The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast

6. Paleoindian and Early Archaic Settlement along the Oconee Drainage

6 Paleoindian and Early Archaic Settlement along the Oconee Drainage Lisa D. O'Steen The.earliest prehistoric populations along the Oconee River in the Georgia Piedmont were adapted to a Late Glacial environment quite different from that of today, an adaptation that is reflected primarily in a few remaining stone tools. During the latter part of the Paleoindian period (Dalton times),. these hunting-gathering populations were pressured to adapt to changing climate and vegetation conditions that followed the retreat of the continental ice sheets. During this transitional perio~, patchy boreal forest-parkland landscape was changing into a more homogeneous, mesic oak-hickory forest, and numerous Pleistocene animals that had been exploited by Paleoindian populations became extinct. During the subsequent Early Archaic period, the material culture and settlement patterns of these hunter-gatherer populations reflect a successful adaptation to a basically modem Holocene habitat. This paper examines Paleoindian and Early Archaic site types and settlement patterning within intensively surveyed riverine areas in the inner Piedmont of Georgia. This discussion is based on a large database developed from surveys of approximately 70 square kilometers along a 60-kilometer stretch of the Oconee River in Georgia (figure 6.1). Primary data are based on the 1977-78 survey of a 57-square-kilometer clear-cut in the Wallace Reservoir (Lake Oconee) basin. The survey of the Wallace Reservoir represented a full surface reconnaissance of upland and floodplain areas along the Oconee and Apalachee rivers. The alluviated portion of the reservoir was examined by a 10-percent systematic backhoe testing program (Ledbetter 1978). Backhoe testing was designed to identify sites that had been buried by alluvium. Subsurface testing was supplemented by the examination of ''bum burials," which were large pits excavated into the floodplains by clear-cuttingcrews. These pits often exposed buried sites, and artifacts were collected from spoil piles around the pits. Additional data for the Oconee River region have been acquired from the survey of a 14-square-kilometer tract around Barnett Shoals (O'Steen 1986; O'Steen et al. 1983, 1986), located approxi- Paleoindian and Early Archaic Settlement along the Oconee 93 ~ Piedmont Chert Quarries o 90C94 Apalachee Tract • MADISON. 1 North I kilometers 10 90C(FS)15 I ...--Oglethorpe Clearcut Tracts OCONEE RIVER SURVEY AREA Figure 6.1 Survey tracts north of Wallace Dam along the Oconee River drainage. 94 The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast mately 60 kilometers north of Wallace Dam (figure 6.1), as well as survey, testing, and data recovery projects conducted by University of Georgia personnel in the Wallace Reservoir area (Fish and Hally 1983; Gresham 1987; O'Steen 1983; Paulk 1979; Rogers 1982; Marvin Smith et al. 1981; J. M. Williams 1983; Wood and Lee 1973), published reports by the U.S. Forest Service (Wynn 1982:95), and collector interviews (Elliott 1978). The importance of the Oconee River surveys is that they represent large tracts of land with high surface visibility that were intensively and systematically surveyed. Paleoindian components have been identified on 91 sites and Early Archaic components on 272 sites (O'Steen 1983; O'Steen et al. 1986:1) along this 60-kilometer stretch of Piedmont along the Oconee River (figures 6.2-6.3). The present analysis is restricted primarily to sites producing diagnostic Paleoindian and EarlyArchaic bifaces and biface fragments. This limits interpretation to a specific type of site or group of sites within o kilometers 10 WALLACE DAM o kilometers 10 WALLACE DAM EARLY PALEOINDIAN SITES MIDDLE PALEOINDIAN SITES Figure 6.2 Distribution of recorded Early and Middle Paleoindian sites along the Oconee River drainage. Paleoindian and Early Archaic Settlement along the Oconee 95 o kilometers 10 WALLACE DAM o kilometers 10 WALLACE DAM DALTON SITES RECORDED EARLY ARCHAIC SITES Figure 6.3 Distribution of Dalton and Early Archaic sites along the Oconee River drainage. a settlement system that is expected to contain a variety of sites. It is likely that some types of sites in the settlement system do not contain diagnostic bifaces or other tool types and thus remain unidentified. PALEOINDIAN SITES AND SElTLEMENT ALONG THE OCONEE RIVER Based on haft characteristics, a number of Paleoindian point categories have been tentatively defined from the Oconee River surveys (O'Steen et al. 1983, 1986). However, a lack of stratigraphic data precludes the development of a clear chronology for Paleoindian bifaces. There is some agreement that the larger fluted Clovis bifaces are earlier and that the smaller...