Stallings Island is an

archeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...

with shell

mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher el ...

s, located in the

Savannah River The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the norther ...

near

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

. The site is the namesake for the Stallings culture of the Late Archaic period and for Stallings fiber- tempered pottery, the oldest known pottery in North America. The site was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1961.Note: A National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination document should be available upon request from the National Park Service for this site (perhaps redacted to remove location information), but it appears not to be available on-line from th
NPS Focus search site
Stallings Island pottery found in coastal

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

was formerly called St. Simons pottery, but is now recognized as Stallings Island.

Description and history

Stallings Island is located upriver of Augusta, in an area known as the Ninety-Nine Islands, just downriver of the mouth of Stevens Creek. The island was occupied from about 2600 B.C.E. to about 2000 B.C.E., and again from about 1800 B.C.E. to 1400 B.C.E. The site was occupied during the first period by people of the Paris Island (ca. 2500-2200 B.C.E.) and Mill Branch (ca. 2200-1800 B.C.E.) phases, pre-ceramic traditions that harvested large numbers of freshwater

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...

s. During the second period the site was occupied by people of the Classic Stallings culture, who used decorated pottery. The earliest, undecorated, Stallings ceramics first appeared at other sites while Stallings Island itself was unoccupied.Sassaman, Blessing, and Randall:539, 540, 551 The site represents a transitional period, in which hunter-gatherer culture was gradually replaced by more sedentary village and agriculture-based lifestyles. The island was identified as an archaeological site in 1861, and has been the subject of several scientific excavations. It has also been subject to extensive looting, and was listed for many years as a threatened landmark. The island was acquired by the

Archaeological Conservancy The Archaeological Conservancy is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that acquires and preserves archaeological sites in the United States. Whereas nearly every other nation protects all archaeological sites within its borders as part of its nation ...

in 1998. Stallings Island Middle School in

Martinez, GA Martinez ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Columbia County, Georgia, Columbia County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. It is a northwestern suburb of Augusta, Georgia, Augusta and is part of the Augusta, Georgia metropolitan ar ...

was named after this site.

References

* {{authority control National Historic Landmarks in Georgia (U.S. state) Geography of Columbia County, Georgia Archaeological sites in Georgia (U.S. state) Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state) 1861 archaeological discoveries Savannah River National Register of Historic Places in Columbia County, Georgia River islands of Georgia (U.S. state)

Description and history

See also

References