Archaeological Survey of the Proposed Barnett Shoals Reservoir Tract, Oconee County, Georgia

This document summarizes the results of an intensive archeological survey of a 519 acre tract of land that is being considered for a proposed reservoir project for Oconee County. The property, known as the Griffeth-Jones Trust, lies between Barnett Shoals Road and the Oconee River in northeastern Oconee. The proposed reservoir will cover approximately 188 acres. Figure 1 shows the preliminary project map prepared by Jordon, Jones & Goulding. The project map shows the reservoir area and a new route for an existing power line. The locations of roads, pipelines, and structures planned for construction and operation have not been finalized and thus are not shown. The lower portion of Figure 1 shows the archeological sites recorded during the survey of the property. The survey recorded 36 archeological sites and one historic cemetery within the project boundaries. One historically important standing structure known as White's dam and power plant adjoins the property on the northern edge of the tract. White's dam extends across the Oconee River but the power plant lies in Clarke County on property owned by the University of Georgia. The archeological survey was conducted by three field technicians and the principal investigator over a four week period during August and early September 2006. The property boundaries were easily defined using a plat provided by JJG. The crew marked the location of all shovel tests, archeological sites, isolated artifacts, and pertinent natural and agricultural features on enlarged copies of the USGS topographic map. Exposed ground surfaces were inspected and shovel tests were excavated at 30 m intervals. The results of the intensive survey were consistent with expectations based on the earlier reconnaissance survey (Ledbetter and Moffat 2006). Our survey did record three sites that will require additional work to determine if intact deposits remain.