Data Recovery at 9JK173 Bear Creek Reservoir, Jackson County, Georgia

Phase 1II block excavations and machine stripping at site 9Jk173 -- within the proposed impoundment area of the Bear Creek Water Supply Reservoir of southwestern Jackson County -- yielded evidence for a single Late Cartersville ceramic component. This component comprised predominantly Simple Stamped quadropodal vessels, but also a few Check Stamped vessels. Excavated features include deep pit ovens, shallow roasting pits, trash and/or storage pits, smudge pits, and postholes. Charcoal dates taken from two separate sealed pit features -- the one a rock-covered roasting pit and the other a trash and/or storage pit -- yielded virtually identical results in terms of radiocarbon years. The 1540 t 60 B.P. and 1540 80 B.P. dates calibrate to between A.D. 410 and A.D. 645 and between A.D. 380 and A.D. 660 respectively. This places the occupation of the site on the cusp of the Middle to Late Woodland transition in the region. The few weathered Swift Creek sherds from the plowzone most probably represent trade goods in advance of the approaching Swift Creek frontier to the southwest. The paucity of permanent structures and the limited variety of ceramics and lithics, suggest that 9Jk173 represents a short-term extraction camp. This evidence for short-term activities, together with evidence for the re-used features at 9Jk173, suggest that the site was revisited on a number of occasions. The lack of spring/summer seeds suggests that the site was not occupied in the spring and summer. The recovery of nutshell, in combination with lack of substantial structural remains, indicates that the occupation of this seasonal encampment was restricted to the fall. The 9Jk173 wood charcoal assemblage indicates that the local forest in the project area was a pine dominated, mixed evergreen and hardwood forest.