CRM: Vogtle - Effingham - Thalmann 500 Kv Electric Transmission Line, Gp-Sn-09: Resource Testing and Data Recovery Planning, 1985

Archaeological testing and data recovery planning studies were conducted within two Designated Work Areas (DWAs) at cultural property GP-S.N.-09, Screven County, Georgia. At each DWA 13 two by two meter test units were excavated to sterile soil. The testing was performed as part of the resource management plan for the proposed Georgia Power Vogtle-Effingham-Thalmann Electric Transmission Line. At the northern DWA (1), the major period of occupation dates to the Late Archaic (4,000 - 1,000 B.C.). Diagnostic hafted bifaces and fiber-tempered ceramics were present as temporal markers. Cultural material of this period was present in two discrete occupation zones recognizable stratigraphically. Artifact clusters are present within each of these zones. These occupations can be interpreted at this point to have been short term habitations established for the purpose of carrying out local resource exploitation. Minor components represented at this DWA date to the Middle-Late Archaic transition, the early Woodland and possibly the Early Archaic. The excavation of one large block excavation is recommended for data recovery within this DWA. The southern DWA (2) was occupied most intensively during the terminal Late Archaic (Thom's Creek) and early Woodland (Refuge-Deptford) periods. Artifacts dating to these periods were concentrated in two different areas, respectively, within the DWA. Diagnostic hafted bifaces and simple stamped and punctate ceramics were associated. It can be suggested that these occupations were in the form of brief, single-episode visits, possibly representing !amps established during resource exploitation forays. minor components recognized date to the Early Archaic, preceramic Late Archaic and possibly the Middle Archaic. The excavation of two small blocks is recommended for data recovery within this DWA. Each block will be located in the area of one of the artifact concentrations.