Archaeological Data Recovery Investigations at 9FL174, Floyd County, GA

Greenhorne & O'Mara, Inc., under contract with the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), hired Southern Research, Historic Preservation Consultants, Inc., to conduct Phase III data recovery investigations in preparation for the replacement of the bridge carrying Georgia State Route 100 (GA100) over the Coosa River. The field investigations ran from August 2008 through December 2008, and included both mechanical and hand excavations. This work was conducted to allow Greenhorne & O'Mara, Inc., and GDOT to completely comply with all applicable cultural resource requirements as outlined in Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966, as amended. Mechanical excavations were employed to remove a thick layer of sterile, historic overburden from the previous construction of existing GA100. Eight, 2 by 2 meter square units were then hand excavated at the site. The excavations revealed occupations dating from the Late Paleoindian through Woodland time periods. The earliest artifacts at the site, located on a secondary terrace away from the Coosa River, suggest temporary campsites occupied for short periods of time by transitional Paleoindian to Early Archaic peoples. The Middle Archaic, represented in lower levels of test units closer to the Coosa River also seem to represent short term occupations possibly marked by a surface hearth and a light scatter of chert tools and debitage. During the Late Archaic to Early Woodland periods, there seems to be a dramatic intensification of occupation. Although there is scant evidence for structures or long-term occupations at the site, a dense 50 cm thick fire-cracked rock midden accompanied by a variety of Late Archaic through Woodland period projectile points, soapstone bowl fragments, and Early to Middle Woodland ceramics suggest that the site was repeatedly occupied for at least short-term periods over several hundred, if not thousands of years. However, the site was seemingly abandoned after the early Middle Woodland, despite the fact that large Middle Woodland to Mississippian sites are reported nearby. Currently, the reasons for this abandonment are unclear, however, it may be directly related to later populations specifically seeking out different environmental conditions as part of incipient agricultural systems. Regardless, the available data suggest that the site was occupied intermittently by Native American peoples for almost 10,000 years. All artifacts, notes, and this report will be curated at the Antonio J. Waring Laboratory of Archaeology, University of West Georgia at Carrolton.