Archaeological Investigations at Yourhaney Plantation (38GE18)

216DEEP CREEKThe Deep Creek series dates to the Early to Middle Woodland Period with dates ranging betweenabout 800 BC to AD 200. Only one sherd (or 0.14% of the collection), a fabric impressed sherd,was identified in the collection. This particular sherd was different from all other ceramics in thecollection in two ways. First, the fabric impressions were clearly cord wrapped dowels. Second,the temper consisted of large pieces of water worn sand/gravel with some inclusions as large a 5mm in diameter. Deep Creek is believed to be closely related to Deptford wares (Trinkley 1990).The large pieces of sand are similar in size to crushed quartz found in the Middle WoodlandYadkin series. Crushed quartz in that series ranges from 1 to 8 mm, averaging 3 mm in size.Whether Deep Creek is related to Yadkin or Deptford, as Trinkley (1990: 59) suggests is not clear.The Deep Creek series types include plain, cord marked, fabric impressed, simple stamped, andnet impressed.DEPTFORDThe Deptford series dates to the Early to Middle Woodland with dates ranging from 800 BC to AD500. The type was defined by Caldwell and Waring (1939) based on materials recovered fromseveral sites near Savannah, Georgia. The paste is a fine to coarse sand, with surface treatmentstypically check stamped, linear check stamped or cord marked. Other types include plain, simplestamped, geometric stamped, and complicated stamped. A total of 44 sherds representing 6.19%of the entire identifiable collection were found. Most were plain (61.4%), followed by checkstamped (18.2%), simple stamped (11.4%), cord marked (6.8%), and brushed (2.3%).MOUNT PLEASANTThe Mount Pleasant series dates to the Middle Woodland with dates ranging from AD 200 to AD900. It is most frequently characterized by a sandy paste with quantities of pebble or gritinclusions. However, there is a lot of variability and a significant percentage has a fine sandypaste with few or no inclusions. Surface treatments include fabric impressed, cord marked, netimpressed, and plain. Incising has been found on occasion. A total of 131 examples representing18.42% of the identifiable collection were found. The majority were fabric impressed (68.7%),followed by plain (23.7%) and cord marked (7.6%). Of the prehistoric features with OCR datesthree of the six are believed to have their origins in the Mount Pleasant Phase.WILMINGTON/HANOVERThe Wilmington/Hanover category is defined by all potteries with grog or sherd tempering. Thepottery is Early to Middle Woodland with a date range of 500 BC to AD 1000. The Hanover typewas originally defined in North Carolina, while Wilmington was defined in Georgia (Anderson etal. 1982: 2710276; DePratter 1979; South 1960; Williams 1968). However, the two arebelieved to be regional variations of the same basic ceramic type. According to Anderson (1996),in recent years the temporal and spatial distribution of these two series has run together, creatingconsiderable taxonomic confusion. Surface treatments include plain, cord marked, fabricimpressed, check stamped, simple stamped, and occasionally complicated stamped. A total of 54sherds representing 7.59% of the identifiable collection were recovered.