SITE MAPPING, GEOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATION AND GEOMORPHIC RECONNAISSANCE AT SITE 9ME395 UPATOI TOWN FORT BENNING, GEORGIA

The inadvertent discovery of a Native American burial at site 9 ME 395 during the course of archaeological field investigations prompted a revision of evaluation and management plans responsive to provisions of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and other cultural resource management legal requirements. The Center for Cultural Site Preservation Technology at the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi, was tasked by Fort Benning to undertake an interdisciplinary investigation to provide additional information about an Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Creek village and burial site. This site has substantial historical documentation identifying it as the Creek town site of "Upatoi". New information was needed to complement what had already been learned about the site up to this point. Information, preferably derived from non-invasive and nondestructive methods was needed to further evaluate the site and serve as the basis for developing a management plan and appropriate consultation effort with the Creek Indian Tribe. The acquisition of information needed to achieve these management objectives was accomplished in a manner demonstrating respect for and minimal disturbance of both the material and mortuary remains of the Creek Indian people.

The interdisciplinary investigation consisted of a site mapping effort using a global positioning system and laser range finding equipment. A geographic information system was used to incorporate all appropriate information from site mapping and all other investigations. The site map was taken an iteration beyond the mapping by archaeologists during their initial site evaluation efforts. Other investigations included a geomorphological reconnaissance and a geophysical survey consisting of electromagnetic, magnetic and ground penetrating radar investigations. In addition, depth to resistance measurements using a steel probe were taken throughout the site.

The particular conjunctions of evidence derived from the above suite of techniques and methods clearly indicate a relatively simple but distinct stratigraphic superimposition of cultural deposits containing a significant number and variety of geophysical anomalies. The results of the geophysical prospection indicate a highly patterned distribution of subsurface materials and features that include at least six probable burials and three probable holes or pits stratigraphically earlier in time. Some twenty probable or possible metallic objects were mapped throughout the site. A high percentage of these probable metallic objects were found in direct association with the probable burials. The use of a geographic information system proved to be an excellent tool for better integrating the combined results of all investigations. Conjunctions of evidence from the various perspectives indicate a pattern and distribution of probable buried artifacts and features that are surprisingly consistent with the independent and earlier archaeological observations based on surface evidence, subsurface shovel testing and very limited test pit excavation.

The results of this combined research suggest that future archaeological field studies to evaluate cultural resources in similar environmental settings within the Fort Benning region would greatly benefit from a mixed strategy that selectively employs cost effective, rapidly executed and nondestructive, interdisciplinary techniques that complement traditional archaeological field work and demonstrate important patterns of observations that might otherwise easily go undetected. The study indicates that investigations short of full scale data recovery and mitigation can be highly resourceful means to wring as much useful information as possible from relatively low impact site evaluation efforts. The results of this study clearly raises the level of significance of the Upatoi village by presenting sound evidence, including archival, archaeological, geophysical and geomorphic information, indicating that the site is not simply a limited activity site containing an isolated burial but probably one of the most important, potentially protectable Creek village and probable mortuary sites in the Southeastern United States.