Sample Statement of Significance and Continuing Research Value:

Bilbo Site – 2001

Ray Crook, Ph.D. (Principal Investigator)
Waring Laboratory UWG-0059

The Bilbo Site – 2001 collection is significant and has continuing research value because of the information it contains about Late Archaic Period cultural forms and their adaptive system along the Georgia coast.  This well-preserved collection has potential for contributing specific information concerning the development of ceramic technology (fiber-tempered wares), settlement and subsistence patterns, and environmental/climatic reconstruction.

The collection is the result of investigations at the Bilbo Site (9CH4) during the summer of 2001 conducted as part of an archaeological field methods class through the University of West Georgia.  This site was originally investigated in 1939 by Antonio Waring, and subsequently tested by William Haag in 1957.  The 2001 investigations focused on topographic mapping to record the site and the extent of vandal disturbance, along with stratigraphic test excavation to determine the content and integrity of subsurface midden deposits.  Although vandal disturbance was severe, substantial intact midden deposits survive. These extend as much as 2 meters beneath the current ground surface and mark a long sequence of occupation, including evidence for the initial production of plain fiber-tempered pottery and the later addition of decorated wares.  The midden also contains, in stratigraphic order, well-preserved floral and faunal remains.