An Archeological Resource Survey of Proposed Widening along State Route 61

In January and February of 1994 Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. conducted an intensive archeological survey of 4.2 km (2.6 mi) of proposed highway widening along State Route 61, west of Cartersville, Georgia. Nine previously recorded sites were investigated and. three new sites and one occurrence were recorded (Table 1). Shovel tests were excavated at 10 and 20 m intervals on both sides of the road across the entire survey area, with the exception of some areas covered by paving or fill. Also excavated were 1x1 m and 1x2 m test units on three sites to explore the possibility of features or preserved deposits. Sites 9BR644 and 9BR858 are recommended ineligible for the National Register based on their poor preservation and lack of research potential. Sites 9BR662, 9BR665, 9BR856 and 9BR857 are recommended potentially eligible based on the presence of buried deposits that could provide information about changes in settlement, socio-political organization and technology in this portion of the Etowah Valley through time, and the function and association of outlying settlements with the Leake Mounds in the center of the project area. The portion of 9BR51 that will be affected by the proposed widening, however, is considered to have low research potential and will therefore not experience any adverse effects by the road widening project. 9BR638, a previously recorded multi-component site could not be relocated due to recent fill dumped on the site. This site is recommended potentially eligible to the National Register because our shovel tests were unable to confirm or deny the presence of preserved deposits below the fill now covering the site. Sites 9BR2 (the Leake Mounds site), 9BR51, 9BR663, 9BR664 and 9BR668 are recommended eligible for the National Register based on the important information they have already yielded and the potential they have for producing more information relating to the construction and utilization of the Leake Mounds, the temporal association of various Middle to Late Woodland ceramic types, and changes in subsistence technologies through the Woodland period. Distributions of various Woodland period ceramic types in the vicinity of the Leake Mounds are found to have potentially significant implications concerning interpretations of the Mounds. However, the portion of 9BR51 within the proposed right-of-way is badly disturbed and contains little archeological potential. Therefore, no further work within the proposed right-of-way is recommended for this site. Proposals for further testing of all other eligible and potentially eligible sites, involving hand excavated test units and backhoe excavated test strips, are presented in Table 1 and discussed in this report.