GPR Survey at the Copeland Site (9GE18) LAMAR Institute Publication Series Report Number 168

On June 11, 2008, the LAMAR Institute and University of Georgia (UGA) Field School participants collaborated in a ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey at the Copeland site (9GE18) in Greene County, Georgia. This report details the results of that research effort. The Copeland Site was first recorded in the Georgia Archaeological Site File as Site 9GE18 in 1971 by UGA archaeologist Archie Smith. The site was revisited and another surface collection made by UGA archaeologist Chester DePratter in 1975. These two survey projects were part of the Wallace Reservoir/Lake Oconee mitigation effort. The site, however, was located outside of the reservoir flood pool. In 1987 a limited shovel testing program was conducted at the Copeland Site by Southeastern Archeological Services and the following year Phase II testing was reported by U.S.D.A. Forest Archaeologist Jack Wynn (Smith 1971, DePratter 1976, Wynn 1988). The Copeland Site is presently located on property owned by the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, who acquired the property in 1980, and it forms part of the Oconee National Forest. The Copeland Site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. 

The Copeland site has been the subject of continued study by University of Georgia archaeologist Mark Williams. Williams led field schools to the site in 1991, 2007, 2008 and 2009. His scholarship on the subject is summarized in two LAMAR Institute research publications (Williams 1992, 2010). Williams identified multiple structure remains on the site and he has interpreted the Copeland Site as a special use “busk” ceremonial complex that existed in the Late Mississippian period. In his more recent volume, Williams (2010) presents a comprehensive discussion of the site and its context, which need not be repeated here. Suffice it to say that within the area excavated by Williams and his students lie the remains of multiple buildings, dozens of pits and hundreds of post features, and thousands of artifacts from the Late Mississippian occupation. Prior to 2008 excavation season archaeological excavation was limited to a few exploratory trenches and small test units. The GPR sampling, which was conducted on June 11 at the beginning of the 2008 field school session, covered a substantial portion of the area to be later excavated by Williams’ 2008 and 2009 field schools. The GPR coverage included some areas that remain unexplored by excavation. This GPR survey report augments Williams’ extensive delineation of the site’s archaeological resources.