Archaeological Testing of Outlier a (9Cam168), Etowah Park (9Cam171ep), Harmony Hall (9Cam194), and Cedar Bluff (9Cam186)

This report presents the results of testing four archaeological sites on the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, Camden County, Georgia. The Kings Bay locality has been investigated extensively since 1977 by researchers at the University of Florida by means of field survey and testing of sites discovered during survey (Smith 1978; Smith et al. 1981). In 1981 major excavations were conducted on three sites (Adams 1983). The result of this previous research is a major data base for the interpretation of coastal prehistory and history. While we are beginning to understand the peoples who have occupied the Kings Bays area during the past 3500 years, we can yet learn much more from the sites remaining to be investigated. Sites excavated from September 1982 to March 1983 and examined in this report represent both prehistoric and historic occupations. Outlier A (9CAM168) was a prehistoric site located inland from the marsh. Inland sites at Kings Bay were found much less frequently than coastal sites, and their function in terms of subsistence and settlement is not completely understood. An investigation of Outlier A could therefore prove quite valuable in explaining littoral/inland differences or similarities. Both Etowah Park (9CAM17 1) and Cedar Bluff (9CAM186) are located close to Outlier A but on separate bluffs adjacent to a large tidal creek. They contained both prehistoric and historic elements. The prehistoric remains could be compared with those from Outlier A, and the historic remains compared with each other and with the fourth site investigated, Harmony Hall (9CAM194). Both Harmony Hall and Cedar Bluff have yielded material dating to the late 18th, and early 19th centuries. Etowah Park contained artifacts from the mid-19th century. Collapsed structures were discovered at both Harmony Hall and Cedar Bluff, the former dating to the very early 1900s and the latter to perhaps the 1910s. All of these sites therefore represent a continuum of prehistory and history that can contribute much to our understanding of how human adaptations to coastal life have changed over time.