Archeological Incestigations at the Gregg Shoals-Clyde Gulley Group Elbery County, Georgia

The Richard B. Russell Dam and Lake Project on the Savannah River (U.S. Army Engineer District, Savannah District) involves the construction and operation of a multipurpose reservoir. The reservoir is designed to: 1) provide for the generation of hydroelectric power; 2) provide recreation facilities for the public; 3) provide incentive for area redevelopment; 4) and provide flood control. The project is located on the upper Savannah River, in northeast Georgia and northwest South Carolina (Fig. 1-1). The Georgia portion of the project encompasses portions of Elbert and Hart counties. In South Carolina the project will affect riverine areas of Abbeville and Anderson counties. Located in the upper Piedmont physiographic province of Georgia and South Carolina, the dam site is 29.9 miles below the Hartwell dam, 37.4 miles above the Clarks Hill dam, and 275.1 river miles upstream from the mouth of the Savannah River (Taylor and Smith 1978:1). At maximum power pool elevation, the Richard B. Russell Lake will attain an elevation of 144.8 meters (475 feet) above mean sea level, inundating approximately 11,750 acres in Elbert and Hart counties, Georgia and 14,900 acres in Abbeville and Anderson counties, South Carolina. The reservoir will create 546 miles of shoreline, with an anticipated fluctuation in the elevation of the power pool of less than 2 meters. A total drainage area of 812 square miles will lie between the Russell and Hartwell dams. This area will inundate portions of several major tributaries of the Savannah River such as Beaverdam Creek, Rocky River, Van Creek, Coldwater Creek, Cedar Creek, Pickens Creek, Allen Creek, Little Generostee Creek, and Big Generostee Creek. The inundation of 52,000 acres within the Richard B. Russell Multiple Resource Area will adversely affect numerous natural and cultural resources. When construction of the dam and reservoir began, woodlands comprised about 90% of the project area. Within the woodlands, half of the area was hardwood, one-quarter was pine-hardwood, and one-quarter was pine. According to Taylor and Smith, at the beginning of construction, about 6n of the total land was improved sites, cropland, and pasture, with 5% of the improved land in the uplands and 1% in the bottoms. Within the project area, the Savannah River occupies 4% of the area. The Institute of Archeology and Anthropology has been involved in the survey, testing, and mitigation phases of the R. B. Russell project since 1970. This research involvement began with the first archeological survey conducted by Hemmings (1970). During this same time, an archeological survey was also conducted by the University of Georgia (Hutto 1970). Excavations at the Beaverdam Mound (.9EB85) were also conducted by the University of Georgia (Lee 1976). In 1977, under the direction of Richard Taylor, the- Institute conducted an intensive, systematic survey of the project area. This survey resulted in the identification and recording of 490 archeological and historical sites with 818 distinct components (Taylor and Smith 1978': 203). From August to December 1980, data recovery excavation was carried out at Gregg Shoals (9EB259) by the Institute of Archeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, under the direction of Dr. William H. Marquardt and V. Ann Tippitt. Backhoe testing and geological investigations were conducted during April 1981 in the Clyde Gulley floodplain (9EB387). From September to December 1981, data recovery was undertaken at two of the six cultural components identified in the Clyde Gulley floodplain, as well as additional work at the Gregg Shoals. The research conducted at the Gregg Shoals-Clyde Gulley group has focused upon understanding the character of the riverine subsistence-settlement system through time in this upper section of the Savannah River. Research, problems being addressed at the Gregg Shoals-Clyde Gulley group may be divided into four interrelated domains: chronology, subsistence, adaptive change, and cross-areal comparison for settlement pattern recognition. As a first step, it was necessary to establish: 1) depth of the deposits; 2) chronological periods represented in the deposits; 3) nature and structure of the deposits; 4) vertical placement of occupations; and 5) identification of assemblage structure and content. Once more was knots about the structure and content of chronological periods represented, it was possible to refine the research areas and outline questions specific to the occupations of these sites. The more specific questions concern the relationship between site specific, areal, and regional paleo-environments and changes in the adaptive systems of prehistoric groups as seen through the technological system. The units of analysis are not only the artifact assemblages within the site but the depositional environment of the stratigraphic units in which they are discovered. The objectives of the artifact and paleo-environmental analyses include the understanding of the character and content of the assemblages.