Barbour County (Multiple) Arbitrary 1968-1979 and N.D. Investigations

Summary

No reports were present for the Barbour County Arbitrary (Multiple) 1968-1979 and N.D. Investigations. The artifacts were grouped together because they lacked much provenience information and could not be linked to specific investigations, principal investigators, or investigating institutions with any degree of confidence. The dates and information associated with these artifacts seem to indicate that the artifacts were collected after the creation of Walter F. George Lock and Dam in 1964. It seems that most of the artifacts were recovered through informal collections during investigations conducted to assess the impact of Walter F. George Lake on the sites, as well as collections that were taken during efforts to construct a steel breakwater in the late 1970s to halt erosion (Schnell 1973; Knight and Mistovich 1984; Atz et al. 2000). Literature on some of the sites within the Barbour County Arbitrary (Multiple) 1968-1979 and N.D. Investigations exists, but the material recovered and the dates of collection do not always match any artifacts in this arbitrary collection.

Sites 1BR42, 1BR43, 1BR62, and1BR69 are all discussed in Frank T. Schnell’s 1973 assessment of Walter F. George Lake. He states that sites 1BR42 and 1BR43 were both originally discovered by Harold Huscher in the late 1950s and goes into detail about site 1BR43 and how it was being affected by erosion. One pot that he describes discovering, “…a large open bowl typical of the Wakulla Phase…” that is “…14½” in diameter and 6” deep” (Schnell 1973), is believed to be the prehistoric partially reconstructed vessel in this collection, VCP ID 005-001. Schnell also describes sites 1CM1Br, 2CM1Br, and 3CM1Br, which could possibly correspond with sites 1CMBR1/1BR(CM)1, 1CMBR2, and 1CMBR3. He explains: …these numbers are assigned as Columbus Museum of Arts and Crafts temporary numbers. These numbers are purposely different in form from the usual numbers so that they cannot be confused with permanent numbers. The first digit is the sequential number for that county, the CM stands for “Columbus Museum,” the second set of digits represents the state number, and the final set of letters (i.e. Br) indicates the county” [Schnell 1973]. This explanation could also apply to site numbers 1CMBR4 to 1CMBR17, but there is no reference made to these temporary site numbers in the Walter F. George literature. Many sites in this collection were also re-visited in 1984, by Knight and Mistovich, and can be found described in Chapter VI of Walter F. George Lake Archaeological Survey of Fee Owned Lands Alabama and Georgia (Knight and Mistovich 1984). Sites 1BR78 and 1BR79 had negative shovel test pit bags included with their artifacts indicating an archaeological survey. The Barbour County Arbitrary (Multiple) 1968-1979 and N.D. Investigations appear to represent a number of different smaller investigations within Barbour County, Alabama over a period of time.

The digital materials in this collection were processed by the Veterans Curation Program (VCP), and include the artifact database, artifact report, finding aid, and scanned asset key. Additional digital materials held by the VCP include artifact inventory sheets, box labels, document folder listing, initial data collection sheet, personal notes, and preliminary inventory worksheet. For additional information on these materials, refer to the finding aid.

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): US Army Corps of Engineers Mandatory Center of Expertise for the Curation and Management of Archaeological Collections, St. Louis District

Contributor(s): Brockington and Associates, Inc.

Landowner(s): US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District

Sponsor(s): US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District; US Army Corps of Engineers Mandatory Center of Expertise for the Curation and Management of Archaeological Collections, St. Louis District

Repository(s): University of Georgia, Laboratory of Archaeology, Athens, Georgia

Prepared By(s): Veterans Curation Program

Submitted To(s): US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District

Notes

General Note: The digital materials in this collection were processed by the Veterans Curation Program (VCP), and include the artifact database, artifact report, finding aid, and scanned asset key. Additional digital materials held by the VCP include artifact inventory sheets, box labels, document folder listing, initial data collection sheet, personal notes, and preliminary inventory worksheet. For additional information on these materials, refer to the finding aid.

Source Collections

Barbour County (Multiple) Arbitrary 1968 - 1979 collection stored at the University of Georgia, Laboratory of Archaeology in Athens, Georgia.