Coastal Adaptations in Southeast Georgia: Ten Archaeological Sites at Kings Bay

Secondary archeological testing at six prehistoric and four historic sites at Kings Bay, Camden County, Georgia is documented in this report. The u.s. Department of the Navy is developing a Naval Submarine Support Base at Kings Bay and requires this information for the purpose of managing cultural resources . The research was performed by archeologists from the University of Florida under the direction of Dr. Charles H. Fairbanks, Principal Investigator, and was funded through a contract with the Navy. Fieldwork took place during Fall 1979 and Winter 1980; analysis and documentation were carried out during the subsequent twelve month period . The set of ten sites includes single and multicomponent, shell midden and nonshell aboriginal sites and plantation period sites representing large, moderate and small historic occupations . The tasks of secondary testing were twofold . First, definition and evaluation of the cultural resources was required for management purposes. Second, adaptation to the coastal environment as manifest in Late Archaic through contact period aboriginal occupations, and in historic period settlements, was to be studied. Because of the exploratory nature and data collection limitations of secondary testing, it was expected that answers to some of the questions raised in this phase of research would consist of hypotheses for testing in future investigations. Test excavations at each site were widely dispersed and sampled less than one percent of each area. Sampling strategies, primarily employing two meter test units, were judgemental, systematic sem1- aligned or stratified random, according to the nature of the site. Analysis of the artifact and subsistence samples relied heavily on quantification and was oriented toward pattern recognition. It was determined that a Late Archaic occupation which did not involve shellfish exploitation is well represented in two locations at Kings Bay . Deptford period components are present but not extensive. A sizable Swift Creek period deposit, unusual for the Camden County area, was discovered; no other Atlantic coast sites of this type have been investigated and reported. Mississipian period components are numer ous and vary with respect to settlement plan, reflecting increasing population size and organizational complexity. Two contrasting Mississippian period ceramic assemblages are present and are believed to represent different cultural groups. The Wilmington/Savannah period assemblage differs from what has been defined for the northern Georgia coast in that check stamping is absent . The St. Johns-related assemblage contains sponge spicule tempered wares in addition to sandy/gritty cord marked sherds. Contact period materials document both change in aboriginal vessel form and introduction of European goods. A subsistence adaptation characterized by heavy reliance on estuarine resources was observed at most of the prehistoric sites. Repeated occupation of the bluff edge reflects the general coastal pattern of settlement. Historic period sites were found to represent at least four socioeconomic levels: upper class planter, middle class planter, slave and low status, non-slaveholding white . At the middle class planter ' s site, an early slave settlement differing from other coastal slave sites in the presence of a high proportion of slipware bowls and a heavy reliance on beef was defined. Significant differences in the two planters ' ceramic assemblages reflect differing socioeconomic status. The observation that the planter's diet included a large proportion of wild game confirms the pattern reported at other plantation period sites. The low status white subsistence sample was characterized by a low dependence on domesticants. An evaluation of research potential at each of these sites results 1n the following recommendations. Six sites should be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Kings Bay Multiple Resource Area: the Mill Creek Shell Middens Site, 9Caml66, the Kings Bay Site, 9Caml71, the Kings Bay Plantation Site, 9Caml72, the Marianna Plantation Site, 9Caml74, the Devil's Walkingstick Site, 9Caml77, and the Killion Site, 9Caml79. Four sites lack significant research potential and should not be nominated to the National Register: the Point Peter Road Site, 9Caml75, the Hercules Club Site, 9Caml76, the Araminta Sowerby Site, 9Caml78, and the Bolingbroke Site, 9Caml80.