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Data Recovery at a Utility Pole Location 9Le(sas)1, Lee County, Georgia, Cobb-Warwick Transmission Line

Report Number
668
Year of Publication
1985
County
Abstract

This report summarizes the excavation and analysis of materials from 9Le(SAS)l, an intensively used quarry/workshop site, by Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc., for Oglethorpe Power Corporation. The project was undertaken to mitigate the adverse affects of a utility pole construction at the site. Data recovery consisted of the excavation of one 2 x 2 m test pit at the pole location. Results of the analysis of over 20,000 artifacts indicate that 9Le(SAS)1 was the locus of primary reduction and flake production, rather than biface production, with a limited amount of heat treatment occurring at the site. The top 30 cm of the test pit were redeposited, probably through bulldozer disturbance, but the remaining 60 cm were relatively undisturbed and fairly consistent in the types of artifacts present. Thermoluminescence dating of heat-altered chert at the site produced a date between 11,650 B.C. and 7850 B.C. 9Le(SAS)1 provides important data for further studies on the variability of quarry sites in the Coastal Plain of Georgia.