The Hawkin's Point Site (15BI21) In Central Georgia Prehistory

Archeology in the Southeastern United States received its first big impetus during the 1930's under the financial support of the Works Project Administration. During this period many sites were excavated without the results being published. Such a site is Hawkins Point. Archeological goals have changed considerably since the 1930's when this site was excavated. During this period the importance of association and natural stratigraphy was poorly recognized, and instead sites were excavated in arbitrary levels. The importance of faunal and floral remains was of little concern and as a result no faunal material or soil samples accompany the artifacts collected from the site. Additional shortcomings in field techniques, by modern standards, indicate that considerable data was destroyed or overlooked during the process of excavation. In addition to the problems mentioned above, the field notes for the excavation of Hawkins Point are virtually non-existent, with only two typed pages of extremely general notes remaining, so only limited data is available for the production of a written report. Hawkins Point is located in the very southern tip of Bibb County, on the west side of the Ocmulgee River, and is, in fact, a "point" or promontory formed by the juncture of Echeconnee Creek and the Ocmulgee River. The site is comparable to many other river sites that are not alluvial, i.e. this site is in an upland position with regard to river inundation. At this point the narrow river bluff drops sharply. While some of the immediate surrounding terrain is very high, the general configuration is that of low, rolling hills. The site itself slopes down to the river, and includes 10 to 15 acres of farm land forming a shallow bowl or scoop, high on all sides but the west. The soil is described by Willey as a rather thin weathered sand mixed with humic infiltrations and middens. Underlying the weathered sand is the typical loam, with loamy gravel and red clay below this. The soils are loam, designated Congaree silty clay loam near the rivers, with a sandy loam, designated Kalmia sandy loam on the uplands. This sand and silty clay loam appears along the major drainage area of the Ocmulgee River. Hawkins Point is a village site showing primarily a Lamar occupation based on the ceramic types from the surface and those found throughout the midden. The site had been disturbed to a depth of approximately 6 inches by plowing. Willey (1937:3) indicates that some of the excavation units located definite areas where "refuse had been dumped or fires made, though no house floors were located." However, he also states that no archeological features were found and the exact location of these refuse dumps and hearths remains unknown. Excavations were carried out in a somewhat haphazard manner. Initially 10 pits were located haphazardly throughout the site. Circular surface collections 100' in diameter were made around each of these pits. These units, measuring 10' by 10' were begun on November 19, 1937. The units were excavated in the "6-3" method, the standard technique of the day. In this technique the first six inches were removed, hereafter referred to as Level "P". After this, the units were taken down in arbitrary 3 inch levels. Following excavation of these initial ten units, Willey felt it necessary to excavate nine other units, some adjacent to previous excavations, where midden deposits were of noticeable depth (Map 2). Relative shallow depth of the midden deposit, plus the lack of archeological features indicates a heavy loss of depositional materials due to erosion, probably brought on by years of continued plowing. This could in part account for the lack of features.