Chattahoochee River Valley Cultural Resource Study and Evaluation, Fort Benning Military Reservation

Between October 1983 and April 1984 Water and Air Research, Inc. conducted a cultural resources survey of portions of the Chattahoochee River basin within Fort Benning Military Reservation, Alabama and Georgia. The work was performed under contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District with funds from the Department of the Army Headquarters, U.S. Army Infantry Center and Fort Benning. The project included a comprehensive literature review, an intensive survey of 12 potential development areas, a reconnaissance survey of thirteen 100-meter wide belt transects across the basin, and a reconnaissance survey of five judgmentally selected areas. Field methodology for all areas surveyed consisted of shovel testing at 30-meter intervals. The surveys identified 35 new and 22 previously known prehistoric sites, 14 new and 2 previously known historic sites, and 10 isolated artifact occurrences. The results of the belt transect survey were utilized in combination with the literature review and remote sensing to develop a preliminary locational model. Methodology for the model included multivariate statistical analysis of the data. This model was further tested and refined with data from the intensive survey and judgmentally selected areas. The final refined locational model indicates that the highest potential site locations are the comparatively high terrace levee areas of well-drained soils having a slope between 2.5 and 10 percent, within 30 to 225 meters of the Chattahoochee River. Comparison to previously known and newly located sites confirms this prediction. The final model is presented in the form of a map of high/medium/low potential areas plus a statistical method for the prediction of artifact occurrence at a given point.