Lamar Site: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Ocmulgee National Monument, National Park Service

Byrd, Beth

The Lamar component landscape is located two miles south of the main park unit on the floodplain east of the Ocmulgee River. An unimproved county road provides an initial approach with a footpath leading beyond a fenced gate to the boundary of the Lamar site. The 45 acre tract of the park is closed to the public except for special tours. The Lamar site is significant for prehistoric settlement along the Ocmulgee River (Criteria A) and for the potential to yield archeological information (Criteria D). The site has integrity of location, association, materials, and workmanship. Along the approach trail, evidence of backhoe damage from looting and a mid twentieth century dumpsite are apparent. The trail veers west around Black Lake, an oxbow lake created by the river. The Lamar site is susceptible to periodic flooding and an incomplete levee built in the 1930s partially surrounds the site, offering some protection to subsurface features. The six foot earthen berm alleviates most problematic drainage and a culvert at the southeast corner provides an outlet. The levee forms a partial rectangle around the property, enclosing the two Lamar mounds and archeological sites within a successional forest. The terrain inside the levee is flat and slightly elevated from deposited silt. Two prehistoric mounds (Mound A and Mound B) remain at Lamar and date to the Late Mississippian (Lamar) period (1350 AD 1540 AD). Mound A is a truncated pyramid similar to the mounds on the Macon Plateau, while Mound B has a unique spiral ramp. The mounds are covered in vegetation. Mature American elms on the Mound B platform compromise the condition of the landscape feature. The remaining mound slopes have less substantial growth, though smaller forbs and ground cover help prevent erosion. Chain link fences encircle each mound to deter vandals, looters, and feral hogs. The fences also provide a ready place for exotic vines and briars to grow. Archeology revealed Mound A and B were located near a village site and inside a prehistoric palisade. The village was uncovered during New Deal excavations (1933 AD 1942 AD) and the site was cleared of all vegetation. Subsurface features revealed domestic sites and artifacts. The excavation also uncovered a perimeter palisade feature (3,560 feet) enclosing 21.5 acres, including the Lamar village site and both mounds. The village excavation was backfilled, but several of the trenches dug over the palisade feature remain open. These excavation units appear similar to tree fall depressions and are covered in leaf litter. The surrounding landscape may have been open in the Late Mississippian period, providing firewood and building materials, defense to the area, and fields for farming, but no record of the prehistoric landscape exists. Today the entire 45 acres is forested and the occurrence of Chinese privet is extensive. The Lamar site is managed with minimal maintenance and limited interpretation, yet regular law enforcement patrols protects the archeological site. Feral hog damage has affected the landscape with rooting into subsurface features. The roadways within the site are cleared every few years, though Lamar continues to be a remote portion of Ocmulgee National Monument.

Lamar Site: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Ocmulgee National Monument, National Park Service

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