Management Summary Archaeological Testing at the Swancy Site

The Swaney Site (Survey Site 2) was first recorded by James Langford (1986), and was resurveyed during the Cultural Resource Investigation of the East Tennessee - Ball Ground Proposed Pipeline Corridor, conducted for the Atlanta Gas Light company. The site is situated in the flood plain on the south side of the Coosawattee River in Gordon County, Georgia (Figure 1). This large (1900 ft E-W by 500 ft N-SI15 acres), linear site is oriented east-west along the river between two unnamed tributaries of the Coosawattee River. The Atlanta Gas Light study area encompasses a 275 ft east-west by 300 ft north-south rectangular area adjacent to the river bank (Figure 1). Four two by two meter test units and two backhoe trenches were excavated through the cultural deposits at this site (Figure 2). The cultural materials recovered indicate that prehistoric occupation of the study area spans a time period from the terminal Late Archaic (1200 B.C.?) through the Late Woodland/Early Mississippian (A.D. 1000) with the primary occupation, as indicated by the midden development, during the Early Woodland period (ca.900 B.C.-A.D. 400). Because of the significant archaeological resources present at the Swaney Site, recommendations for the site are either preservation by avoidance, or data recovery excavations to mitigate the effects of the proposed construction. The following sections of this report present the environmental setting of the Swaney Site, the prehistoric cultural background of north Georgia, the methodology used in testing the, sites, the results of the test excavations, and a research design and proposed methodology for data recovery excavations. A proposed budget for data recovery excavations is included as Appendix I, a descriptive listing of all artifacts recovered during test excavations is included as Appendix II, and resumes of key project personnel are contained in Appendix III.