Vertebrate Faunal Remains from the Hartford Site (9Pu1), Georgia

Vertebrate remains from a large fire/refuse pit from the Hartford site (9Pu1) were studied. This Early/Middle Swift Creek feature was found on the upper Atlantic coastal plain of Georgia in a complex containing a village and at least one mound. The feature was centrally located inside a large oval structure which had been buried beneath the surviving mound. The vertebrate faunal collection from the Hartford feature contained 24,143 bones representing the remains of an estimated 131 individuals and weighed 33,376 gm. Although multiple seasons of deposition are seen in the faunal assemblage, evidence of ritual activity is less obvious. A similar range of animals was found in both the Hartford feature and in a Woodland midden at the Lewis site, in the Savannah River valley. The Hartford fire pit is less diverse in terms of meat sources than the Lewis midden, although both samples are similar in terms of the diversity of animal species present. When these two upper coastal plain collections are compared to the faunal remains from Cathead Creek, a Swift Creek deposit in the tidewater portion of the Altamaha River drainage, the diversity that may exist in roughly contemporaneous patterns of animal use is underscored.