Archaeological Test Excavations at the Tate Site (9EB86)

This report is an account of three weeks of archaeological excavations during the summer of 1995 at the Tate site (9Eb86), a single mound village site in Elbert County, Georgia. The work, performed by a field school from the University of Georgia under the direction of the author, was the first professional excavation at the site. During the field period, the site was completely contour-mapped, and a series of shovel tests were placed around the village to define its limits. Three 2 by 2 meter excavation units were placed in the site, two in the village and one on the southwestern edge of the small mound. A profile was made of a pothole on the summit of the mound. All indications are that the site was occupied at a single time period, the Savannah period, some time around A.D. 1250. The occupation appears to have been brief, perhaps no greater than 50 years. Further, the site is small and conforms to the concept of a chiefly compound where the small population of the site may have consisted entirely of the chief, his wives, and other family members. The non-family members of the chiefdom presumably lived in small farmsteads in the surrounding countryside. Additional work at the site in the future is certainly warranted.