Assessment of 9JK349, Ridge Creek Jackson County, Georgia

This report describes the archaeological background, mapping, and test unit excavation of a looted gneiss outcrop on a hilltop ridge in Jackson County, Georgia. Officially numbered 9JK349, the rock outcrop feature is located at the upper end of Ridge Creek Drive, east-central Jackson County, approximately 1.4 kilometers southwest of Nicholson and almost 300 meters south of Brockton Road. On-site corroboration by Kevin Thomas shows that 9JK349 occupies the location of 9JK51 that was submitted to the Georgia Site Files in 1990. To rectify the mistaken placement of 9JK51, an updated site form was submitted, showing its location on a similar-looking landform, 350 meters to the southeast. Nonetheless, 9JK51 and 9JK349 share many characteristics. To determine if portions of the 9JK349 rock outcrop with piled stones could have survived along the edges of the looters’ excavation, a test unit was excavated into the edge of the looted pit. It was also hoped that evidence gathered during excavation of the feature could be compared to evidence from similar features in the surrounding region to identify its most likely function and age. Prior to fieldwork, Jackson County got clearance from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Historic Preservation Division and the Georgia Council on American Indian Concerns. Fieldwork (December 20-December 22, 2021) was funded by the Watson Brown Foundation. Fieldwork included thoroughly removing leaf litter and other vegetative obstructions (including trees and vines) from the boulders and within the looters’ trench, aerial drone photography and GIS mapping of the entire rock outcrop, inspection of the ground surface for artifacts, controlled excavation of a 1 x 1-meter test unit in 10-centimeter deep increments, screening of the excavated soil for artifact recovery, measuring and drawing of exposed soil profiles (including determining soil make-up and colors), and careful backfilling of the test unit. The exposed soil profile revealed a previously excavated surface containing backfill abutted against an intact B horizon. An initial Late Archaic Piedmont Allendale point was recovered from the backfill, while lithic debitage (all gneiss) came from both the backfill and the intact B horizon, strongly suggesting that the point originally came from this horizon and was not kept by the looters. The depth and size of the looters’ pit, the height of the surrounding backfill ring, and the numerous stones and displaced boulders scattered around the edge of the pit are testimony of effort that went into recovering artifacts from the feature. At the conclusion of excavations, oily dark-colored soils were found along the deepest recesses within the solid bedrock where the looters stopped digging. These soils also contained tiny fragments of bone. Upon detection of the minute bone fragments, all soil was returned and covered up with the stones around the edges that the looters removed from the pit. Dark-colored soils with bones are found at all other known boulder cache sites, with the exception that all the miniature pots and smoking pipes typically found at these sites have probably been looted at 9JK349. The closest confirmed boulder cache site with miniature bowls and pipes is near Paoli, eastern Madison County. Both the Paoli boulder cache site and the bird-looking piled stone effigy at nearby 9JK317 yielded Late Lamar Wolfskin phase shouldered pots. The bird-looking effigy at 9JK317, the boulder caches at 9JK51 and 9JK349, and the Paoli site all fall within an area occupied by communities that manufactured Wolfskin pots, roughly between AD 1550 and AD 1760. Although located on private land, 9JK349 is potentially eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places according to Criterion A (its contribution to the history of the precontact/post-contact period in the upper Oconee River and Broad River catchments) and Criterion C (embodying distinctive characteristics of a boulder cache that are meaningful when placed in a landscape context). Being located on private property, 9JK349 will be protected for future generations to appreciate and respect.