The 1985 excavation at the Scull Shoals mound site (9Ge4) consisted of 3 weeks of excavation confined entirely to the two mounds at the site. Two excavation units were placed in each. In the smaller Mound B, these units cleaned and expanded large potholes in the summit and north side. These excavations showed that most of the 4 or 5 stages in Mound B were built in the Late Etowah to Savannah Period of about A.D. 1250. Only the upper stages were built during the Lamar Period. This mound had no garbage included and artifacts were almost absent. Unlike Mound B, much garbage was found on Mound A. One shallow unit on its summit produced large quantities of animal bone and pottery. The major excavation on Mound A consisted of a deep square placed in a garbage dump area on the northeast edge of this large mound. This unit produced a well stratified series of Lamar Period garbage dumps and a very rich premound midden of the Late Etowah/Savannah Period. The data from these excavations allow us to further refine the Lamar Period chronology of the upper Oconee area of Georgia. We now have some insight into the period of expansion of the Oconee Province and the role of Scull Shoals in this social-political system.
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