White Oak Flat is a multicomponent site located at the interface of the Georgia Piedmont and Blue Ridge Mountains on the Chattahoochee National Forest. Over the course of two years a series of surveys and excavations were completed by Georgia Mountains Archaeological Society volunteers and U.S. Forest Service archaeologists. The archaeological investigations uncovered evidence of site utilization dating from the Middle Archaic (6000-3000 B.C.) to the present. The site contained such material remains as early pottery, chipped and groundstone tools, early horticultural tools, historic whitewares, and debris from a historic farmstead. Major finds included plain and simple stamped pottery, fiber tempered ware, a carved soapstone net sinker, a probable soapstone ornament, two greenstone hoes, and stemmed and triangular projectile points or knives. Artifactual evidence suggests the site was occupied during the Cartersville phase of the Early Woodland period (100 B.C. - A.D. 500). The location of the site on a stream also made the site ideal for temporary camps, as well as a good place to hunt, fish, and gather wild plant foods. Site preservation and enhancement, in addition to the development of site interpretation displays for the public using the adjacent national forest lands and facilities is recommended.
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