Archeological Investigations at Mill Branch Sites 9WR4 and 9WR11 Warren County, Georgia

The Mill Branch sites, 9WR4 and 9WR11, are located on the Fall Line within the upper Brier Creek drainage in southeastern Warren County, Georgia. Site 9WR4 occupies a large terrace adjacent to the confluence of Brier and Little Brier Creeks. Site 9WR11 is located within the floodplain of Mill Branch approximately 100 m south of 9WR4. The two sites are located in a tract of land to be affected by construction of a freshwater impoundment by the I.M. Huber Corporation. The impoundment of Mill Branch requires a Corps of Engineers 404 permit and one facet of the permitting process is the consideration of adverse impacts to cultural resources. Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc., conducted the original survey of the property in the Spring of 1988 and followed with data recovery during the Spring of 1990. Data recovery at the two sites consisted of systematic shovel testing, test pit excavation, backhoe trenching and machine excavation of block units. Data recovery excavation on site 9WR4 consisted of 141 shovel tests, 24 test pits (42 M2) , 22 backhoe trenches (232 ml) and two blocks (400 ml and 625 m). Excavation on site 9WR11 included 64 shovel tests, 10 test pits (30 m), four backhoe trenches (166 ml) and one block expansion (101 m2). The two sites are comparable in overall size with each encompassing approximately 1.2 ha. The period of most intensive occupation for each site was during the Late Archaic. Radiocarbon dates recovered from Late Archaic features on 9WR4 range from 3928 ± 97 to 3631 ± 102 B.P. A single Late Archaic date of 3549 ± 134 was recovered from 9WR11. The area of most intensive Late Archaic occupation was defined in the South Block of 9WR4. In addition to a dense midden deposit, the excavation of the South Block produced a well preserved Late Archaic semi-subterranean structure or pit house. The structure was sub-rectangular in outline, and approximately 5 in wide, with post molds lining the interior edges of the depression. Radiocarbon dates recovered from the pit house average 3897 B.P. These dates are associated with large metavolcanic Savannah River Stemmed projectile points, large numbers of perforated disks made from soapstone and small amounts of fiber tempered pottery. Mill Branch also produced structural evidence relating to Early Woodland, Refuge phase occupations. Partial post patterns attributed to the Refuge occupation were identified in the North Block of 9WR4 and on site 9WR11. A single radiocarbon date of 2820 ± 117 is attributed to the Refuge occupation on site 9WR11. Data recovery of the Mill Branch sites also produced material identifying Early Archaic, Middle Archaic and Mississippian occupations. The distribution of Early and Middle Archaic diagnostics on 9WR4 indicates probable repeated but non-intensive occupation of the area. Early and Middle Archaic projectile points were recovered from the lower levels of test pits but because of extensive mixing from later occupations, these early occupation deposits could not be isolated. Mississippian ceramics were widely scattered across 9WR4 and to a lesser extent, site 9WR11. The absence of Mississippian features indicates that occupation during this period may have been short term and perhaps of a specialized nature.