Ye Pleasant Mount: 1989 1990 Excavations - Open site which ...

No obvious patterns of preferential cuts were evident from the types of identified
elements. Feet and cranium were the most prevalent categories of the carcass identified
for all levels. These are typically the most prevalent elements identified on a historic or
prehistoric site. The most bone elements are found in these portions of the skeleton. Feet
and teeth elements tend to preserve better than other elements in the body. Few animal
elements typically exhibit sex characteristics. Only two elements in the Mt. Pleasant
assemblage exhibited sexual characteristics. A tibiotarsus (lower leg element) of the
Phasianidae showed medullary growth in the interior shaft. Medullary deposits are found
in the interior shaft bones of laying hens in the Galliformes order (Rick 1975). A female
pig also was identified from the lack of tusks (large canine teeth in the male boar) in a
mandible.
Tables 11 and 12 list those elements containing bone fusion evidence. Almost all
elements are from the feet or cranium that are the less informative for determining age
population patterns at a site. Several deciduous pig teeth were present in the sample. The
presence of these juvenile elements, however, does not suggest conclusively the
consumption of young pigs at the site. Deciduous mammal teeth can enter the
archeological record as deposits resulting from the eruption of permanent teeth in the
animal.
Discussion
The Mt. Pleasant site faunal assemblage is one of the first historic IndianlEngIish
sites receiving zooarchaeological analysis to be reported on in Georgia. The small sample
size of the assemblage placed limits on the interpretations of the data. Considering the
sample came from only six 1 x 1 m tests units, the site shows significant potential for
further study.
The occupants of the site supplimented their diet of domesitcated meat foods with
wild game from the site vicinity. The wild animals identified are all species expected to
be found near the site. Deer range over a wide area from the flood plains to the
ridgetops. The opossum and squirrel are species that inhabit wooded areas found along
river banks and uplands. Wooded floodplains are the natural habitat for the river otter.
The turkey and pheasant/quail often are found in wooded floodplain habitats. Wood ducks
naturally occur on rivers such as the Savannah. Although the chicken turtle frequently
walks on land, its normal habitat is the still waters of sloughs, ditches, ponds or swamps
(Conant 1975:70). It could have been caught in traps, nets, hook and line, or simply
gathered. The catfishes identified would have inhabited the Savannah River. Catfishes
prefer still or slow moving water with soft mud or muck bottoms (Lee et aI. 1980:437­
476). They would have been caught by hook and line.
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