Archaeological Survey and Site Testing at the Murray County Wetlands Mitigation Tract, Murray County, Georgia

The Georgia Department of Transportation has purchased a ca. 56 ha (140 ac) tract of land in the floodplain of the Conasauga River in western Murray County (Figure 1), which is to be restored to wetlands as mitigation for wetlands impacts elsewhere. The department also intends to construct a small canoe launching facility on the banks of the river adjacent to the wetlands tract. Through the consulting engineering firm of Greenhorne and O' Mara, Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. was retained to conduct a Phase I archeological survey of the property to ensure compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (as amended), which stipulates that federal agencies, in this case the Federal Highway Administration, take into account significant historic properties that could be adversely effected by a proposed undertaking. The undertaking here is the restoration of the wetlands and the construction of the canoe launch facility. The primary goals of the survey were to determine if any archeological sites exist within the area of potential effect for the project, and if so, to determine which are significant in terms of eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places. The definitive assessment of significance required Phase II testing of three sites. The survey took place during November and December 2000 and the testing' in May and June 2001. This report presents the results of both phases of work. The tract contained eight prehistoric lithic scatters that also exhibited relatively large amounts of fire cracked rock. Although the few projectile points found on the sites are not readily diagnostic, they appear to be Early to Middle Woodland types, which makes the absence of pottery interesting and somewhat perplexing.