Archaeological Investigations at Yourhaney Plantation (38GE18)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT YOURHANEY PLANTATION41Pottery was to be compared to the colonoware collection to determine if there is Native Americaninfluence in the production of early colonowares. Both colonoware and possible Native Americanpottery were characterized by paste, temper, surface treatment, and thickness. Sherd too small toanalyze in any depth were characterized in the inventory as “residual”. The characterization ofhistoric Native American pottery is very important since so little is known about the ceramics of thistime period.We also used Stanley South’s (1977) artifact patterning technique and mean ceramic dating toexamine the site. In addition, if appropriate, we used a method developed by Bartovic (1981) tolook at ceramic probability contributions through time. This method is sometimes useful todetermine periods of intensive use and periods of abandonment at historic sites. This may be ableto help determine if there is an early occupation (possible trading post), followed by siteabandonment, followed by plantation occupation.The primary objectives of the faunal, pollen, and ethnobotanical analysis were to examine plantand animal use, refuse disposal patterns, local environment, and vegetation as they are manifestedin the features exposed during Phase III data recovery. This should enable us to gain a perspectiveon subsistence patterns and land use practices of the inhabitants. Key subsistence analysisresearch questions are the following:ooooDo the macroplant and faunal assemblages offer evidence of the economic statusof the residents?Does the macroplant assemblage provide evidence of home gardening, gatheringof locally available wild plants on the lots, and/or ornamental plantings on thelots? Was meat consumed at the site wild or domestic? Did it representpurchased foods from the markets, or was subsistence primarily self sufficient?Do the macroplant, faunal, and palynological assemblages offer evidence of whatthe local environment was like?Does the wood charcoal assemblage offer evidence of fuel-use practices, preferredbuilding materials, and/or past forest composition?Oxidized carbon ratio (OCR) samples were taken from numerous features and from several nonfeatureareas. New South had recently used this method at a late historic site near Augusta,Georgia with excellent results (Adams et al. 2004). Features yielded dates ranging from 1909 to1969. The site was historically known to have been occupied from about 1870 to the mid 1960s.Given the potential for an ephemeral short-term occupation of a trading post, it is possible thatOCR dating can provide much more solid evidence than ceramic or pipe stem dating for or against38GE18 being the location of Watie’s trading post.CURATIONAll artifacts and soil samples recovered from the site were returned to the New South Associates’laboratory where they were washed and catalogued.