Phase II Investigation and Archaeological Testing of Site 9LW71, Moody Air Force Base Lowndes County, Georgia

This report was prepared by Panamerican Consultants, Inc., under subcontract to Gulf South Research Corporation, in response to a scope of work issued by Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, to perform archaeological testing of Site 9LW71, Lowndes County, Georgia (Contract DACW 21-98-D0019, Delivery Order No. 9). Based on this research, Site 9L W71 has been recommended as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Site 9LW71 (the Ammo Country site) is a well-stratified multicomponent site in an area (south Georgia) where very few such sites have been recorded and no others have been excavated. The earliest use of Site 9LW71 was by Late Paleoindian and Early Archaic populations as an extractive site. The lithic assemblage indicates that the site was visited repeatedly. The majority of the lithic material found at the site was the result of secondary lithic reduction, probably for the manufacture of expedient tools and tool maintenance. The presence of blades, scrapers, and utilized debitage associated with Archaic projectile point types indicates that subsistence activities took place at this location. Subsequent Woodland use of the site is indicated by the ceramic assemblage, which includes material consistent with Deptford adaptations to marsh and wetland environments. The site was used by Weeden Island populations in the Late Woodland period, but no manifestation of a Mississippian culture was noted at Site 9LW71. The population or the use of the site declined throughout the Woodland period until it was ultimately abandoned. The setting, on a high point near a pond and adjacent to a marsh, would have made this a desirable location for a camp and extractive site. The small historic artifact assemblage recovered from Site 9LW71 is consistent with an occasional use of the site during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The historic artifacts are associated with the naval stores industry.