Data Recovery at the Banks Lake Dam Site Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge Lanier County, Georgia

The Banks Lake Dam site (9LN7) is a multicomponent, prehistoric and historic site situated on the northeast edge of largely man-made Banks Lake, within Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge, a unit of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS) National Wildlife Refuge System. The lake is composed of large expanses of open water and swamp created when a series of connected natural sinks were inundated by the damming of the principal outlet in 1825, to create water power for a mill. The site is situated at the east end of the old dam. In accordance with Sections 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, and implementing regulations, a survey of the site area in 1992 revealed that the general area had been almost continuously occupied historically since the construction of the mill, and during the unspecified prehistoric past. Because proposed construction of facilities for the disabled would impact the prehistoric and historic remains, the FWS consulted with the Georgia State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) regarding the National Register eligibility of the site. Both the FWS and the SHPO agreed the site met the eligibility criteria and that data recovery would remove any adverse effects of future construction. Sample excavation to recover site information was conducted in undisturbed portions of the proposed construction zone. Much of the construction zone has been disturbed by grading, older buildings, and the placement of underground utilities. Seven excavation units, totaling 21 M2, were excavated to subsoil, which was a yellowish brown sandy clay between about 25 and 70 ern below surface. In the sandy soils of the site, 412 chert artifacts and 14 prehistoric sherds were recovered, along with an almost equal amount of historic material (442 historic artifacts). The prehistoric material indicates a non-intensive use of the site during the Early Archaic (one Taylor point), Late Archaic (one fiber tempered sherd and two points), Early Woodland (two Deptford Simple Stamped sherds) and Late Woodland/Early Mississippian (five cord marked sherds). No prehistoric features were encountered. The vast majority of the historic material dated to the early to mid-twentieth century, reflecting use of the site as a CCC camp in the late 1930s and as residence and fishing camp before and after the CCC period. One small pit with sawn lumber is interpreted as a footing for a temporary CCC camp building. The survey and excavation revealed only a light and dispersed scatter of nineteenth century material (two pearlware sherds, two kaolin pipe fragments, two cut nails, two olive green bottle glass pieces). None of this older material was concentrated enough to indicate the presence of a period structure, but it does suggest that a structure was in the vicinity. The nineteenth century mill was almost certainly at the west end of the dam, underneath the present highway 122.