Excavations of Eight Rock Piles on the Braden Tract, Gwinnett County, Georgia

This report presents the results of an archeological investigation into the function and origin of a set of rock piles in eastern Gwinnett County that was performed in 1995. The work reported on herein was part of a multi-phase project instigated by zoning issues and zoning requirements that applied to developer James Braden and his associates as they attempted to have a certain parcel of land on Fence Road (which we have termed the Braden Tract) rezoned for a housing development (Figure 1). The land contained the Parks-Strickland Archeological Complex, a property consisting of about 183 rock piles that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a locally significant Middle Woodland period (ca 100 B.C. to A. D. 500) archeological site (Morgan 1989, based on a report by Garrow and Chase 1988). The tract also contained numerous other rock piles that some citizens claimed were American Indian graves. In deference to the public's concern for possible disturbance to grave sites and in accordance with the Abandoned Cemeteries and Burial Grounds Act (specifically, OCGA 36-72-4) Gwinnett County required Braden and his associates to conduct an archeological survey and evaluation of the tract as a condition of a 1994 rezoning request. Such a survey was conducted and the report (Gresham 1994) was submitted to Gwinnett County in 1994. Gresham's (1994) survey excluded the ca. 20 ac Parks-Strickland site, which the developers intended to avoid, preserve and protect (see Figure 1). The survey detected three archeological sites (a nineteenth century house site, a prehistoric lithic scatter and a nineteenth century rock quarry) and counted about 190 rock piles occurring in about 18 clusters (Figure 2). Four of the rock piles were excavated (bisected) and all were found to overlie bedrock or eroded subsoil with no evidence of burials or prehistoric affiliation. Gresham (1994:35) concluded that these four, and all piles on the tract, "are most likely of historic origin, related to a combination of field clearing and resource gathering".