Archaeological Survey of Fourteen Proposed Game Food Plots Three Equestrian Trail Heads Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area Walker County, Georgia

At the request of Wildlife Resources Division (WRD) of Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Archaeological Services Unit of the Historic Preservation Division (HPD) conducted archaeological surveys at Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area. Pigeon Mountain WMA is comprised of several thousand acres in southwestern Walker County in Northwest Georgia (Figure 1). Fourteen proposed game plots and three proposed equestrian trailheads were surveyed (Figure 2). WRD acquired several hundred acres of recently logged land on the ridge crest adjacent to the existing WMA, and plans to develop 250 acres of wildlife food plots (game plots) over the next five years, with approximately 50 acres planted per year. The survey used a combination of surface observation and screened shovel tests to cover each of the areas. Soil was thin in the areas surveyed; severe disturbance and erosion were evident, and there was usually good surface visibility due to recent road cuts, logging disturbance, and intensive burning of debris at log landings prior to DNR acquisition. Shovel tests were used at arbitrary intervals where visibility was poor, and to confirm apparent eroded conditions where there was good visibility. A multi-component (historic and prehistoric) archaeological site was discovered in a proposed trailhead on top of the mountain. A prehistoric site was found in one of the proposed game plots, and a cemetery, cattle dip site, and prehistoric artifact scatter were recorded outside of the survey areas. In addition, the location of a historic farmstead was recorded near Davis Crossroads, at the north boundary of the WMA.