"RIVER PEOPLE"​

ARTISTS: DAVID BOATWRIGHT AND MICHAEL KUFFEL

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     This series of murals depicts important aspects of life in Bulloch County in the late Archaic Period (ca. 3000-1000 BCE), one of the most interesting and active periods of local American Indian occupation. The environment of Bulloch County and south Georgia had become warmer and initially wetter with rich and diverse resources for hunter gatherers that supported larger populations than ever before. Thanks to the area's abundance of fish and mussels from the rivers and creeks, as well as game and a wide variety of nuts, fruit, and edible plants from the woodlands surrounding them, indigenous populations were able to establish more permanent settlements along the Ogeechee River.

Among the most important of their food sources were freshwater mussels that were consumed in large amounts. The refuse shells were scattered throughout the village and disposed in large trash piles known as middens. These middens preserve a wide variety of discarded items that help archaeologists better understand and reconstruct the lives of these people. From large pine and cypress trees, they constructed dugout canoes that helped them travel long distances, trading and establishing relationships with others.

This period saw the development of new tools and technologies such as large projectile points / knives, soapstone vessels, and clay pottery. People living along the Savannah and Ogeechee rivers at this time created the first and oldest documented pottery in North America, thousands of years before intensive farming was common in Georgia. Fish, turtles, and even alligators were captured in traps at points along the river, a practice that continued into the 19th century. In fact, much of the culture of later indigenous groups in the southeast had their origins in the practices of the late Archaic Period.

Special thanks to the Georgia Council on American Indian Concerns and Georgia Southern University's Department of Sociology and Anthropology in guiding the accuracy and character of the murals.

Supported by the Jack N & Addie D. Averitt Foundation