Archaeological and Historical Resource Survey for Proposed Additional Facilities at the Harllee Branch Generating Facility, Putnam County, Georgia, Our Project Number Es-1220

The following report details the methods and results of an intensive archaeological survey of a 215 acre ash pond expansion at the Plant Harllee Branch Generating Station in Putnam County, Georgia. The survey was performed by the Earth Systems Division of SSI at the request of the Georgia Power Company. The survey was conducted by a three person crew, a survey archaeologist and two technicians. The archaeological and historical perspectives were compiled from various sources, including both published and unpublished manuscripts, The National Register of Historic Places, the Archaeological Site Files at the University of Georgia, the State Archives in Atlanta, and the Report Files and Literature Collections at the SSI Marietta office. The survey area is located on the north bank of the Little River, 10 miles southeast of Eatonton and 7 miles northwest of Milledgeville (fig. 1). The proposed ash pond will be formed from an erosional ravine that will be blocked by a dike at its confluence with the Little River (fig. 2). The survey area has been farmed in part during the recent past. Since its acquisition by Georgia Power, several large tracts have been utilized as borrow areas. At the present time the entire area is in varying stages of succession ranging from weed overgrown fields and denuded borrow pits, to areas of relatively mature, mixed mesophytic forest. A total of nine sites were recorded during the survey, five prehistoric, three historic, and one historic/prehistoric. All of the sites had been heavily disturbed by agriculture, wave erosion, sheet or ravine erosion, or structure demolition. Two isolated artifact occurrences were also recorded during the survey. Both isolated finds were lithic debris and were located in heavily disturbed areas.