Lawson Field Excavation, Georgia
odd: label: Local Number
content: HSFA 1986.7.1
name: label: Collection Collector
content: Columbus Museum (Columbus, Ga.)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Columbus Museum films
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Film reel (20 minutes, color silent; 483 feet, 16mm)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1938
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Footage documenting the excavation of a prehistoric/historic Native American settlement dating to the approximate time period of Spanish exploration into the area of inland Georgia. The people inhabiting the area, the Kasihta, are thought to have been members of the Muskogee, a culture group of the Lower Creek peoples. Historical evidence for the Kasihta occupation of the Chattahoochee River Basin, Georgia dates back to Spanish exploration during the 17th century up through missionary reports by Hodgson and Hawkins in the mid 18th century. The film records excavations conducted by Gordon R. Willey in the late 1930s at the site of Lawson Field, just south of Fort Benning. Documented are several human burials, the remains of house structures as shown through soil analysis, and trade items from contact with the Europeans (including copper bells and rings, clay pipes, iron implements, and glass beads). Also shown are conscious excavation techniques such as the use of trowels, taking into account soil variation and stratigraphy. Gordon R. Willey, archaeologist