- Highway 12 Bypass Archaeology - Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, USA Test excavations began at the Cork site, 22Ok746, in November 1998, with Janet Rafferty and S. Homes Hogue serving as co-principal investigators on a contract from the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT). Full-scale excavation commenced after testing showed the site to be significant. The total contract for this work was in the amount of $91,018. The fieldwork and analyses were carried out with aid from MDOT archaeologists. The site was occupied primarily during Middle Woodland (200 B.C. - A.D. 550) times, with a small Mississippian occupation also present. Two areas where artifacts were concentrated were identified during the test excavations, through systematic shovel testing and unit excavation. These areas were investigated more extensively during Phase III excavations. A total of 185 1x1 meter excavation units were dug, mostly in contiguous blocks. The small unit size was chosen because the portion of the site in the highway right-of-way had never been cultivated or logged. The main excavation was done by MSU field school students under the direction of Janet Rafferty, with Hannah Echols serving as field assistant. The students included Erin Brown, Bert Coker, Tony Criddle, Vincent Dongarra, Jason Eager, Sarah Fiorentino, Mick Hoyt, Jennifer Long, Kelly McClave, Rebecca Melsheimer, Wendy Sewell, Lance Stewart, and Lizbeth Velasquez. Features found included several large concentrations of broken pottery. Several partial vessels have been reconstructed from these sherds. Most of the pottery from the site is tempered with sand, with the vessel surfaces usually either fabric-marked or plain. An analysis of pottery thin sections was completed by Mike Galaty, Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Millsaps College. The analysis was done to investigate pottery technology and the possibility that some of the pottery was made elsewhere and imported to the Cork site. In the upper Tombigbee River valley and the Tennessee River valley, Middle Woodland peoples are known to have engaged in widespread trade involving copper, galena, and pottery. The results of the thin-section analysis showed that the sand-tempered pottery probably was made locally but that several different sand-clay sources were used. Some of the grog-tempered pottery possibly represents exotic wares. That long-distance exchange was occurring also is indicated by the presence of small amounts of quartz crystal, novaculite, and galena in the excavated assemblage. Kevin Bruce, former MDOT archaeologist, detected these and other exotic lithics during analysis of lithic materials recovered from the project.   Related research associates:   Janet Rafferty,   S. Homes Hogue Feature 10 from 22Ok746 (the Cork site) - pottery concentration. Arrow indicates grid north.

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Last modified Monday, 13-Oct-2003 14:13:21 CDT.