CRM: Vogtle-Effingham-Thalmann 500 KV Electric Transmission Line GP-SN-03: Data Recovery

Cultural property GP-SN-03 (designated (T) 9 Sn C.P. * 11 in Garrow 1984) is located in Screven County, Georgia within the Vidalia Uplands of the Coastal Plain Physiographic Province. It lies within the Savannah River drainage system, approximately 105 kilometers (km) from the Atlantic Ocean. GP-SN-03 is located on a low, sandy terrace/bluff (70 feet above sea level) overlooking the main channel of Brier Creek, approximately 500 m to the south (Figure 1). The Brier Creek swamp/flood plain is located immediately west of the property. The Designated Work Area (DWA) is presently vegetated in small pines and undergrowth, having been logged and mechanically planted within the past 15-20 years. This property was first identified during the Resource Inventory II investigations (surface reconnaissance and intensive shovel testing) of the project corridor (Garrow 1984). During the initial investigation shovel testing indicated that buried cultural deposits were present at GP-SN-03. Early Archaic and Middle Woodland components were identified on the property during this phase. Figure 2 is an enlargement of the work area showing the cultural property as defined by the Resource Inventory II study (survey). The proposed transmission corridor crosses the property along a route heading approximately 65 degrees west of magnetic north. Archaeological testing was confined to one Designated Work Area (DWA or study area) of proposed transmission line tower construction. The distribution of artifacts recovered from Resource Inventory II shovel tests indicated that the densest portion of the property was located outside and north of the DWA along the transmission line. Testing was conducted to assess the further research potential of this DWA and to provide data for planning subsequent work within the DWA. Further research was recommended for the DWA, based on the results of test excavations of 14 2 x 2 m test units. Testing of the DWA at GP-SN-03 produced evidence of minor middle Archaic, and perhaps Mississippian, components, with the major occupations apparently having occurred during the Late Archaic and Late Middle Woodland periods. It should be noted that the remainder of the property, outside the DWA, will continue to be protected from disturbance under Georgia Power Company's Tentative Resource Treatment Plan (Shive 1984). Archaeological investigations were conducted during the Spring of 1985 by Garrow & Associates, Inc. This contract excavation was part of a larger archaeological effort along Georgia Power Company's Vogtle-Effingham-Thalmann Electric Transmission Line corridor. Proper recovery of materials within this type of alluvial sand matrix could only be accomplished through well controlled large block excavations. Two large blocks were excavated, revealing a stratified deposit ranging from the Archaic to the eighteenth-century historic period. Although the strata were somewhat mixed, it was possible to recognize horizontal patterns and vertical trends within the deposit. This report describes a large excavation at a non-quarry locus in the Brier Creek area of east-central Georgia. The collections recovered from this excavation provide a rigidly collected refuse assemblage that will help in understanding one aspect of the mechanics of prehistoric chert production and consumption for this area. The archaeological remains found by this investigation reveal a pattern of repeated, temporary land use from the Middle/Late Archaic through Middle Woodland Periods. The primary evidence consisted of debris associated with intermediate and late stage tool manufacture and maintenance. Evidence for other activities includes food preparation and/or storage during the Late Archaic and Woodland occupation, and wood/bone working throughout all occupations. The small area of this much larger Brier Creek bluff setting examined indicates that the area was not permanently settled, but served as a locus for repeated, probably temporary, occupation for well over 6000 years. The accumulation of debris lightly deposited during several hundred generations of occupation are the data examined.