807 Albany Street, Brunswick, Glynn County, Georgia Fred C. Cook
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Archaeological Investigations at the Cook-Thompson Site (9GN343), 805 - 807 Albany Street, Brunswick, Glynn County, Georgia Fred C. Cook South Georgia Archaeological Research Team Special Publication 4 April 2010 The image on the cover is a painting of a group of Indians preparing food, most likely acorn meal, for a feast somewhere on the Georgia or Florida coast in the sixteenth century. After Charles E. Bennett 1968. Copyright © 2010 by the South Georgia Archaeological Research Team. All rights reserved. S. Dwight Kirkland, Acting Editor The South Georgia Archaeological Research Team President: Frankie Snow Secretary-Treasurer: Fred C. Cook Parliamentarian: S. Dwight Kirkland Acting Editor: S. Dwight Kirkland Members: Keith Ashley, Dennis Blanton, Aaron Brummitt, Fred Cook, Brian Floyd, Adam King, Dwight Kirkland, Carolyn Rock, Vicki Rolland, Rebecca Saunders, Karen Smith, Marvin Smith, Frankie Snow, Keith Stephenson, Chris Trowell, Neill Wallis, John Whatley, Matthew Williamson, and Jared Wood Information for Readers: SOGART Special Publications are published intermittently by the South Georgia Archaeological Research Team (SOGART) when sufficient research material is received. Financing of these volumes is provided by the authors and the volumes are sold at the unit value of the production cost. Since the production cost depends on the content of each volume, the cost per unit varies accordingly. There are no annual dues for membership in SOGART. Interested individuals can apply for regular membership by sending a formal communication (either a postal letter or e-mail) directed to the Parliamentarian and attaching a curriculum vitae that provides education, work, and publication history. The Parliamentarian will review the curriculum vitae to see that applicants meet the Constitutional requirements for membership. On verification of this, the Parliamentarian will submit the applicant's letter of request and curriculum vitae to all regular members for consideration. Upon a two-thirds affirmative vote, applicants are accepted as regular members. Constitutional requirements for SOGART membership may be obtained through a formal request (either a postal letter or e-mail) directed to the Parliamentarian. Information for Authors: Papers on the archaeology of the Southeastern Coastal Plain and closely related subjects are published by SOGART. Submissions are welcomed from avocational and professional archaeologists, educators, and students. Manuscripts should follow the style guide for American Antiquity published on the World Wide Web and available on the Society for American Archaeology's homepage. Manuscripts should be submitted on 8½ by 11 inch standard letter paper with text and graphics on one side only. Text should be 12 point, double spaced between sentences, and surrounded by a one inch margin on all sides with both margins justified. Both a paper and an electronic copy should be submitted. Footnotes are not permitted. Graphics can be submitted either digitally or as original line drawings and should not be embedded in the text. Include captions with each graphic and be sure to number each according to the reference in the text. Tables should be printed separately and titles should reflect their in text references. Currently, SOGART does not have a formal peer review process. Submission of a manuscript does not automatically guarantee publication. The Editor reserves the right to reject a manuscript if its theme is in conflict with the purposes and objectives of SOGART. The Editor will gladly work with prospective authors to get their manuscripts into acceptable form. ii ABSTRACT In 1975, prehistoric ceramics dating to the Late Archaic, Woodland and Mississippian Periods were found in a garden at 807 Albany Street in urban Brunswick, Georgia. The city of Brunswick lies on the southern end of an old relic Pleistocene barrier island and today salt marshes are on its eastern, southern and western sides. After a lull of 38 years, this site was formally surveyed in May 2008. Shovel testing delineated the approximate site boundaries. Shovel testing was followed with the excavation of two block units. Recovered in these units was a large in situ deposit of late Woodland Kelvin Complicated Stamped sherds from the same vessel. The distribution of these sherds suggested that, other than a downward displacement, which was probably caused by bioturbation, the sherds had suffered little disturbance since their deposition. The only lithic artifact found was a tiny tertiary flake. All of the artifacts from the site were associated with an area of yellowish brown to brownish yellow, well-drained Cainhoy soil. No other site in the coastal region has been described as being so closely associated with a particular soil type. Since all three diverse cultures left behind similar artifacts and restricted their activities so closely to a localized deposit of Cainhoy soil, it is likely that they utilized the site in a similar way. The data acquired was evaluated in regard to possible hunting and mast collecting activities. The latter seems to best explain the artifacts found and their association with the dry, loose Cainhoy soil. Based on the common importance of acorns to Late Archaic, Woodland and Mississippian cultures and the modern prolific stands of live oak on the southern Brunswick peninsula, the Cook- Thompson site has been interpreted as a possible acorn processing location. Two shell artifacts were found that may have resulted from the on-site manufacture of shell ornaments. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract …………………………………………………………………………… iii Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………… iv List of Figures …………………………………………………………..…………. v List of Tables ……………………………………………………………………… vii Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………… viii Introduction ……………………………………………………………..………… 1 Environment ……………………………………………………………….……… 3 Literature Review …………………………………………………………….…… 8 Culture History ……………………………………………………….…………… 11 Research Design ……………………………………………………….…..……… 22 Results ………………………………………………………………….…….…… 26 Summary and Conclusions …………………………………………….…..……… 43 References Cited ………………………………………………….………………. 58 Appendix A: Artifact Table ……………………………………….……………… 65 Appendix B: Georgia Archaeological Form ……………………….…………..… 71 iv LIST OF FIGURES 1. Cook-Thompson Site, facing south……………………………………………… 2 2. Map of Coastal Georgia showing the location of Brunswick on the Princess Anne Shoreline and five other Quaternary shorelines………..…… 4 3. Map showing the Cook-Thompson Site (9GN343) and two other peninsular Brunswick sites discussed in this report..…………………………… 6 4. Map of 9GN343 showing property lines, grid points, shovel tests and excavation units..…………………………………………………………… 23 5. Floor plan of the eastern end of Unit 1 and Unit 2..………….………………… 25 6. Shovel Test Number N221E200 (FS-2)………………………………………… 29 7. North and east profile of Unit 1 (N210.5E197.5)………….…………………… 32 8. Photograph of the north profile of Unit 1…………………………….………… 32 9. Portion of the east profile of Unit 1 showing the three natural soil horizons.………………………………………………………………………… 33 10. Kelvin Complicated Stamped sherds in situ in Unit 1 (FS-21) ………………… 34 11. (A) Mended Deptford Check Stamped sherd from the Cook garden, (B) Mended Kelvin Complicated Stamped sherd from Units 1 and 2..………… 35 12. Kelvin Complicated Stamped sherd with acorn shell impression……………… 35 13. Shell artifacts found at 9GN343………………………………………………… 37 14. Representative pottery sherds from 9GN343……….………..………………… 39 15. Map of 9GN343 showing probable site boundaries………………….………… 44 16. Kelvin storage/refuse pit at the Prince Street Site (9GN86 on the corner of Prince and Cleburn streets.……………….………….…………… 48 17. Kelvin storage/refuse pit at the Courthouse Site (9GN214)..…………..……… 48 v 18. Storage/Refuse feature in EU 7 (N1454-1455/E1048-1050) at the Dungeness Wharf Site (9CM14) on Cumberland Island. ……………………… 51 19. Florida Indians make "Preparations for a feast" in the late sixteenth century. Drawn by Jaques Le Moyne and later engraved by Theodore de Bry...………………………………………………………………………… 55 vi LIST OF TABLES 1. Calibrated radiocarbon assays for Swift Creek Ceramics in the Glynn County area.…………………………………………………………...………… 14 2. Ceramics from the 1975 Cook garden..………………………….……………… 27 3. Ceramics from the shovel tests..…………………………….…………………… 30 4. Ceramics found in Unit 1 (N210.5E197.5)……………………………………… 31 5. Ceramics found in Unit 2 (N210.5E199.5) ……………………………………… 36 6. Diagnostic Non-Kelvin Ceramics found at 9GN343…………………………… 38 7. Calibrated radiocarbon assays for Kelvin and similar coastal ceramics.…..…… 40 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to the people who assisted with all aspects of this project. First, I would like to thank Bryan Thompson and Heather Heath, who allowed us to excavate in their backyard, put their house at our disposal and provided water to fend off the drought conditions that existed when the fieldwork was done. Bryan also assisted in screening and backfilling the excavations. My thanks are extended to neighbors Dawn, Starling and Beth Sutton, Sandy Colhard and Wayne Merier, who allowed us to shovel test in their yards. The efforts of volunteer field crew members Kevin Kiernan and Bill Steed are greatly appreciated. I would also like to thank Chris Trowell, Dwight Kirkland, Carolyn Rock, Charles Pearson, Neill Wallis and Bill Baab, who read the draft report and made editorial comments. viii INTRODUCTION In 1919, George and Helen Cook built a small bungalow at 807 Albany Street in Brunswick,