Hi I am new to this whole thing so forgive me if I seem ignorant. I live in Plains, GA and find chert, arrowheads and my most prized is that I find broken pieces of pottery, some have markings. I find all of this on our property. A creek is the border of one side of the property, which does have woods going up towards the field in which I find these pieces. I have been told that it is possibly a multi site (can't remember exactly what they said) the guy at the artifacts show looked over my pieces and said that one piece of marked pottery was not even from here that it must have been traded but the years that he feels all the pieces he looked at were from were from various times. Dates approximately 1200 - 1300 years ago. I was also told it is hard to find a site that has the multiple time periods found on them. I also have seen mounding areas going into the woods not far from the site I am not sure if it is just errosion or if they might possible be something else. As I mentioned I am not familiar with the the whole archeology thing but sooooooo want to learn. I do not know of any place close by that does any seminars etc. I would love to hear any input from anyone. The pottery pieces I have have definate markings on them one piece even looks as though it is a mark from the top part of a finger.

Hi Lisa.

What you might look for is an area with alot of burned and cracked stones.
These features are called middens. If you find something like this, then alot of activity went on around it in the past.

If you're up to it, you could excavate the area correctly. A local archeology club could provide you with the skills to exavate properly, and possibly a source of alot of help and guidance.

You might also contact your state Historical Commission and find out who's responsible for your area. I'm sure they'll come out and take a look.

Have you got a digital camera so we can take a peek at your finds?

Charlie

Hey Lisa,

Check out the Society for Georgia Archaeology: http://www.thesga.org/
State archaeological societies are great outfits for beginners to start learning and to get involved in all sorts of useful and fascinating projects including digs, surveys, lab stuff, and fun field trips. You might also contact one of the many fine colleges and universities in Georgia and talk to someone in the Anthropology Department about your site. It would also be worth it to poke around your local library and see what sort of books they have on the archaeology of Georgia. In any case, have fun! 8-)

Lisa -

Sounds like you have an important site on your property - one that should be protected and studied to help our understanding of the past. As the owner of the property you have the chance to be a steward of our past and I recommend you look into how best to do that.

The Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists has a page of Frequently Asked Questions that you might find interesting at http://www.georgia-archaeology.org/GCPA/faq.html.

Georgia has the Georgia Archaeological Site File which serves as a place to document your site. You can look into this on their website at http://shapiro.anthro.uga.edu/GASF/site_pamphlet.html. by providing information to the Site File, you will be helping to protect your site well into the future (long after you and I are gone). There are some folks that may try to discourage you from reporting your site - suggesting that the state will then take control - or other non-sensical arguments. None of this is true. As long as the site is on your land, you retain ownership and the ability to do as you wish - as long as human remains are not found. What reporting a site does do is allow legitimate researchers to know more about the area, and in some cases you may actually be contacted and asked to become part of an important research project.

You may also want to contact the State Archaeologist Dr. David Crass, 404-656-9344, david_crass@dnr.state.ga.us. He can talk with you about your site and will probably be happy to help provide direction on a number of topics that you may be interested in.

Good Luck.

DM

I would like to thank every one for the information you posted. I will be taking some pics of the pieces that I have and post them. So if you are interested in seeing them I will try to get them on this week end. Thanks again

If you need help, I can help you with mapping, if you can supply spatial data acquired for each artifact using a GPS (just photograph the artifact in its context, and then photograph the GPS). It is quick and you can work on copying the spatial data and photo records when it's raining. I'm happy to know that you feel such passion for this.