Archaeological Investigations at 9MC141, Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, McIntosh County, Georgia

Archeological survey, testing, and data recovery were undertaken at the Harris Neck Airfield site, 9 Mc41, prior to the construction of visitor's use facilities at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, McIntosh County, Georgia. Construction will directly impact Mississippi period (Irene/ Pine Harbor), protohistoric period (Altamaha / Southerland Bluff), and antebellum period deposits. Two large excavation units were examined, as were archeological deposits intercepted by access roads. A partial prehistoric structure, daub processing pits, basin-shaped pits, large refuse-filled pits, a human burial, and postmolds were excavated during the data recovery phase. Analysis of the artifacts and zooarcheological remains suggests that the site was occupied year round by a small group of people during the late prehistoric period. Two radiocarbon samples date the Irene/ Pine Harbor component to about A.D. 1400. Two other radiocarbon samples date the protohistoric component to about A.D. 1650. The last major occupation was by a slave-owning, white planter during the early nineteenth century. A ceramic vessel form analysis was conducted using rim sherds from the Mississippian and protohistoric components, and the results were compared with vessel assemblages from burial mounds and an early Irene/Pine Harbor period domestic site. Eleven different shape categories were established, and significant differences were noted in the frequency distribution of vessel shape categories in domestic versus mortuary assemblages.