Archaeological Testing of Nine Sites in Compartment K-06, Fort Benning Military Reservation, Muscogee County, Georgia

In 1996 Southern Research entered into a contract with the U.S. Army’s Fort Benning Military Reservation to provide cultural resource management services for the installation. This project, which was supported with funds from the United States Department of Defense’s Legacy Resource Management Program, (Delivery Order 7, Contract DABT10-96-D-0039), required the archaeological testing of nine archaeological sites on land management compartment K-06 in Muscogee County, Georgia. This report summarizes the findings of this work at the following sites:

Site Description

9Me387 19th/20th century house

9Me390 Possible Creek site

9Me394 Creek site

9Me395 Creek site

9Me408 Frontier-era house site

9Me409 19th/20th century house

9Me451 Multi-component site

9Me472 Multi-component site

9Me479 Multi-component site

The nine archaeological sites that are described in this report were first located during an intensive survey of the compartment by Southern Research, which was described in a previous report (Elliott et al. 1996). The Phase I survey identified 152 archaeological loci in Compartments K-06 and K-07 in Chattahoochee and Muscogee counties, Georgia. Of these, 54 archaeological sites in K-06 were deemed potentially eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and additional testing and protection measures were recommended. This Phase II testing project represented a 17 percent sample of the potentially eligible sites in Compartment K-06. The nine sites that were tested form a representative sample of the types of sites found by the survey. Systematic shovel tests totaling 68.49 m2 and test units totaling 336 m2 were excavated on the nine sites. The shovel tests are summarized in Table II-1 and the test units are summarized in Table II-2. The present research was designed to determine the eligibility of these nine sites for inclusion in the NRHP. As a result of this testing project and previous testing of Site 9Me395, eight sites (9Me387, 9Me394, 9Me395, 9Me408, 9Me409, 9Me451, 9Me472, and 9Me479) in Compartment K-06 were considered eligible for inclusion in the NRHP. Protection of these sites from disturbance is recommended as a long-term management plan. One site, 9Me390, was not considered eligible for listing in the NRHP because of the limited research potential that it possessed. No further protection of 9Me390 is necessary. Three other sites in the compartment, 9Me42, 9Me43, and 9Me469, were tested and were determined eligible for inclusion in the NRHP as part of the previous work by Fort Benning Archaeologist, Dean Wood, and Southern Research (Elliott et al. 1996: 27-47, 64-68).

This report is organized into 16 chapters, followed by a bibliography of references cited and one appendix containing an inventory of artifacts recovered by the project. This chapter presents environmental background information. Chapter II contains a discussion of the research methods and research design employed by the study. Chapter III contains a discussion of the historical background of the study area from general to specific. The results of testing for the nine sites are presented in ascending numerical order in chapters IV through XII. Chapter XIII contains a discussion of prehistoric occupation at these sites and it focuses on the findings from Site 9Me479, which yielded the best archaeological data for the prehistoric periods. Chapter XIV contains a discussion of the Cusseta Creeks who resided at Upatoi in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Chapter XV contains a discussion of Euro-American and African-American occupation (henceforth referred to only as Euro- American as a matter of convenience) from 1827 to 1942. Chapter XVI contains management recommendations for these sites, including an assessment of the effectiveness of remote sensing techniques that were employed at 9Me394, 9Me395, and 9Me472, as well as, recommendations for future research at these and other significant sites in Compartment K-06.