CULTURAL RESOURCES SURVEY OF U.S. ARMY’S CAMP FRANK D. MERRILL, LUMPKIN COUNTY, GEORGIA

Camp Frank D. Merrill is home to the 5th Ranger Training Battalion, U.S. Army. The ranger camp was established in 1952 and includes 282 acres of the north Georgia mountains in Lumpkin County (Figure I). Camp Merrill is an active training camp where prospective rangers develop their mountaineering skills. The U.S. Army recently acquired the property containing Camp Merrill, or the Camp Merrill Acquisition Tract, from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). As a result of this acquisition, the identification, management, and protection of any cultural resources located at Camp Merrill are now the responsibility of the Environmental Management Division, Fort Benning Military Reservation. The Environmental Management Division tasked Stella LLC with a complete cultural resources inventory survey of Camp Merrill. This report details the findings of this cultural resources survey.

In 2016, Stella completed a Phase I cultural resources survey of the U.S. Army's Camp Frank D. Merrill in Lumpkin County, Georgia. The Etowah River flows through the 282 acre camp. The survey methods combined surface reconnaissance and systematic shovel testing of all non-developed portions of Camp Merrill. This survey resulted in the location of three new archaeological sites and revisits to four previously recorded sites. Four additional previously recorded sites were not visited, either because they have been entirely destroyed or because they were classified as ineligible for listing in the NRHP. One of the 11 archaeological sites on Camp Merrill, Site 9LU205, is considered eligible for listing in the NRHP. Stella recommends that 9LU205 be protected and preserved. If preservation of this site is not an option, Phase II (and possibly Phase III) archaeological studies may be required. The other 10 archaeological sites

are considered ineligible for listing because of their disturbed condition, poor site integrity, and lack of research potential. No further archaeology is recommended for these 10 sites.