Report on the 1999 Archaeological Excavations at Scull Shoals Historic Mill Complex

An archaeological research project was conducted in July of 1999 at four different locations within the Scull Shoals Historic Mill Complex in Greene County, GA. The project was administered by the United States Forest Service through their "Passport In Time" volunteer service program. Archaeological research concentrated within three areas previously uninvestigated: within the mill complex itself, adjacent to the standing warehouse ruin, and the yard area north of the warehouse. The Four Chimneys Site, investigated during the 1998 PIT project, was revisited in order to identify the extent of a stone concentration. The overriding goal of the 1999 field work was to identify and delineate buried architectural remains from structures that were once part of the Mill's cultural landscape. Portions of three such structures were found: within the Mill Village, portions of two different dwellings were recovered-a double-sided chimney and a corner foundation pillar, each made of brick. In the Mill complex, a series of aligned brick foundation pillars was discovered that correlate to an ancillary mill building. During the laboratory analysis and the resulting interpretive process, two important aspects of the Complex were recognized: 1) an abundance of late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century ceramics and bottle glass was recovered from the warehouse ruin excavations; and 2) new historical insights have been developed related to the appearance of the Scull Shoals regional landscape, Mill Village and Mill Complex based on the computer manipulation and enhancement of an 1875 Plat Map. These two circumstances have enriched the understanding of the earlier occupation of Scull Shoals and demonstrate that future archaeological research can now focus on more fine grained issues such as economic and social stratification within the Scull Shoals Complex. Additionally, the combination of the data from the three field seasons has added a fresh perspective upon the restoration and preservation issues faced by the US Forest Service and the Friends of Scull Shoals, Inc.