The US Army Infantry Center, Fort Benning, Georgia proposes to construct a Drop Zone (DZ) for the Army Rangers at Camp Merrill. The DZ will be constructed on US Forest Service property in Fannin County, Georgia near the rural community of Swan (see Figure 1). This report details the relocation of an archeological site discovered by Mr. Paul Rubenstein, an archeologist formerly with the Savannah District Corps of Engineers. Rubenstein located site 9Fn282 (formerly known as Swan #2) in 1981 when he surveyed the proposed DZ (Rubenstein 1981). In 1993, the Savannah District, without consulting with the Forest Service, recommended to the Georgia SHPO that the site was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The SHPO concurred with the Savannah District despite the fact that Rubenstein's report did not provide sufficient justification for such a recommendation. Following the SHPO's recommendations, the Army moved the OZ to avoid impacting the site even though no one knew it's precise location.
As time drew near to construct the DZ, the Forest Service requested the Army conduct an archeological survey to relocate the site, determine its boundaries and spacial relationship to the OZ, and assess its significance. The Army contracted with Southern Research to carry out these tasks.
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