Archaeological Appraisal of Rock Pile Site 9JK59, Jackson County, Georgia

This report describes archaeological investigations of 52 stone piles and an isolated stone pile in the River Glen subdivision and private property immediately to the east. Officially labeled Site 9Jk59, the stone features were previously mentioned by Gordon Midgette (1967) and by Jerald Ledbetter (1993). To establish the antiquity of the stone piles, fieldwork was conducted between November 17 and November 23, 2016. Fieldwork, which was funded by the Watson Brown Foundation, involved carefully removing leaf litter from the stone features, digital photography and GIS mapping of the stone features, aerial photography of selected stone piles with a drone, inspection of the ground surface for metal artifacts with a metal detector, collection of artifacts from eroded road cuts, the setting out of flags every 10-meters in the four cardinal directions across the site, the controlled excavation of 38 shovel test pits next-to the flags, the controlled excavation of three test units in three separate piles, and the backfilling of all excavated areas. Stones identified on within the stone piles are mostly quartz-rich gneiss, but also include darker-colored schist fragments. Aerial photographs taken from directly above selected stone piles with a drone camera revealed that the piles have hexagonal shapes, each with different length/width ratios, but all with a generally-similar northwest/southeast alignment. The excavation of the 38 shovel test pits and three test units yielded the following three basic soil layers, from top to bottom: 2.5YR3/1 dark reddish gray compost (0-5cm); 2.5YR3/4 dark reddish brown sandy loam (5-15cm); and 2.5YR3/6 dark red clayey sandy loam with rocks. Artifacts recovered from the excavations include a Late Mississippian Lamar Wolfskin phase thin-lined incised carinated bowl (AD 1550-1670), secondary flakes, tertiary flakes, thinning flakes, and chunks, mostly from local gneiss. Whereas the bowl suggests food preparation and serving, the light scattering of lithic debitage suggests expedient and incidental lithic tool production and maintenance at the site. Artifact types and the date range of the diagnostic ceramic (which was recovered from next-to the base of Rock Pile 06A) suggest that the stone pile complex is a special purpose non-residential area that dates to protohistoric times. When viewed in cross-section, excavation profiles show that the stones were carefully piled into shallow depressions with the purposes of keeping fairly straight edges and a hexagonal shape. Surface collections from an exposed road cut along River Mansion Drive to the west of the stone pile complex yielded Late Woodland/Early Mississippian Woodstock period ceramics (AD 900-1000), projectile points, and flaked lithic debitage of milk quartz. The make-up and date of artifacts from this surface provenience is quite distinct from those excavated at the main stone pile complex, some 340 meters to the east. The temporal and cultural relationship between the River Mansion Drive surface collection and the turtle-looking stone pile (Rock Pile 37A) remains uncertain. To help clarify this question it is recommended that a test unit is excavated within an intact portion of Rock Pile 37 A. Also, to check the dimensions and orientations of all the stone pile within the stone pile complex on the opposite, eastern side, of the River Glen subdivision, it is recommended that these are cleared of all leaf litter and properly measured. Work at the subdivision has unequivocally shown that the stone piles are extremely significant, particularly due to their rarity and non-renewable nature. It is accordingly strongly recommended that they are preserved in place, preferably within a greenspace with properly-designed walking trails and interpretive signage. These hands-on conservation and management measures will preserve the unique historical assets of Jackson County for future generations to visit, cherish, and enjoy.