FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Contact:  Robert Preston, Jr.,
              912.260.4276
              robert.preston@sgsc.edu

Dennis Blanton to Visit SGC, Discuss Ocmulgee River Excavation

Four years of archaeological exploration on the lower Ocmulgee River have revealed unanticipated but very powerful evidence of early Spanish exploration.

Sixteenth-century artifacts indicate direct contact between Indian people and early explorers. Years of study have led Dennis Blanton, curator of Native American Archaeology with the Fernbank Museum, to formulate an interesting hypothesis: Those explorers were a band of Spanish conquistadors led by none other than Hernando de Soto. Conventional thought has de Soto going through present-day Tallahassee, into Georgia near Bainbridge, then crossing the Ocmulgee River near Macon. If Blanton’s theories are correct, his research would effectively re-write history books and change the way archaeologists look at the history of this portion of the United States.

To learn more about Blanton’s research and its possible ramifications, come to the William S. Smith Library at South Georgia College on Monday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m., where he will discuss the Ocmulgee excavation project. Dennis, an SGC alum, is the lead archaeologist at the Ocmulgee site and will cover the important discoveries his team has made in four years of excavation at the Ocmulgee site. The presentation is free and open to the public.

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South Georgia College (www.sgc.edu) was founded in 1906 and is an accredited two-year institution in the University System of Georgia. Located in Douglas, Ga., the college's environment gives students exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty. With over 20 majors and transfer opportunities, South Georgia College provides the finest education possible to the citizens of its service area.