Cultural Resources Survey of Compartments I-2, J-5, Q-5, and O-7, Chattahoochee and Muscogee Counties, Fort Benning, Georgia

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 1783 ha (4406 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 consisted of all area in land management Compartments 1-2 (735 ac), J-5 (694 ac) and Q-5 (532 ac) in Chattahoochee County and Compartment 0-7 (2444 ac) in Muscogee County. 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 these land management compartments and then to evaluate these cultural resources under National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) criteria. We conducted preliminary archival research in early April, 1996. Fieldwork immediately followed and continued through early September, 1996. We executed fieldwork with six, eight, and ten person survey crews, depending upon availability of field workers, and divided into teams of two people. The survey crews recorded 166 archeological sites, eight of which were previously recorded, and 109 occurrences (isolated artifacts). Of these sites 27 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 25 sites are archeological sites that we recommended potentially eligible 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 potentially eligible to the NRHP. The locations of all sites and occurrences are depicted on a series of 1:24,000 scale, USGS 7.5' topographic maps that are included in the body of the report. Accompanying the report is a series of 1:4800 scale, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers topographic maps that also depict locations of all sites and occurrences recorded on this survey project. We recorded 302 prehistoric and historic components from 166 new and previously recorded sites and 109 isolated artifacts. The distribution of prehistoric components is as follows: 166 Unidentified Lithic (UD Lithic), 28 Woodland/Mississippian (Wood/Miss), 7 Early Archaic, 5 Middle Archaic, 13 Late Archaic, 7 Unidentified Archaic, 1 Unidentified Woodland, 2 Early Woodland, 8 Middle Woodland, 3 Mississippian, and 7 Creek. The distribution of historic period site components is as follows: 10 Nineteenth Century, 27 Nineteenth-Twentieth Century, and 20 early Twentieth Century. All of the above historic components appear to be small farmsteads or tenant farmer houses. In addition to the historic house sites listed above we also recorded two early Twentieth Century stills and two Nineteenth-Twentieth Century cemeteries. Site density for the entire project is one per 10.7 ha (26.5 ac) and cultural resource density (sites and occurrences combined) is one per 6.5 ha (16.0 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, clinal variation of artifact density, presence or absence of features, and the general potential for addressing pertinent theoretical issues were factors implemented in our decisions. Presently we recommend27 sites potentially eligible to the NRHP. Preservation of these 27 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 139 recommended ineligible sites do not require special protection. Either these sites did not appear to be preserved well enough or artifact densities and artifact distribution patterns did not suggest a potential for yielding significant information beyond the survey level.