Archaeological Investigations at Shoulderbone Mounds and Village (9HK1)

As part of its continuing research on the Oconee Valley Mississippian cultures, the LAMAR Institute mapped and tested the famous Shoulderbone site in Hancock County, Georgia during the summer of 1986. The work was conducted in cooperation with a University of Georgia archaeological field school. A total of 84 post holes and 10 excavation units was excavated during the season. Contour maps were made of the entire village area and of the three mounds. The major site occupation was during the Savannah and early Lamar periods (A.D. 1250-1450) and the site never was bigger than about 1.5 hectares at any one time. Aerial photos show a complex array of palisade ditches which apparently date to these two periods. Shoulderbone shows almost no evidence of occupation during the sixteenth century and probably was not the site of Ocute as some researchers have suggested. This multiple mound site is located 13 kilometers away from the Oconee River on a historically known trail. Its depopulation during the fifteenth century is coincident with the depopulation that occurred in the Savannah Valley to the east. It is likely that Shoulderbone's unusual location relates to interaction between the Oconee and Savannah Valley populations initiated during the Savannah period.