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Archaeology Update
[also see History Update and
Press Release]
Excavations during the May, 2010 Archaeology Month/Frontier Faire weekend located the
south end of the west wall trench. With this and the
previously excavated west end of the south wall, we were able to
determine the footprint and size of the SW corner blockhouse as
pictured below.
On August 14, 2010 we found the east end of the south wall trench and its corner with the east wall as
pictured below. It is now clear that the ditch, excavated in 2007-2009 (and thought to be a latrine ditch) is
actually the northern 14' of the east wall and that there was probably a gate south of this segment as suggested by the gap
in the trench line. There is convincing evidence that there was also a blockhouse in the northeast corner.
On August 23 the NW corner of the fort was located in Unit 20 and its projection to the east bears
out the hypothesis of a NE blockhouse.

Known wall trench features, including
SW, NW & SE corners, and the position of the blockhouse hearth now
provide a good idea of the fort's footprint, which is shown below
superimposed on a gradient map based on the 2007 metal
detection survey. Grids are 20' x 20' and oriented 13 degrees
west of north based on the property boundary which serves as the
baseline for the grid. The fort is oriented on a N/S axis.

In 1794, General Knox, U.S. Secretary of
War, sent the fort plan pictured below to the Governor of Georgia. The plan is about 18% larger
(and flipped horizontally) than the Fort Daniel plan as determined by
archaeology. Note the postions of two 6-ft wide gates (A A) in
Knox's plan. The conjectured Fort Daniel east wall gate, mentioned
above, is depicted as the gap in the east
wall on the plan above. Compare this with Knox's plan below.
The implication is that there may be an identical gate on
the west wall with a "street" connecting them If this turns
out to be the case, the further implication is that structures
within the fort would have been north of, and south of this street.
We will be looking to confirm the gate locations during the
public archaeology portion of the 2011 Frontier Faire.
In January 2011 a new GPR survey of the fort area,
including areas not previously covered in the 2007 survey, carrired
out by GSU's Sheldon Skaggs, produced a
convincing picture of the fort's subsurface features as seen in this
composite of the 2007 and 2011 GPR surveys and the (flipped) Knox
graphic on the right. Image courtesy of Sheldon Skaggs.
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Update continued...
Since the 2011 Frontier Faire, GSU archaeology
students under Dr. Jeff Glover and GARS have been investigating what
has been called a 'brick" feature in the NW corner of the interior
of the fort. It has developed into something of a mystery
following partial excavation of the feature itself. We await results
of labratory analysis of the 'brick" as well as ordinary red clay
from the feature. A plan view of the feature (below) showing bottom of the Level 1 (plow zone) and top of
Level 2 where the featyure was identified, before excavation of the feature itself.
In 2012 Dr. Glover's students began excavations in the
NW Blockhouse where they have recovered a number of artifacts
including buttons, bullets, wrought and machine-made nails, a flint
and a variety of ceramics. A partially mended Prattware Teacup
by Shannon Coffee, is pictured below.
Because brick fragments have been found at the site, during the 2010 Frontier Faire, GARS and FDF
members did a brick making demonstration. With the
help of Cherokee Brick & Tile Co., Macon, who supplied brick for
much of the clamp kiln pictured below and "burned" 50 of the Fort
Daniel brick in their modern tunnel kiln, the brick making portion
of the event was quite a success. The remaining "Green" brick
were put in the Fort Daniel clamp kiln.



See
Brickmaking pdf
presentation.
Mystery Object Identified
(See other FD Mystery Objects)
We have recovered several "mystery" artifacts at the site. Among them is the broken object
below on the left Its function remained a mystery until we saw
the complete object at the home of member Charles Warbington. It
is part of a collection of Charles' dad's farm implements. It is a
"clevis," which was attached to the front of a mule-drawn plough where
the animal's harness was attached and probably should be dated to the
1920's or so. (Photos by Vince Macek, TRC).

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