Macon Plateau the Ocmulgee passes through the last remnants of the piedmont and follows a winding course through extensive swamps. Associated with the weathering of the limestone, it marked the weathering of the soils exposed on the plateau.
KELLY] AKCHEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS AT MACON, GA
This stamped pottery in the deeper prehistoric level in the stratified village at Mound D is characterized by extraordinary, neatly cut designs, geometric information, but with suggestions of a highly conventional linear expression that might once have been natural. We actually have to deal with a pottery complex whose morphological determinants are quite different from the other classes of stamped pottery found in the area.
KELLY) ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS AT MACON, GA. 9
In vertical profiling of the mound we had perceived uniform undulations in the mound. 13 exploratory trench is cut on the slope from the edge of the plateau and the entrance of the land.
KELLY] ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS AT MACON, GA. 19
Any progress statement should include reference to the 9 feet of profiled layered fill in the area between Mounds A and B. Another important conclusion relates to indications that the slopes of the Macon Plateau in the southern terminal portion have generally been cut to secured land under construction in the previous period. The lack of development of the soil profile and the marked persistence of the original soil features in the fill.
The four large load-bearing timbers, equidistant from the central fire, which supported the roof span of the Macon Plateau structure, were not evident at Brown's Mount. Again, the orientation of the entrance passage to the east was observed, although the azimuth at Brown's Mount was directed a few degrees north of due east instead of south of east as in the plan of the original ceremonial lodge meeting on the Macon Plateau.
KELLY] ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS AT MACON, GA. 27
This relative qualification applies only to the Swift Creeksite series, as even Early Swift Creek is superior to other stamped wares in the Ocmulgee Basin with the exception of the Delta pottery. No other late Swift Creek manifestations have been found to date in the immediate Macon area. The comparative absence of Late Swift Creek components in the intensively studied area near Macon is significant.
Lattice bar or tern stamp has a wide distribution in the Ocmulgee Basin, occurring on both Swift Creek and the Macon Plateau. Another important class of early stamped pottery in the Ocmulgee Basin, occurring sporadically at Swift Creek and on the Macon.
KELLY] ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS AT MACON, GA. 33 which show stylistic variation implying the evolutionary development
The surrounding village site, of indeterminate extent due to cultivation, the widespread distribution of the surface soil and the proximity of the riverside marshes, is not sufficiently trenched. This operation, carried out by the tenants in recent years, would have resulted in the cutting away of several meters of the hill. McDougald, Dunlap, and at Mound D (the entire Macon group) a layer of red clay was applied over the entire surface of the sand.
The crux of the situation on the Macon Plateau, as far as Swift Creek is concerned, is centered on the survey-in-process survey between Mounds A and B at the southern end of the plateau. The point to emphasize is that the Swift Creek sherds are found as in situ deposits only on the surface of the old plateau, beneath the accumulated debris of successive building activities associated with the construction of ritual earth lodges.
KELLY] ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS AT MACON, GA. 39
40 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull, not Plateau or are not near or the importance of some of the ma- . it has not yet been realized. Recently, in making a survey extension from inspection trenches located between Mounds A and BevidencesofSwiftCreekhabitation were found on the lower western slopes of the plateau. Gentle uplift at the edge of the river plain and at the foot of the plateau resulted in scattered or generally jumbled lenses in profile due to modern disturbance. The habitation of Swift Creek had apparently been confined to a small Imoll or hummocky post at the edge of the field.
The complex stamp of Swift Creek appears only sporadically on the plateau in general trench reconnaissance. Reference is made here to cataloged sherds from various soil zones in the open, exposed parts of the plateau where cultivation, erosion and weathering have resulted in widespread changes and modifications of topography.
KELLY] ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPLOKATIONS AT MACON, GA. 41
Swift Creek stamping increased in the lowest weathered soil zones from which pottery was cataloged in 3-inch levels. This remark appears to be significant in reviewing the explorations carried out at a time when the full significance of Swift Creek was not realized;. To summarize, therefore, the best opinion that can be obtained from the present data would indicate temporal and cultural discontinuity such as between Swift Creek and Macon Plateau.
44 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull, without the level of the plateau at Mounds A and B on the Macon Plateau gives a confused picture of the relations between the plateau and Swift Creek during the earlier period of plateau occupation. In the preceding pages we have attempted to show the relationship between Swift Creek and the early pottery stages of the Ocmulgee Basin.
KELLY] ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS AT MACON, GA. 45 between Macon and these peripheral expressions of Late Swift Creek
The site is located 2 miles from Macon on the west bank of the Ocmulgee in the floodplain. None of the Swift Creek stamped designs have been identified in the faint, indistinct paddle marker at Lamar. On the other hand, the more distinct Lamar patterns at the lower levels allow the designation of Lamar complicated stamping, as these show less evidence of sloppy malleatering technique.
Certainly rim stacking became a permanent and distinctive feature of rims cataloged from the upper levels. In the previous discussion we were interested in reviewing the information believed to be related to the development and decline of the stamped pottery technique.
Early in 1936, a general trench reconnaissance east and west along the entire length of the central plateau section revealed in the profiles evidence of ditches averaging 18 to 24 inches deep and 10 to 14 inches wide at the top, visible on both sides of the trenches. The U-shaped cuts in the profile appeared in a line in several ditches, suggesting some kind of enclosure. The two sides that formed the top of the five-sided fence were 100 feet long.
The foot trench, as it was now perceived, had two breaks in its continuity at the bottom or front. The prevailing custom of primary bent burials was noted, which in this respect corresponds to burials at Lamar and elsewhere.
KELLT] ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS AT MACON, GA. 53 verted at the base of shallow pits with rocks deliberately placed over
Harris in Macon, dated 1828, still shows a trail on the west side of the river, according to the inscription 'Moore's Trail', about two miles below Macon Plateau and the site of the discovery of the trading post. Most of the settlements along the Oconee and Ocmulgee were abandoned at that time. In the exploration of the Macon trading post we have one of the rare cases in which archeology has produced substantial building structures with evidence of military occupation, for which history has recorded very little data.
Final reconnaissance elsewhere along the Ocmulgee, notably at Indian Springs about 40 miles away from Macon and at Holton Shoals, 10 miles north on the Ocmulgee up the steamer from the site. THE ANTIQUITY OF STAMPED POTTERY IN CENTRAL GEORGIA One of the most striking facts gleaned from Macon exploration.
THE ANTIQUITY OF STAMPED POTTERY IN CENTRAL GEORGIA One of the most striking facts gleaned from the Macon explora-
Laboratory studies of surface assemblages from Bull Creek on the Chattahoochee, Lamar on the Ocmulgee in central Georgia, Irene Mound on the Savannah River, and the Georgia coast show slight permutations and differences. From the data so far, it is not possible to determine whether these deviations mean greater cultural resistance on the part of the native population in some parts, or whether there was a slight change in individual sites over a certain period of time, or just a few. Several important generalizations can be made from the available evidence, evidence derived from key surveys at key locations.
KELLY] ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS AT MACON, GA. 59
From the same quarter appear to be other classes that occurred sporadically in the Macon stratigraphic sequence, notably the Theta pottery complex defined as fiber-tempered pottery extruded or pressed to give a vermicular surface finish;^^ also a steatite stoneware which appears to increase in surface assemblages northeast, culminating in the Savannah area.^*. The real problem comes in the ultimate determination of the chronological relationship of the early Macon Plateau habitation associated with the prehistoric dugouts and many primitive houses included within the dugout series and elsewhere evidenced by cataloged ma-. The pottery complex of the Macon Plateau appears to be localized in the Ocmulgee Basin as far as current information goes.
Whether the pottery series from the Macon Plateau, possibly associated with a very unusual type of underground house and with early evidence of agriculture, represents an Archaic horizon in the Southeast may someday be an unanswered question. At Brown's Mount, the computational factors of overlapping cultural levels and extensive disturbances that are so evident at the Macon site appear to be absent.
MISSISSIPPIAN INFLUENCES ON THE OCMULGEE BASIN
It may be that the features mentioned are too general to be of more significance than those of superficial similarity or convergence. In short, although the Southeast can be shown to be an area where culture developed early with distinctive placemarks in comparative pottery morphology, the region's geographic relationship to the Mississippi River and the Eastern Woodlands nevertheless makes it a periphery. This view of the Macon material gives the clear impression that outside influences increase in number and strength in the later phases culminating in the protohistoric.
Whether the high-rise activities represent a natural cultural development as a continuous process, or whether we are dealing with an influx of new ideas coming from Mississippi without marked cultural change, otherwise remains an unsolved problem. Paddle marking is widely distinguished as a decorative scheme from the neat precise pottery stamping so characteristic of Swift Creek.
ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPLOEATIONS AT MACON, GA. 63
64 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BTTLL. 119
In the preceding text, the Eastern Forests were frequently referred to as an archaeological area from which a number of important pottery indices emerged, notably among them . is cord marked pottery. The Mississippi Basin has also been recognized as the focal point of departure for many trait complexes that found ultimate expression in the Georgian Periphery. In the main, this pottery complex and associated cultural characteristics, . uncovered in recent southeastern archaeological exploration, reflects .. l)Macon Plateau, common coarse ware.
The writer was privileged to conduct archaeological investigations in the central division and the upper Mississippi and to participate in discussions which led to the McKern formulation.^^ There is no doubt but that the early stamped pottery categories are observed. Pottery morphology, burial characteristics, mound features, flint artifacts, ornaments, hindered physical environmental relationships, all agree with such an analysis in assessing cord-marked and the various stamped pottery complexes in Georgia.^^.
KELLY] ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS AT MACON, GA. 67
The "Woodland" tradition continued in the Ocmulgee into proto-historic times at the Lamar sites, but the Mississippian features by then were decidedly preeminent. Here, the systematist may be reluctant to assign even the basic model, just as speculation remains regarding the taxonomic position of Adena in the upper Mississippian chronology.^*. It is also desirable to provide a terminology widely accepted by those workers in the area interested in the systematic interpretation of field data.
The value and utility of such a scheme for defining pottery criteria depends largely on the degree of cooperation between investigators and the restraint enforced in the process of definition.
