Cultural Resources Survey of Selected Timber Compartments on Fort Benning

Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. (SAS) of Athens, Georgia contracted with Fort Benning, Georgia Environmental Management Division (EMD) to conduct a cultural resources survey of approximately 997 ha (2463 ac) on Fort Benning. The survey project was conducted in compliance with federal regulations governing the integrity of cultural resources (National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, Executive Order 11593, and the Archeological and Historic Preservation Act of 1974). The project area comprised of unsurveyed land in four land management compartments. We surveyed all area in Compartments C-01 (ca.619 ac), E-07 (ca.1043 ac), and J-03 (ca.629 ac) and only the unsurveyed portion in Compartment A-18 (ca.172 ac). These four compartments are scheduled to be selectively timbered. Timber harvesting, land preparation, and replanting can adversely affect the integrity of cultural resources. The goal of the survey was to locate and record all cultural resources within the designated areas and then to evaluate these cultural resources under National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) criteria. Preliminary archival research was conducted in early September, 1995. We conducted fieldwork in two stages: the first stage was from late September through the middle of October, 1995 (Compartments C-01, E-07, and J-03) and the second stage was in January, 1996 (Compartment A-18). Two stages of fieldwork were necessary because of limited access to Compartment A-18. We conducted fieldwork with four and six person survey crews divided into teams of two people. The survey crews recorded 110 archeological sites, eight of which were previously recorded, and 66 occurrences (isolated artifacts). Of these sites, 22 require protection against future ground disturbing activities. Two of these sites are historic period cemeteries that are already demarcated with fencing and identified by cemetery numbers, which are kept on file at Fort Benning. The remaining 20 sites are archeological sites that we recommended potentially eligible (19 sites) or definitely eligible (1 site) to the NRHP. Table 1 presents locational and general management information for each site, including each site's eligibility recommendation. Table 2 provides a list of all sites that we recommended eligible or potentially eligible to the NRHP. We depicted the locations of all sites and occurrences on a series of 1:4800 scale U.S. Army Corps of Engineers topographic maps. This series accompanied the original management summary. Sites and occurrences depicted on 7.5' USGS quadrangle maps accompany this report. We recorded 162 prehistoric and historic components from 110 new and previously recorded sites. The distribution of prehistoric components is as follows: 52 Unidentified Lithic (UD Lithic), 25 Woodland/Mississippian (Wood/Miss), 7 Early Archaic 3 Middle Archaic, 13 Late Archaic, 2 Early Woodland, 10 Middle Woodland, 8 Mississippian, and 7 Creek. The distribution of historic or African-American components is as follows: 3 Nineteenth Century, 24 Late Nineteenth-Early Twentieth Century, and 8 Early Twentieth Century. All of the above historic components appear to be small farrnsteads or tenant farmer houses' except for two cemeteries recorded in Compartments E-07 and J-03, respectively. The 66 occurrences recorded by the survey add the following components to the site component list: 40 UD Lithic, 7 Wood/Miss, 1 Early Archaic, 1 Middle Archaic, 1 Late Archaic, 1 Middle Woodland, 1 Creek' 11 Late Nineteenth-Early Twentieth Century, 3 Early Twentieth Century, and 1 Unidentified Historic. Site density for the entire project is one per 9.1 ha (22.4 ac) and cultural resource density (sites and occurrences combined) is one per 5.7 ha (14.0 ac). Decisions on eligibility recommendations for each site were guided by general physical characteristics of sites and respective artifact collections in comparison with other potentially eligible sites in the Georgia sandhills. Site preservation, variation in artifact types, variation of artifact density, presence or absence of features, and the general potential for addressing pertinent theoretical issues were factors implemented in our decisions. Particular theoretical issues and site preservation criteria are covered in the Methods section of this report. Presently we recommend 19 sites potentially eligible and one site definitely eligible to the NRHP. Preservation of these 20 sites appears good enough to yield significant information about prehistoric and historic intrasite patterns in the Georgia sandhills. Thus, these sites require protection from future ground disturbing activities. Though important for site locational information that could be useful for settlement-subsistence studies, the remaining recommended ineligible sites do not require special protection. Either these sites did not appear to be well preserved enough or artifact densities and artifact distribution patterns did not suggest a potential for yielding significant information beyond the survey level.