Garrett Creek 9CA571: The Eldest Known Stratified Site in the State of Georgia

Having been nominated as eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) - a study conducted by Garrow and Associates, Atlanta, Ga. (Blanton 1987) - Site 9 Ca 571) hereafter Site 571) required mitigation. Mitigation is the process by which parts of an entity of great significance are retained for posterity when it is known that its totality will be destroyed. This mitigation was deemed necessary by The President's Council on Historic Preservation and The Georgia State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) due to the construction of an agricultural pond known as Structure 19 (U. S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service), The site's evaluator Blanton (1987) recommended that “… this site's potential (is) to provide data significant for (the) understanding (of) local and regional prehistory. In particular, data contained at this site could provide insights into the function, configuration, and dates of occupation of small Piedmont sites in the inter-riverine zone of West Georgia ..." (Blanton 1987:66). Blanton further provided a proposed mitigation plan and this plan was adopted by the SCS and SHPO as the one to follow. Accordingly, on February 26, 1987, the State Office of The Soil Conservation Service requested Quotations to perform the mitigation study. Specifically, the plan called for the excavation of a block 6m x 6m to allow data recovery for the identification of activity areas and relationship(s) among features (cf. Blanton 1987:67). Further, he notes that patterns of land use might be offered for further testing. Of these land use patterns, he suggests that the preferred location of sites was on narrow, ridge toe, or protruding terrace-like formations (cf. Blanton 1987:64). In his study, Blanton notes that Sites 558 and 571 share this land use pattern. With the contract award, this knowledge and insight, I set out to activate and perform the mitigation plan.

Now, for decades, sites of similar artifactual content have been noted in this particular region of the West Georgia Piedmont. Generally, they have been termed destroyed or "deflated". This general description of Professor A. R. Kelly was believed, apparently due to the site's antiquity and the naturally occurring environmental processes which render "scatters" of artifacts on "hard-pan" surfaces: deleting the cultural containing (midden) soil areas. Of great significance and note is that Site 571 still contained some vertical depth, i.e., cultural containing soils. This depth was defined by Blanton as the 'A' Horizon. Several decades ago, Professor Joseph R. Caldwell, in the last day of his studies, found Quartz artifacts situated below artifacts and layers from more recent periods. He lamented that time prohibited him from examining this "Old Quartz" deposit. He termed his finds the Old Quartz Industry.