Archaeological Evaluation of the Flint Plantation Site (16 RA 79) Rapides Parish, Louisiana

This report presents the results of an archaeological testing and evaluation program undertaken at the Flint Plantation site (16 RA 79) in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, a mid-nineteenth to twentieth-century Red River sugar and cotton plantation. This work was performed in connection with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers', Vicksburg District, proposed Philip Bayou Realignment project on the Red River Waterway. The survey was conducted to evaluate Flint Plantation's significance and eligibility for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places and to develop plans for future treatment as considered necessary. The field survey was conducted by three to five persons between May 10-13 and May 17-19, 1983. The total field time expended was seven days (25 person days).

Test excavations were conducted by Commonwealth and Associates (1981) at the nineteenth-century Sibley/Russel/Davenport Plantation (16 NA 178) near Natchitoches, Louisiana. The testing at this plantation site located one in situ brick foundation feature and a late-nineteenth century artifact deposit. Though very limited in extent (less extensive than that undertaken at Flint Plantation), the excavations at 16 N A 178 led the authors to conclude that the site was significant and eligible for nomination to the National Register and that additional work should be undertaken (Commonwealth and Associates, Inc. 1981:454). In this case, significancelay largely in the fact that the site is expected to provide baseline information applicable to intrasite as well as regional studies.

The paucity of historical archaeological research conducted along the Red River stands in contrast to the lower Mississippi River where a number of nineteenth-century locales, including plantations, have been examined (e.g. Gagliano et al. 1977; Castille 1979; Pearson et al. 1981; Bryant et al. 1982; Garrison et ai. 1982). These studies serve to complement the documentary record for the area and delineate the form, content, and pattern(s) in the region's material culture. If we are going to increase our understanding of the history and archaeology of the Red River region, similar archaeological studies need to be undertaken there. Flint Plantation provides an opportunity to do this.