Archaeological Data Recovery at the Landfell Site (9CM246)

Land Resources Companies, proposes to develop the Cumberland Harbour tract in Camden County, Georgia for residential use. Previous archaeological investigations by Brockington and Associates, Inc., documented significant archaeological sites within this tract (Fuller 2003). The Landfell site (9CM246) was determined eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) by the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for its Archaic and Mississippian period components. In 2004, a Programmatic Agreement (PA) between the SHPO, USACE, and Land Resources, was signed, calling for avoidance or data recovery at Landfell prior to development. Data recovery excavations took place from October 4 to 22, 2004 and March 28`h to April 15th 2005. This report details the methods, results and interpretations of Phase III data recovery at the Landfell site. Data recovery investigations were conducted as proposed in the SHPO-approved research design for site 9CM246. This data recovery investigation recovered samples of significant information from the site. These samples were employed to address research questions consistent with the period components and type of occupation outlined in the research design. Completion of these investigations is sufficient to resolve the adverse effect that proposed residential development and other land disturbing activities will have on this NRHP site. Land disturbing activities at the Landfell site (9CM246) should be allowed to proceed as planned. Field investigations included the excavation of 43 2 x 2 and lx 2 meter hand excavated units. A total of six features were identified. One of the features (601) was a small oval pit containing a single bundled burial. The artifact assemblage is limited, consisting primarily of cord marked sherds and faunal materials. Diagnostic ceramics distinguished two occupations; Late Archaic and Mississippian . The Late Archaic occupation is represented by a small scatter of fiber impressed pottery and a fragment of a steatite bowl. The Mississippian occupation at the Landfell site consists of four small oval middens made up of artifacts and dense shell. One midden (Feature 603) was visible above the ground surface. The bundled burial was found at the base of this midden. The skeletal elements of the burial were not in anatomical order, indicating that the burial represents a secondary bundled burial that was defleshed before being reburied in the shell midden. Ceramics recovered from the burial pit (cordmarked. wares) indicated that the burial is contemporaneous with the shell midden which contained almost exclusively, St. Marys cord-marked ceramics, suggesting a Mississippian cultural affiliation.