An Archaeological Survey of the Hooker-Barnes Project of George Rice and Associates Near Flowery Branch, Hall County, Georgia

On or about the first of February, 1974, a request for an archaeological survey of a 289 acre tract in Hall County Georgia, near Flowery Branch, was received by the author from Dr. Lewis H. Larson, Jr., State Archaeologist. The purpose of the survey was to locate any archaeological sites, aboriginal or historic, that may face destruction from a proposed development by George Rice and Associates. The author visited the area on the weekend of February 9-10, 1974 in order to assess its archaeological potential. The method employed during the survey was that of covering all the property on foot for purposes of visual inspection of the terrain. After this initial inspection, it be came obvious that no sites could be found on the surface due to the unexposed nature of the soil (all the property lay in pasture or forest). It was then decided to place soundings or small test holes at selected areas of the property which seemed, in the authors opinion, to be most conducive to human habitation. Since the topography varies from slightly rolling to extremely steep slopes, only ridge tops and erosion remnants were fully investigated. A series of traverses were made across these areas with soundings being sunk to the subsoil at regular intervals. These soundings revealed no archaeological sites and indicated that severe sheet erosion has removed all topsoil except in the forested sections of the area. Only one artifact was recovered, a basal fragment of a quartz tool found eroding out of a gully wash. Careful testing nearby (sounding evidence of cultural activity. The results of this brief survey are only an indication that no large archaeological site is present. There may well be a small site present but C-5 through C-6) produced no other the vegetation cover in the area prohibits its being located.