has developed in the state. This story involves many archaeologists both past and present and ranges from the founding of the Society (then known as the Society for the Preservation of Early Georgia History), to today. From advocacy to meetings, and publishing to curation, SGA and UGA have found mutual support in each other. This paper will delve into the historic relationship between these two organizations that have helped shape archaeology in Georgia.
2:00pm
The Swords Bridge Site, 9MG73 by Richard Moss, Historic Preservation Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Swords Bridge is a site with Archaic and Late Mississippian Lamar Period components located in Morgan County, Georgia, now mostly submerged under Lake Oconee. 1977 investigations conducted by UGA included a systematic surface collection, test unit excavations, and mechanical stripping and feature mapping. The original artifact count data were visualized by density distribution mapping in an effort to better understand the nature of the Late Mississippian settlement at 9MG73. The results of this study revealed concentrations in the distributions of certain phase diagnostic Lamar period ceramics from the surface collection. Such a pattern may result from temporally distinct yet spatially overlapping small farmstead occupations.
2:30pm
Supplying Generals John Floyd and Andrew Jackson: The Fort Daniel/Fort Peachtree/Peachtree Road Connection by James D’Angelo and Wayne Waldrip, Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society. In response to supply problems that had seriously hampered General John Floyd, Commander of the Georgia Army during the 1812 War, a plan to raft supplies down the Chattahoochee from the site of the Indian village of Standing Peachtree to Fort Mitchell (near Columbus) was executed. To accomplish this, one frontier fort was rebuilt and another new fort was constructed along with a boat yard and 30 miles of new road. This presentation is about the connection between Fort Daniel at Hog Mountain, Jackson County (now Gwinett) and Fort Peachtree in Creek Territory (now Atlanta), the original Peachtree Road, how they came to be, where they were located, and what they would have looked like based on archaeological and documentary evidence.
3:00pm
Break
3:15pm
Beneath the Street: Archaeological Evaluation of Atlanta’s Streetcar Past by Matt Tankersley, New South Associates, Inc. Trolleys were fixtures in American nineteenth and twentieth century streetscapes, and Atlanta was no exception. The vestiges of the transportation system consist of a variety of resource types. However, the most widespread legacy is track preserved below the street. To further understand these resources, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) contracted New South Associates to develop a context for resources of Georgia’s historic streetcar systems. A goal was to provide preservation professionals better understanding of these resources and a framework for evaluation. To this end, technology like geographic information system (GIS) and ground penetrating radar (GPR) were employed to locate preserved elements and evaluate the myriad of resources associated with the system.
3:45pm
Results from Recent Archaeological Survey at Ocmulgee by Daniel Bigman, University of Georgia. A multi-scalar remote sensing survey was carried out at Ocmulgee National Monument in 2010 and 2011 to answer questions about community form at Ocmulgee during its early Mississippian occupation. Several hypotheses created by earlier investigators were tested using a variety of geophysical prospection methods. This paper presents the results of this survey and offers some preliminary interpretations.
4:15pm
Duckett Site (9HL554) Spring 2011 Season Report and Intern Research by William H. Phillips, University of West Georgia. This presentation will discuss the results of fieldwork and research of the 2011 Spring Season on the Duckett Site. This includes the product of extensive shovel testing, site maps with updated boundaries and artifact densities, and the ongoing excavation of Text Pit 2. A brief introduction of the completed NGCSU Intern research papers will also be given, followed by future research designs.
4:45pm
Chert Sources and Resources in Northwest Georgia by Terry Powis, PhD, Kennesaw State University; Jon Bruce, Brockington and Associates; and Vicki Gloer, SUNY Albany. Chert is the most common raw material used in the local manufacture of prehistoric chipped stone implements. Determination of raw material sources improves the accuracy and usefulness of site data and its interpretation, potentially informing the archaeological record about prehistoric natural resource use as well as providing evidence for political and economic relationships between sites. This paper discusses the theoretical and methodological considerations involved in chert sourcing and uses examples from both previous and current research in Dade, Walker, and Catoosa Counties of northwest Georgia to illustrate the opportunities and challenges associated with chert source location, sample collection, and both material and data analysis. Application resolutions based upon field and laboratory work are provided, including the use of global positioning systems and geographic information systems technologies, as well as suggestions for future research.
Where to find it
Click above to go to a larger Google interactive map of the area.
Posted online on Friday, October 7th, 2011