A Preliminary Investigation of an Early Knapping Site in Southeastern Georgia

In the summer of 1966, from mid-July to mid-September, preliminary excavations were made at the Site, in Burke County, Georgia, by Dr. William E. Edwards, then South Carolina State Archeologist, with a small crew of students from the University of South Carolina. I was involved in the excavations as a member of the crew. A survey of local amateurs' projectile point collections indicated the possible importance of the site, and a visit in July, 1966 showed the necessity of immediate salvage operations. The site had been vandalized to a great extent. There were large craters where the point-hunters had been working, and their activity was continuing. A surface collection of pottery from what I believe to be the same site has been mentioned previously in the literature (Phelps, 1968). One of the most extensive collections from the site was made by Sgt. Reginald Theriault, then stationed at Fort Gordon near Augusta. Sgt. Theriault made his collections available to Dr. Edwards for inspection in 1966 and has subsequently made them available to the University of Georgia archeologists. It was for Sgt. Theriault that Dr. Edwards named the site in 1966. A surface collection of the area produced a large number of chert flakes, and many chert bifaces, indicating that the site represented a large knapping locus. It was hoped that these specimens, and others turned up by collectors, had been stratigraphically deposited, but a test pit in an undisturbed area showed no natural stratification of cultural material. There was a topsoil or biotic zone of about six inches and a single occupation zone of medium, well-sorted sand out thirty-six inches deep, overlying a sterile clay matrix. Ground ter was encountered three to four inches into the clay. Although no cultural stratigraphy was found, excavation was continued, with the hope that a pattern of superposition of artifacts would be discovered in the homogeneous sand zone. A total of sixty five-foot squares was excavated, in three major areas of the site, and these were arbitrarily controlled in six-inch levels. Five features re discovered in the sand zone, but all were believed to have been tree root disturbances, as they were all irregular, all extended several levels in depth, and only one contained any artifacts. There were no faunal remains recovered from the site. Potsherds, both sand and fiber tempered, were found in all areas of the site, and, although these were concentrated in the top three levels, some were recovered from even the bottom level. Various projectile points and stone tools were also und, along with many chert bifaces. The most characteristic element the site, however, was the tremendous quantity of chert flakes, which were found on the surface and in all levels. At the close of excavations in September, 1966, all the bags of artifacts and flakes were shipped to the laboratory in Columbia, South carolina, and stored. Because of the press of subsequent events, thing more than the cataloging of a part of the material was done until September, 1969, when the present State Archeologist, Dr. Robert Stephenson, asked me to work with it in hopes of salvaging at least me information. A research proposal concerning the study of the material was submitted to a special committee governing a newly-created program of undergraduate independent study and research, at the University of South Carolina. This proposal was accepted, and work on the material began. Some problems, however, soon presented themselves. During the tree-year interval of storage, all notes and photographs of the site Ad been misplaced. All that remained were the provenience data on specimen bags and a catalog for the material that had already been cataloged. After the remaining material had been cleaned and cataloged, al1 of the material was sorted by squares and levels. By this sorting procedure, through my own memory and the memories of others involved .th the excavations, and through a visit to the site, the grid system used was reconstructed, and a general map of the site was made.