Report on Archaeological Monitoring During Soil Reconstruction Battlefield Park, Savannah, Georgia

On January 1, 2004, EMC Engineering Inc. and ENT AC were contracted by the City of Savannah, Georgia to remediate all contaminated soils from the future site of Battlefield Park. Soil remediation took place from April to October of 2004. Within the city limits of Savannah, this site is bounded on the east by Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (MLK) and Purse Street, west by Boundary Street, north by Louisville Road, and south by Harris Street and Jones Street (Figure 1). The project area encompassed a total surface area of 9.5 acres. Approximately 6.3 acres of the total project surface area was impacted by soil remediation. The project area was divided into 19 zones by EMC for the purposes of sampling and remediation. Many of these zones were excavated in excess of 20 ft. below surface (bs). Remediation constituted removing contaminated fill zones generated by 19th and 20th century railroad operations. Impacts to the project area were not limited to the excavation of soils. Activities related to the project such as mechanized land clearing, access road construction, daily wear from construction equipment, temporary soil storage, and final grading all impacted the project area. By the end of the soil remediation, every part of the project area had been impacted in some form. By contract, Coastal Heritage Society (CHS) was permitted an on-site archaeological monitor during the soil remediation to (1) observe project activities and (2) gather as much archaeological and architectural information from this historic site as possible. Because this site was continually used as an industrial area for nearly 140 years, supporting waste disposal for coal, diesel, petroleum and various other chemical products, soils became contaminated in some sections. These sections within the project area were designated as exclusion zones. Therefore, only HAZMAT trained individuals were allowed within the exclusion zones. As a result of this limited presence, archaeological data collection was generally limited to photography and collection of artifacts exposed during soil remediation. Very little provenience information on individual artifacts was available because of the speed and magnitude of daily remediation activities. Due to the nature of this project (essentially archaeological salvage), this report will only review the methodology and findings of monitoring the soil removal and finish with some brief conclusions. The figures have been placed at the back of the report.