Rae's Creek: A Multicomponent Archaeological Site at the Fall Line along the Savannah River

This report details the procedures and results of mitigative excavation at the Rae's Creek site (9RI327), Richmond County, Georgia. The investigation was conducted by Georgia State University under contract with the Georgia Department of Transportation. The Rae's Creek site initially was detected after contracts had been let for construction of the Murray Road Extension (GDOT Project M750(4)). These agreements included use of the nearby sandy elevation of the site as a borrow area and subsequent creation of a wet-land environment in the borrow area to replace others in the vicinity of Augusta lost or threatened by development. Archaeological testing in the impact area revealed intermittent occupation from the Early Archaic through the Colonial Period buried beneath 30cm or more of alluvial sediments and the site was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places at a local level of significance. It was determined that the effect of construction could be mitigated through data recovery at the site. Problem orientations for the mitigative research were appropriately generalized, consisting of recovery of data relating to chronology, subsistence, and settlement represented at the site (see Bowen 1988). A total of 17 ½ weeks of field work was undertaken at the Rae's Creek site, with the expenditure of about 720 person-days of effort. Field work was initiated on April 4, 1988 and continued for 7 ½ weeks. During this period substantial information concerning a Colonial Period Indian occupation at the site was recognized and a contract extension was provided to allow for four additional weeks of field work. Investigations resumed on June 20, 1988 as part of an Archaeological Field Methods class through Georgia State University. Shortly after renewed excavation efforts began, a deeply buried Middle Archaic Period horizon at the site was defined and a new contract was negotiated to recover its significant information. Excavation continued at the site until August 26, 1988, shortly after construction began in the site area. Laboratory processing and analysis of materials from the excavation were carried out at the Archaeology Laboratory of Georgia State University under Accession 0303. Artifacts, notes, and other records resulting from the investigation are permanently curated at the Laboratory of Archaeology of West Georgia College.