Report on Final 1962 Survey at Mandeville Site, 9 Cla 1, Chattahoochee River Basin Survey, Mandeville Site (9CY1) 1959-1962

Summary

In the Spring of 1962 an agreement between the National Park Service, Richmond, Virginia, and the Laboratory of Archeology, Department of Sociolocy and Anthropology, University of Georgia, took cognizance of the rapid approach of inundating waters over the Mandeville Site, 9 Cla 1, and an emergency allocation of funds from the National Park Service made possible final additional clearing of new profiles through Mound A and fresh accessions of materials from this important site. Previous exploration in two seasons of survey in 1959 and 1960, plus certain short visits and reconnaissance by volunteer workers and students from the University of Georgia, provided materials and data upon which a report, then considered final, had been written and submitted to the National Park Service. A summary report appeared in American Antiquity, January, 1962, by James H. Kellar, A. R. Kelly, and Edward McMichael.

The agreement between the National Park Service and the University of Georgia was made to provide more salvage, especially of profile data in the remaining large unexplored segments of Mound A at Mandeville I phase, and other architectonic features in Mandeville II, sealed under the Mississippian capping (Mandeville III). McMichael'is 1959 Noirth-Sout'n axis trench had been carried down to premound and through the Old Village levels (Layer I) only in the north and south terminal portions, with a large middle segment uncut in the axis. The 1960 East-West trench and profiles uncovered by Kelly in the southeast quadrant of Mound A had disclosed primary mounds of unusual appearance, one of which (Feature 25) was prominently displayed in the initial report on the Mandeville site.

In addition, it was hoped that more diagnostic material, in the form of pottery and artifacts, in good archeological context, might be found to supplement the material upon which McMichael had made his analysis at the end of the 1959 season. Certain key artifacts, such as hand-moulded clay figurines, flint blade knives, platform pipes, possibly copper objects held particular significance in the interpretation of Mandeville history.

The $500.00 provided in the emergency by the National Park Service made possible the bulldozing of a North-South strip through the mound some 12 to 15 feet beyond McMichael*s original North-South axis trench. Subsequently, early in June, 1962, with additional funds supplied by General Research, Graduate School, University of Georgia, Frank T. Schnell went to Mandeville to supervise the cutting of two additional profiles by bulldozing and hand-dressing, east to feather edge at the North and South ends of the new axis. Clemens de Baillou followed and supervised the earlier axis-trench cutting. All features disclosed in these operations were hand-trowlled by student assistants under supervision by Frank Schnell and A. R. Kelly, at the end of the Spring quarter at the University of Georgia.

Except for materials catalogued from pits and features left standing and shaving horizontally in Layer L to bring out feature outlines, much of the material uprooted by bulldozing was not in precise context. However, seriation on pottery and other artifacts is given for pit fill and Layer #1 (Mandeville I), in the Old Village occupation.

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): US Army Corps of Engineers Mandatory Center of Expertise for the Curation and Management of Archaeological Collections, St. Louis District

Repository(s): University of Georgia, Laboratory of Archaeology, Athens, Georgia

Prepared By(s): University of Georgia, Laboratory of Archaeology

Submitted To(s): National Park Service

Notes

General Note: The digital materials in this collection were processed by the Veterans Curation Program (VCP), and include the artifact database, artifact report, finding aid, original investigation report, oversized material spreadsheet, photographic material spreadsheet, scanned asset key, and select archival photographs. Additional digital materials held by the VCP include the box labels, document folder listing, initial data collection sheet, notes, oversized material labels, photographic material labels, and records removal sheet. For additional information on these materials, refer to the finding aid.

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