A Preliminary Site Report for Archaeological Salvage Undertaken at 9PM220

9Pm220 is a small shell midden located on the south bank of the Oconee River about 300 meters downstream from the mouth of Lick Creek. The shell refuse found here was deposited where the river bank is slightly higher than it is either upstream or downstream, but the shellfish themselves were probably gathered at a small shoal found a very short distance upstream. The site was discovered by the 1975 survey party because mollusc shells were washing from the bank (DePratter 1976:274). These shells were the only visible indication of a site, and further testing was necessary before the horizontal and vertical boundaries of the site were known. The 1977 excavation suggests that erosion has not been a serious problem and that very little of the site seems to have been washed away. In 1975 a single test pit was excavated and indicated the presence of two distinct shell strata. Both strata contained Lamar ceramics. A few posthole tests dug that same year, as well as our own work, have revealed that the shell midden extends for. about 20 meters along the river bank with the heaviest shell concentrations sloping away from the river for nearly 8 meters. In 1977 we discovered a second cluster of shell upslope and southeast of the main shell concentration, but this second cluster is only 6 meters in diameter and is not densely packed. Additional tests found cultural material covering at least 675 square meters, although areas with heavy shell deposits covered only one-third of that area. At present, 9Pm220 is completely forested. A former owner of the site told us that within his memory (50 years) the site had not been plowed. Since the uppermost shell stratum comes within 8 centimeters of the ground surface, the area closest to the river bank may never have been tilled.