An Archaeological Survey of the Proposed Widening along U.S. Highway 341

Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc., contracted with Post, Buckley, Schuh, and Jernigan, Inc., consulting engineers for the Georgia Department of Transportation, to conduct an intensive archeological survey of proposed right of way widening, totaling 40.2 km (25 ml), along U.S. Highway 341 in Wayne County, Georgia. A total of 699 shovel tests were excavated to locate sites, and an additional 125 were excavated to define site limits. A total of nineteen sites are reported by this survey; eighteen newly recorded sites and one previously recorded site (Table 1). Thirteen isolated artifact occurrences were also recorded. 9WY10 was recorded by DePratter in 1970, who describes it as a sparse Archaic scatter in a borrow pit area along the highway. Shovel testing and surface inspection failed to relocate any archeological deposits related to that site. All eighteen newly recorded sites contain historic components, dating primarily to the late nineteenth through mid-twentieth century. Two are extant, currently occupied houses. Eight can be associated with structures shown on early cartographic sources; four can not. Four are portions of historic towns. Four newly recorded sites contained prehistoric components; only one that was more than an isolated flake. One sand tempered sherd, and five fiber tempered sherds, plus a few chert flakes were recovered from 9WY34. While this survey has gathered a great deal of information about the history of settlement in the county and more specifically, along the survey route, most of the useful and meaningful data has come from archival sources and local informants. Archeological data collected by this survey has done little more than broadly confirm the location and extent of cultural deposits, the dates of occupation, and the variety of architectural and domestic materials used. Soil profile information indicates that, except for when structures are still in use, or were until fairly recently, most of the archeological deposits associated with each of the historic sites is poorly preserved. The likelihood that further archeological investigation of any of these sites will produce new, non-redundant information that could contribute important information to our understanding of the local or regional history, is very slim. While the archeological deposits may not be useful, the information available from local informants and archival sources could be productive. With this in mind, we recommend all nineteen sites recorded by this survey ineligible for the National Register of Historic Places.