Oglethorpe Power Corporation is planning a hydroelectric facility in southwestern Pickens County, Georgia. An intensive archeological survey and site testing program was carried out in February and March 1988. Approximately 94% of the 450 ha construction impact area was surveyed, including the reservoirs, tunnel corridor, and construction staging areas. Eighty-eight archeological sites and 18 artifact occurrences have been recorded in the project area, of which 74 are within the construction impact area. Site testing, including close interval shovel testing and often 1 m square test units, was conducted on 42 sites, all within the construction impact area. Twenty-six sites are recommended eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. These sites will need data recovery prior to disturbance. Site-specific data recovery strategies including archival research and informant interviews, architectural recording, site excavation, and controlled plow zone stripping and/or plowing prior to surface collecting are recommended. The project area has been occupied sporadically by humans for the last 9,500 years. The greatest intensity of occupation occurred during the Early Archaic, Late Archaic, and Woodland prehistoric periods, and during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in historic times.
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