Archeological Survey of the Proposed Extension of the Cook County Municipal Airport, Cook County, Georgia

Cook County wishes to improve its airport by extending runway 5/23 and its taxiway about 500 feet to the southwest. They also wish to extend the graded safety area at the northeast end of the runway about 300 feet. The southwestern project area is about 8.8 ha (21.7 ac) and the northeastern project area is about 2.7 ha (6.8 ac). A southwest expansion of the runway in ca. 2005 was archeologically surveyed in 2002 and archeological site 9CX4 was recorded in that project area. This site consists of the plowed remains of a twentieth century farmhouse and its outbuildings and a surrounding large, very sparse scatter of prehistoric chert artifacts, both located on a low ridge amid several wetland areas and borrow pits. The current southwestern project area falls entirely within the area surveyed in 2002, but to be thorough the current project area was resurveyed on April 2, 2018, along with the northeastern project area. No archeological material was found in the northeastern project area. Site 9CX4 was relocated and surface inspected, since the entire site lies in a fallow field with excellent ground surface exposure. One unidentifiable prehistoric potsherd and two chert flakes were observed north of the original site limits, and so we have expanded the size of site 9CX4 by 100 m (330 ft). However, the potsherd was found in fill dirt in an area that prior to 2005 was low and wet. It is likely that the sherd was in fill dirt brought in from elsewhere, possibly from the adjacent borrow pit. Site 9CX4 is now larger and more disturbed (from the 2005 airport expansion) than it was in 2002. We recommend that site 9CX4 is still not eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and that the currently proposed airport expansion will not adversely affect any significant archeological sites.