Farmer's Bottom Site, 9ST62, Chattooga River Ranger District, Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests, Stephens County, Georgia

The 2015 and 2016 excavations at the Farmer's Bottom site, 9ST62, contributed to our

growing understanding of this site. Six 1x2 m2 test units were excavated at the site in March

2015. Most significantly we located the central hearth from the house. In 2016 we excavated

seven 1x2 m2 units away from the house and 19 1x 1 m2 units focused on the house, substantially

increasing the artifact collection. The findings from these excavations were consistent with

previous interpretations that sparse Middle Woodland and Early Mississippian occupations are

present and that the primary component at the site represents a ca. A.D. 1600 Lamar farmstead.

The Farmer's Bottom site, 9ST62 (FS #08-03-06-00361) is a prehistoric occupation in

southern Stephens County, Georgia (Figure 1). Originally recorded in 1985, it was revisited and

site recording was updated in 2013 (Williamson and Sipes 2013). Farmer's Bottom is a popular

location for dispersed recreation activities such as camping, picnicking, and fishing. In order to

assess the potential impacts of this unmanaged recreation activity on the site, test excavations

were carried out in March 2014. These excavations revealed that the site contains occupations

dating to the Middle Woodland, Early Mississippian, and Late Mississippian periods, but that a

majority of the cultural material at the site dates to the Late Mississippian (Wettstaed 2014).

Additional excavations were carried out in March 2015 and the present document reports

on this work. A detailed research design was prepared in 2014 (Wettstaed 2014) to guide future

investigations at the site and background information and context can be found in that report.

Site 9ST62 is located in the Southern Inner Piedmont subregion of the Piedmont Region

(Edwards et al. 2013:257-261). The Piedmont is located adjacent to the Blue Ridge Mountains

and has a similar geologic history.