Summary of Lamar Farmstead Data Recovery Projects on Reynolds Plantation

One goal of data recovery for the Reynolds Project was to retrieve basic information relating to the Lamar occupation of each site so that these data could be compared to the existing database for upland sites. We wanted to learn about the layout of each site, its precise date of occupation, site function, the potential contemporaneity of these Lamar occupations, and the activities and lifeways of the occupants. Broad area stripping were to reveal patterns of features that would provide information on site layout and the types of structures. Artifacts collected from all aspects of the data recovery were to be used to draw inferences on activities and to date the sites. Data recovery was conducted by Southeastern Archeological Services under the authors direction during the period of 1998 to 2001. 

Standardized field techniques were employed on each of the upland Lamar sites. That strategy utilized a close interval grid of shovel tests (usually 10 m) to define areas containing artifacts, followed by hand excavated test pits to learn of site stratigraphy and to gather large samples of artifacts. In most cases, systematic shovel testing and test pit excavation was conducted earlier during a testing phase (Ledbetter 1998a; 1998b; 1999). Machine stripping of block areas to define features is the technique primarily employed during the data recovery phase. The types of machines used for stripping may differ on individual projects, dependent upon the type of ground cover present on the sites; however, in all instances a backhoe equipped with a smooth bucket was used for final stripping prior to shovel shaving. On sites such as 9GE901 where artifact concentrations have been dispersed by plowing, backhoe trenches are excavated on a grid at intervals of 10 to 20 m in order to better isolate areas containing features. Comparable excavation strategy, employing systematic collections from the plowzone followed by machine stripping to isolate domestic features, has produced particularly meaningful results on recently excavated late Lamar sites in the Oconee Valley (Hatch 1995, Hatch et al. 1997; Worth 1996). Hatch's excavations in particular demonstrate a clear relationship between plowzone patterns of pottery and subsurface domestic features such as burials and trash pits (Hatch 1995). Because of clearcutting disturbance, those patterns may be somewhat clouded or distorted on these sites. However, it is expected that Lamar habitation areas will produce similar feature types and feature patterns to those defined by previous excavations of Hatch and Worth.