Archaeological Testing of Three Sites Along SR21, Effingham and Screven County, Georgia

This report presents the results of archaeological testing at Sites 9EF78, 9SN165, and 9SN167 that were evaluated as potentially eligible for inclusion to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) (Elliott 1994). Because these sites will be affected by construction of the proposed State Route 21 highway widening corridor, additional testing was required pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act (NEPA), the Archaeological Resources Act (ARPA), the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Evaluation and Archaeological Documentation (Federal Register 48 (190), and regulations pertaining to the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The SR 21 testing project involved a combination of surface collection, shovel testing, machine stripping, and formal unit excavation procedures. Surface collection and unit excavations were conducted at Site 9SN165, while a combination of shovel testing and unit excavations were employed at Site 9SN167. At Site 9EF78, machine stripping within the proposed right-of-way corridor preceded shovel testing and unit excavations placed near the edge of the corridor. The results from archaeological testing indicated a significant late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century historic component with intact cultural features at Site 9EF78. This component lies outside, but very near, the proposed new right-of-way and should be protected from any direct or indirect impacts caused by construction activities. As the remaining sites and components investigated during the Phase II testing work were evaluated as not eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, no further archaeological investigation of these sites is recommended.