Archaeology
Brockington and Associates has carried out over 2000 archaeological projects throughout the nation since 1986. Our staff includes experts in all major historic and prehistoric periods, and we are contributors to a wide variety of research questions currently debated by archaeologists and historians.
We work with federal and state authorities to design the most efficient methods to identify significant sites that may be in a development area, a proposed highway corridor, or a federally owned installation. After important sites are identified, we coordinate closely with our clients to develop recommendations for preservation or other impact mitigation. We also carry out detailed excavations and studies if site preservation is not feasible. We are proud of our record of developing innovative study and interpretation programs that provide important information to the scientific community as well as to the public at large.
Excavation of a War of 1812 fort
Several recent projects are typical of our overall experience. We are currently completing field and artifact study of our excavations at a War of 1812 fort on the south Georgia coast near St. Marys for the Cumberland Harbour development. This exciting project revealed the archaeological remains of two barracks buildings within the fort, along with a privy, a well, and several trash disposal areas. Artifacts include musket balls, gun parts, buttons, and coins, as well as china, glassware, and food remains. An overwhelming British force attacked, occupied, and then burned this fort in 1815, leaving only when they learned that the peace treaty ending the War of 1812 had already been signed.
We have carried out archaeological surveys at a large number of Army, Army Reserve, National Guard, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy installations throughout the nation. After the surveys are completed, we typically work with installation officers to develop a detailed but user-friendly planning notebook to help protect the sites found while allowing missions to go forward effectively. We have especially enjoyed our work at Naval Air Stations Key West and Pensacola, Fort Buchanan in Puerto Rico, Parris Island in South Carolina, and Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.
A Site with Successive Occupations
For utility companies we undertake large and small surveys of power lines, plants, and substations, along with gas and product pipelines, water lines, fiber optic lines, and towers of various kinds. Usually we are able to work carefully to help the companies and agencies avoid archaeological sites with their proposed undertakings. In the early 1990s, however, we worked for Georgia Power Company to excavate and study a significant pre-Contact Indian site just below the Lake Sinclair dam. Unavoidable erosion was affecting the well preserved remains of successive occupations since the early Archaic period, 9000 years ago. Level by level, we excavated a deep block into the site, recovered artifacts and fire pit features, and produced a report of findings to document the site's significance. This was carried out to meet requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, under the oversight of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
In the 1970s, the South Carolina and Georgia Departments of Transportation began planning a coordinated major freeway around Augusta, Georgia. Major portions crossing I-20 in Georgia were completed, but the south Augusta crossing of the Savannah River and the South Carolina project portion was stalled by funding needs throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s.
In the late 1990s environmental and planning work for these sections was restarted. First, we worked for SCDOT in identifying and excavating a site in Georgia where the new Sand Bar Ferry Bridge was to be built. This data recovery project was initially focused on a pre-Contact Woodland Period Indian campsite, but careful hand excavation and machine scraping showed a much later historic cemetery was also present. These graves were relocated prior to construction.
More recently, we assisted SCDOT and EarthTech Engineers in surveying corridor changes since the 1970s in South Carolina. Several sites were recorded, and the preferred alternative was realigned to avoid and preserve these sites. One site, near the end of the project at I-20 in South Carolina, was determined to be unavoidable. Working with SCDOT staff and the South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, we developed a detailed research design for archaeological study of this site. We expect to complete this work in 2005. We have especially enjoyed working on this project since it involved close cooperation between two State Historic Preservation Offices and two Departments of Transportation.
We are proud of the help we have been able to provide to our clients on these and our many other archaeological studies. We are also pleased with our record of contributions to archaeological knowledge. And we are very happy planning the projects we think might be coming up for us.
John O'Donnell carefully removes fill from possible trash pit feature associated with slave quarters at the antebellum Cherry Hill Plantation in Bryan County, Georgia.
Patrick Severts sorts pottery in the Atlanta laboratory. Patrick's classifications will be entered into our database to allow rapid completion of statistical analyses.
