Bracken, William Lee, May 1986 - THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE TELFAIR "MOUND," 9Tf2, AND OTHER SITES, IN TELFAIR COUNTY, GEORGIA Abstract: An archaeological investigation and test excavations were conducted at the Telfair "mound," 9Tf2, in the "Big Bend" region of the Ocmulgee River Valley near Temperance, Georgia by the Department of Anthropology of the University of South Florida during the Spring of 1985. This work was made possible by an U.S. Department of the Interior Historic Preservation Trust Fund grant awarded through Brewton Parker College by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and by the support of the l community, who provided matching funds and services. The goals of this project were to explore the prehistoric archaeology of a region which has had very little professional archaeological attention, and to investigate in some detail the Woodland culture characterized by cord-marked pottery. Four excavation units dug at 9Tf2, a natural mound occupation site, yielded evidence of Early Archaic through Late Woodland occupation. This site was used as a short-term habitation area, probably for specialized resource procurement, for much of the last 2-3 millennia. Another site, 9Tf73, Hickory Ridge, about one mile downriver, was investigated on a smaller scale to provide comparative data. It proved to be an occupation, of approximately the same age as 9Tf2. A significant portion of this report focuses on the problems concerning the cultural affiliations and dates for the prehistoric occupation characterized by cord-marked ceramics found in this region, as described by Snow (1977). Statistical analyses of ceramic attributes, along with thermoluminescence dating of selected sherds, were done to examine the change through time in the cord-marked ceramic complex. Botanical remains recovered from 9Tf2 and 9Tf73 were analyzed to give a better characterization of subsistence activities and environments at the sites. In general, a better assessment of Late Woodland culture is now possible for this area of the southeast. This report documents and describes the subsistence activities and material remains of different cultural groups in this region through time, and provides a body of data for future research. .