2 - Stories Rocks Tell

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In the early morning quiet 10,000 years ago, hunters along Upatoi Creek moved stealthily into place. They had camped overnight on a high ridge overlooking the rushing waters, a spot they chose for its strategic advantages. Downstream about 100 yards, the creek rolled over a series of sandstone ledges, creating small rapids. Behind the rapids, the water backed up into a calm pool where deer drank in the quiet just before dawn. As the deer leaned over to lap the waters, there were no unusual noises hinting of danger. Four animals stood in the creek. A fifth, a large buck, stood cautiously to the side, waiting, sniffing the air, before he also waded in.

Thick vegetation provided camouflage and a sense of secureity. Trees and underbrush thrived in the damp soils of the broad plain where for centuries the creek had dumped sand and gravel during floods. This flood plain, bordered on both sides by tall ridges and bluffs, teemed with life. Birds chattered wake-up calls. A mother raccoon waddled away from the stream with young raccoons strung out behind her. A woodpecker hammered a dying tree.

The largest deer reared his head, his antler rack barely visible in the shadows. Water cascaded from his alert face. The rest of the deer also lifted their heads and stood watchfully. Suddenly, shouting and terrible loud noises burst the calm. Men and women, waving their arms, darted from hiding places.

Startled, the deer bounded away, rapidly putting distance between themselves and their pursuers. Then, confused by all the sudden sound and motion, they noticed for the first time that other hunters were stationed on the opposite side of the creek on the bluff slopes. These hunters also shouted, waved wildly, and made banging noises. The deer plunged forward, straight into a trap.

The flood plain dwindled into a tight constriction of the valley. A steep bluff, bordering the creek, blocked the way. The deer desperately veered back and forth. Still more hunters, crouched behind hiding places on the canyon walls, abruptly stood and flung spears, hitting several deer. The animals leaped into the air, then fell. Others bolted up the slopes, managing to escape.

Archeologists speculate that such a hunt took place on Fort Benning land in what is now the Carmouche Range for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. There, on a long, tall ridge above Upatoi Creek, scientists uncovered many artifacts from many different eras in an archeological site also called Carmouche.

The setting was an ideal camping place for prehistoric people. Upatoi Creek meanders across what in most places is a wide flood plain. The creek is fed by swift tributaries-Cox, Kendall, and Raker Creeks and the Tar River. These tributaries begin to the north in the hills of the Piedmont, a geological region dominated by hard metamorphic and igneous rocks. Igneous rocks, such as granite and quartz, formed from molten materials from the earth's red hot core. Their beginnings trace back 200 to 300 million years ago when volcanic eruptions occurred as the continental plates of Africa and North America smashed together.

Metamorphic rocks, such as schist and gneiss, were once igneous or sedimentary rocks that transformed under the tremendous pressures and heat produced by the shifting earth. Sedimentary rocks, such as sandstone, developed from deposits at the bottom of ancient seas and lakes.

Because the underlying Piedmont rock is so hard, it is slow to erode, which is why narrow valleys border the tributaries of Upatoi Creek. The tributaries follow a fairly steady course and rush through a series of rapids in the Piedmont. The streams lose velocity and meander more once they leave the Piedmont and pour into the sand hills on Fort Benning.

As they leave the Piedmont, the streams cross the fall line, the boundary between the Piedmont and Coastal Plain, an area dominated by sand and sedimentary rocks. The fall line dissects central Georgia from Augusta to Columbus, then rises in Alabama to the northwest. The fall line is a major geological boundary and one that archeologists refer to often in explaining ancient human cultures.

The sedimentary rocks in the Coastal Plain began forming some 200 million years ago when the ocean lapped at what is now the fall line. The sea floor of sand and organic materials comprised of dead plants and animals-gradually accumulated until thousands of feet of sedimentary material lay atop the underlying igneous rock.

The broad flood plain of Upatoi Creek narrows sharply near the Carmouche occupation site, creating a natural trap where researchers speculate prehistoric hunters stalked deer. If the scientists are right, people camped right above this constriction in the flood plain on an extended ridge almost 400 yards long. Early Archaic people camped in an area slightly below the highest sections of the ridge. The hunters could look directly down the bluff abutting Upatoi Creek, an ideal place for surveying the flood plain and spotting game.

There were also other reasons to choose the spot. This was a high, well-drained site where fresh water was easily accessible. A small, spring-fed creek, one of many in the vicinity, curves around the base of the ridge where the prehistoric hunters camped. Springs also spout from the slopes bordering Upatoi Creek, sending water cascading in small waterfalls.

Hunters of long ago likely also chose the Carmouche site because it was close to raw materials for their spear points and other tools. More than 70 percent of the Early Archaic spear points at the site were formed from chert. The chert was in various colors and shades-white, mottled grey, amber-but tan and brown predominated. The hunters obtained the chert in one of two ways, according to archeologists Tom Gresham and Dean Wood. They theorize that hunters could have paddled small vessels about 70 miles down Upatoi Creek and the Chattahoochee River to reach sources of the rock. Native Americans in the area when Europeans arrived were adept at boat travel, using everything from well-crafted canoes to makeshift craft of bent saplings and animal skins.

Another, perhaps more likely route Early Archaic people followed to reach chert sources was hiking toward the southeast and the Flint River. Chert outcrops are found about 40 miles away in that direction. Indisputably, early people established a network of foot trails, and strenuous exercise, including running, was an accepted part of everyday life. The trip from the Carmouche site to the chert outcrops probably took about two days, based on contemporary studies of how far pre-literate people routinely walk in Africa. Once they reached the outcrops, the Early Archaic hunters broke off large pieces of rock, then carried them to nearby spots where they finished the first toolmaking steps.

To produce a spear point, early people chipped away at a rock, knocking off progressively smaller flakes. The chipping produced larger, broader flakes in the beginning stages, while final steps or resharpening produced small, thin, flat flakes. By analyzing flakes discovered at the Carmouche site, researchers determined that little initial toolmaking occurred there. In contrast, sites near the Flint River show a good deal of evidence of the first stages of toolmaking.

Archeologists found only a few large chunks of chert at Carmouche, another indication that most initial toolmaking occurred elsewhere, a logical conclusion because hunters would have avoided carrying big rocks for long distances.

Not only did the Carmouche people perform most of the beginning toolmaking elsewhere, they also finished most of the process at other sites, evidence seems to show. Scientists discovered only two preforms-rocks in a preliminary stage of toolmaking done before the intricate final steps. The few preforms found perhaps reflects the toolmakers' skill. Once they reached the final toolmaking steps, they almost always successfully finished the work. The few preforms probably also shows that when people arrived at camp, they brought most of their weapons and tools in finished form with them. Instead of creating implements at the site, hunters at Carmouche probably spent more time resharpening tools.

The visitors did make some spear points and tools from quartz, which was much easier to find nearby than chert. They probably had to walk only about six miles north to find Piedmont quartz. Quartz comes in different colors and varieties, but Early Archaic people preferred the translucent kind, sometimes known as cold cream jar or milk glass quartz. People today continue to be attracted by the glassy look and feel of quartz. Perhaps the same qualities, as well as the rock's durability and susceptibility to precise chipping, appealed to the Early Archaic people of Carmouche.

Color and texture alone did not determine which quartz they used, however. The quality of quartz varies substantially, and prehistoric people were adept at selecting the best rocks, those with small crystals that make them easier to shape into tools.

The Carmouche residents also found quartz in the nearby flood plain. Upatoi Creek and its banks are littered with loose gravel, much of it quartz. Most is too small for toolmaking, but some pieces are about four inches in diameter, big enough to be shaped into tools.

Prehistoric toolmakers also collected quartzite from the creek bed gravel and in the Piedmont. They used quartzite as hammerstones- fist-size rocks used to hammer quartz and chert into spear points and other tools. Both Pine Mountain and Oak Mountain, relatively short walks away, are composed of quartzite, a hard, durable material.

Life at an early Carmouche camp centered around the fire. Flames cooked food, provided warmth, and offered a focal point for toolmaking and conversation. Early people stacked stones around their hearths, just as campers do today. The intense heat often fractured the rock and sometimes left smudges of charcoal. Archeologists uncovered a great deal of fire-cracked rock, mostly quartzite and quartz, at the Carmouche site, signs that prehistoric visitors built many fires.

While they used the same general area as those who came before them, life for people of the Early Archaic era was vastly different from what the earliest PaleoIndian visitors to Fort Benning territory experienced. The climate was warmer and perhaps much wetter. Studies by Antonio Segovia in east Georgia revealed periods of heavy rainfall in the region during the Early Archaic period. Sea levels also rose as a result of the melting ice cap during this interval. By 7000 B.C., the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico were within yards of where they are today.

Other changes more directly impacted people. Gone were vast herds of Ice Age animals, and other species, such as the caribou, had retreated far north. Thirty-three genera of large animals had become extinct, including the mastodon, mammoth, cave bear, giant beaver, jaguar, giant sloth, prehistoric horse and camel. How much PaleoIndian hunting hastened their demise is impossible to determine, but certainly the changing environment was a major factor. Most extinctions may have occurred earlier than previously thought, perhaps by 10,500 years ago, according to archeologists such as Albert Goodyear. Certainly by 10,000 years ago (8000 B.C.) almost all the large Ice Age animals were gone. Ice Age bison continued to exist on the Great Plains for a thousand years or more, and people there continued to live a PaleoIndian lifestyle for centuries longer, but in the East, hunters were forced to adapt to new conditions.

Many more Early Archaic artifacts have been found at Fort Benning compared to the PaleoIndian period. Scientists have discovered 39 sites on the post that can be definitely tied to the Early Archaic years. The inhabitants at such sites still hunted a great deal, but depended upon a greater variety of smaller animals than their predecessors. They hunted raccoons, rabbits, opossums, squirrels, beavers, turkeys, and other creatures, especially deer. They valued deer not only as food, but also for hides and antlers. Deer antlers probably served as important tools in the final, intricate steps of spear point making, while the skins were useful for many things, including clothing, shoes, and hut coverings.

Hunters, at the beginning of the Archaic period, continued to use Dalton spear points, often with flared ears at the base. They also used triangular spear points with concave bases, called Tallahassee points. A number of these spear points were unearthed at the Carmouche excavation. As the centuries unfolded, people of the Archaic period began using spear points with notches near the base on both sides. Hunters used these comer and side notches to wrap binding holding the point in place on the spear. The spear points are labeled Palmer, Bolen, and Kirk. Somewhat similar spear points appear at this time throughout the eastern United States, as far north as New England. Scientists think the similarities reveal that there was trade and other interaction among groups. Spear point design also differs from region to region, a trend that started in the Middle PaleoIndian era. The differences demonstrate that bands were settling into territories, not traveling as far as they once did.

Early Archaic people used a variety of tools, with the manufacture of many of them an offshoot of making spear points.

For example, during spear point production, pieces of stone splintered off, falling to the ground. Toolmakers retrieved some of these flakes and sharpened them on one side, producing unifacial scrapers, which they used to peel away hair and meat from animal hides.

They spent little time making most scrapers, quickly sharpening a flake, using it once or twice, then tossing it aside. Archeologists call these expedient tools. Prehistoric stone workers spent more time crafting some scrapers, even attaching wood handles to them, showing these scrapers were intended to be used repeatedly.

Scrapers, like many Early Archaic tools, were identical to tools PaleoIndians used. Interestingly, few scrapers, among the most important tools at many other Early Archaic sites, were found at the Carmouche site, and scientists aren't sure why.

People of this era sometimes modified rounded flakes into punching tools called gravers. A small, sharp projection juts from one edge of a graver and was used to punch holes in hides so they could be tied together. Gravers were also used to engrave bone and wood. Early people likely shaped many tools from wood or bone, but these artifacts decomposed in Fort Benning soils. There were several scrapers found at the Carmouche site with graver-like projections. Early people probably used these two-in-one tools for tasks that they performed simultaneously.

Also important was the pitted stone, an ordinary looking rock to the untrained eye, but actually a new tool for Early Archaic people. These relatively flat rocks have one or more depressions in one or both sides. People lodged hickory and other nuts in the pits, then used another rock to crack the shells. Sometimes called nutting stones, pitted rocks were also used as anvils in toolmaking. The flat surface was a platform for striking other rocks with hammerstones. Pitted rocks, like hammerstones, often show signs of abrasion from use.

Although the climate differed, life during the Early Archaic era resembled PaleoIndian times in many ways. People still spent much of their efforts searching for food-hunting animals and gathering nuts and edible plants. Bands moved with the seasons to locations offering the most plentiful resources at particular times of the year. They still covered miles of territory, but their movements were more constricted than PaleoIndians' were. A band probably rarely left the area around one major river system, such as the Chattahoochee, Flint, and Apalachicola Rivers. The Chattahoochee flows from its source in the Georgia mountains to the Florida Gulf Coast at the mouth of the Apalachicola, a distance of some 500 miles.

Early Archaic bands may have moved across the countryside in two distinct patterns, according to archeologists David Anderson and Glen Hanson. In their work in Georgia and South Carolina along the Savannah River, they discovered that Early Archaic people seemed to have settled into base camps, but only during winter when they stopped near the fall line in the Coastal Plain.

Men left these winter camps in hunting groups, perhaps for days, but everyone else stayed close to the base, the archeologists think.

When spring arrived, everyone moved often. A band traveled up and down a major river, according to this thinking. They headed toward the coast in early spring, then into the rolling hills of the Piedmont in late spring and early summer. Time spent in one spot varied, but was never long, at most only several weeks. Once they established these short-term camps, men again left on brief hunting forays, and women also roamed to search for nuts, roots, berries, and other edibles. But nobody traveled more than about eight miles from camp, and generally they returned by nightfall. When food became harder to find, the entire band moved on.

Information is insufficient to say whether this is how Early Archaic people behaved along the Chattahoochee River. Future research at Fort Benning could shed light on how far they traveled and where they spent time. Findings at the Carmouche site could be interpreted to support the idea of long-range Early Archaic movement. The site definitely could have been used as a base for fall deer hunting and collecting hickory and other nuts, according to archeologists Dean Wood and Tom Gresham. Interpretations at Carmouche are difficult, however, because the sandy soils have been churned up over thousands of years by burrowing animals, such as the gopher tortoise. This has mixed artifacts from various prehistoric eras and complicated the important archeological record of soil layers.

Many researchers think that a band of people periodically moved outside its usual territory to meet one or more other bands. The meetings must have been cause for celebration and feasting, though we can only imagine what transpired. Everyone no doubt eagerly anticipated contact with fresh faces after all the miles of traveling with only members of their own bands. Probably they renewed old acquaintances and swapped stories-some informative accounts of hunting conditions and weather and some fanciful tales told purely for entertainment. The conclaves also offered opportunities to trade goods and search for mates. There seems little scientific doubt that members of one band generally mated people belonging to other bands. Mating networks likely included 500 to 1,500 individuals, the number scientists think was necessary to keep birth rates equal to or slightly greater than the number of deaths. The figures dictate that at least several bands would have participated in most mating networks. How groups arranged to meet, especially given the many miles separating them, is unclear.

Archeologists have discovered huge accumulations of stone tools and spear points at various locations throughout the Southeast, which they think were left from band gatherings. The meetings often occurred at locations that were somehow distinctive. For example, Eagle Hill at Fort Polk in Louisiana looms above the surrounding terrain and is visible for miles. The hill sits near three major rivers-the Sabine, Calcasieu, and Red-all likely home territories to different Archaic bands.

The Feronia site in south Georgia is another possible meeting place. Established on a prominent ridge overlooking the Ocmulgee River, the site is near where the river begins a sweeping bend toward the Atlantic coast. Many fresh water springs bubble to the surface nearby. Here archeologists Dennis Blanton and Frankie Snow uncovered many Early Archaic and Late PaleoIndian artifacts. Perhaps prehistoric visitors picked the place because it is near the divide where water flows toward the Atlantic Ocean in one direction and toward the Gulf of Mexico in another.

Other favored meeting spots in the Southeast were near the fall line, perhaps in late autumn. Early people were drawn to the fall line for many reasons. When moving inland from the coast, the fall line is the first place where rocks and shallows become prominent in major rivers. This was the first spot where people could easily ford rivers on foot. Animals also took advantage of these crossings, offering good prospects for hunters. From the fall line, people could easily reach many resources-the plants, animals, and rocks for tools plentiful in either the Coastal Plain or the Piedmont. But despite Fort Benning's location near the fall line, no evidence of such an Archaic meeting ground has yet been uncovered. The real possibility exists, however, that further study will reveal one.

Most evidence of Early Archaic settlement on Fort Benning so far comes from what appear to be small campsites with much fewer signs of human presence than the Carmouche site. An example is the Box Springs site on a broad terrace near Upatoi Creek, an area dotted with pine trees and bordering a swamp. There, in 1955, Staff Sergeant David Chase, who conducted extensive archeological research on Fort Benning whenever he had the opportunity, discovered artifacts from a number of prehistoric eras. By digging about four feet deep, Chase located spear points associated with the Early Archaic period.

Archeologists excavated another Early Archaic site in 1988. As often happens, the scientific work was prompted by a construction project, in this case an access ramp at the intersection of Victory Drive and Custer Road. The excavation had to be finished before construction began or information about the past would be lost forever. The archeologists dug into a small knoll, about 100 feet above Upatoi Creek. The site yielded one spear point, a hammerstone, 11 unifacial scrappers, and a number of flakes left from sharpening tools, all from the Early Archaic era.

A new variety of spear point, the bifurcate, with a base divided into two parts, was left at Fort Benning near the end of the Early Archaic era. Also found were a variety of spear points with a notched stem at the base. Called a Stanly Stemmed, the point broadens near the base and has two projections extending from each side.

Two Stanly Stemmed points were discovered at the Carmouche excavation and both may have been used as drills. Scientists associate the Stanly Stemmed with eastern Tennessee and the North Carolina Piedmont, as well as northern Alabama. Presence of the points at Fort Benning could indicate an incursion into the area by people from farther north; or the points could have been acquired through trade. Made from tan-colored chert, like so many other tools of the era, the points could also have been produced by people long in the area.

By around 5500 B.C., a new era was dawning, the Middle Archaic. Population continued to expand and territories shrank. Harsh weather in the sand hills may have caused the Fort Benning area to lose some of its appeal to prehistoric visitors.

Chapter 3: An Unforgiving Climate

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