A Preliminary Report of the Historical Research and the Archaeological Work Performed Concerning Lot Number 24 of the Original Town Plat in the City of Madison, Georgia

In January, 1982, the property at 201 South Main Street, Madison, Georgia, was purchased by Fulton Fedral Savings and Loan Association from the estate of Mrs. Mary Waters. The manager of the Madison branch of Fulton Federal, Mr. Clifton Hanes, suggested that since the open spaces around the building would likely be bulldozed in preparation for paving the drives and in preparing the drive-in window an archaeological examination of property might prove worthwhile in salvaging sane knowledge of early Madison. with this in mind, he approached Dr. Mark Williams, an archaeologist with the Lamar Institute who was reared in Madison. A decision was made then, to put in a few test squares in an attempt to localize activity on the property. Consequently, in July, 1982, Hanes, Dr. Williams, and Marshall Williams proceeded with the first such test, being a five-foot square taken down to sterile soil. In the course of the next several weeks a number of randomly placed squares were excavated. An examination of the artifacts recovered from these tests led to the conclusion that the rear portion of the lot had at sometime in the early part of the twentieth century, or the latter part of the nineteenth, been scraped of topsoil, and that fill-dirt had been brought in, apparently for the purpose of leveling that portion of the yard. Virtually all artifacts from this area were twentieth century. Tests made on the front portion of the lot were a different story, however. Here the most diagnostic material, ceramics, indicated an early nineteenth century occupation. Therefore, the decision was made to expand excavations in this area.