CRM: Vogtle Effingham-Thalman 500kv Electric Transmission Line GP-SN-09: Data Recovery

Most archaeologists working in Georgia and South Carolina recognize the past cultural importance of the Brier Creek region of Georgia, which served as a source area for high quality lithic raw material. Chert from the quarries of this area and adjacent areas in South Carolina is widely distributed on archaeological sites in both states, however, very little research has been conducted in this important chert source area.

This report describes one of a series of excavations at non-quarry loci in the Brier Creek area of east-central Georgia (Figure 1). The collections recovered from this excavation provide an assemblage that will help archaeologists understand one aspect of the mechanics of prehistoric lithic tool production in this area. The archaeological remains recovered during this investigation reveal a pattern of repeated, temporary land use from the Early Archaic through the Early/Middle Woodland periods. The primary evidence consists of debris associated with intermediate and later stage stone tool manufacture and maintenance. The small area of the much larger Brier Creek bluff setting outlined in this report indicates that the Brier Creek bluff was not permanently settled, but served as a locus for repeated, sporadic camps over an approximately 8,000 year period.

Cultural Property GP-SN-09 (designated (T) 9 Sn C.P. #22 in Garrow 1984) is located in Screven County, Georgia within the Vidalia Uplands of the Coastal Plains Physiographic Province (Figure 2). It lies within the Savannah River drainage system, approximately 100 km from the Atlantic Ocean. Data recovery investigations were conducted from 13 May 1985 to 15 June 1985. This excavation at GP-SN-09 was part of a larger archaeological effort along Georgia Power Company's Vogtle-Effingham-Thalmann Electric Transmission Line corridor. Test excavations had been undertaken earlier in the year on Cultural Property GP-SN-09, during which it was determined that this location had potential for important archaeological research (Figure 3). Proper recovery of these materials, which were contained in an alluvial sand matrix, could only be accomplished through controlled large block excavations.