Preliminary Report on an Archaeological Survey of the Heart of Georgia Planning and Development Commission Area

During the summer of 1965, Georgia State College, under contract to the Heart of Georgia Planning and Development Commission of Eastman, Georgia, conducted an archaeological survey of nine central Georgia counties, Bleckley, Dodge, Laurens, Montgomery, Pulaski, Telfair, Treutlen, Wheeler and Wilcox. The field work, the analysis of the material, and the preparation of the report were the responsibility of the author. Lewis H. Larson, Jr., Associate Professor of Anthropology at Georgia State College, was project director. The primary purposes of the survey were the location and evaluation of archaeological sites within the area. Upon completion of eight weeks of survey work, a two-week period was spent testing three of the larger sites to acquire more information about their nature. In the nine counties, a total of seventy sites, including multiple and single component habitation sites, mounds, a quarry site, and a historic site were found. Surface collections were made when possible. All sites located during the survey were given a site number, recorded, and their dimensions roughly mapped. Three sites were tested. The excavation of these three sites is discussed separately from the surface survey. The final phase of the survey was the classification of the material collected. An analysis was made of 2,633 sherds recorded from all sites yielding pottery. Of the total seventy sites examined, only five produced collections of one hundred or more sherds, the minimum number felt necessary for a ceramic seriation. Collections of sherds from these five sites totaled 1,610 and produced more than 50 per cent of the total number for the five sites. The projectile points collected were also subjected to analysis. Measurements were taken of the total length, thickness, shoulder width, and base width with variation in measuring exaamined and classified according to the typology defined by Cambron and Hulse in the Handbook of the Alabama Archaeology, 1965.