Intensive Archeological Survey and Site Testing Along a Portion of the Proposed Fall Line Freeway

An intensive archeological survey was conducted by Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. in Jefferson and Washington Counties, Georgia, along the proposed Fall Line Freeway running east from the Sandersville Bypass along State Road 88 to State Road 4 just west of Wrens. The corridor is 41.3 km (25.7 miles) long and varies in width from 56 m to 76 m (184250 ft). The project consists of widening the two-lane Highway 88 to a four-lane, divided highway by adding two lanes and a median to one side of the existing highway. The survey also included four access roads totaling 1097 m (3600 ft) in length, each being 30 m (100 It) wide. Most fieldwork was conducted over 22 person-days between November 29 and December 6, 1993. The project area was revisited three times in December 1994 to record historic house sites that were not recorded during the first survey. All high probability areas (any area with < 15% slope) along the proposed right-of-way were surface inspected and shovel tested on a 30 m interval. Low probability areas (areas with > 15 % slope) were surface inspected and randomly shovel tested. Many sites were tested with a 10 m or 20 m interval shovel testing pattern. Surface survey and the excavation of 416 shovel tests resulted in recording 52 new archeological sites, locating 6 previously recorded sites, and recording 14 artifact occurrences (Table 1). Only sites located on the side of existing Highway 88 that is to be widened (that is, the area of potential effect) were recorded. Site density was high (one site per .74 km) and is attributable to a large number of historic house sites that line the old highway. This portion of roadway is mostly unchanged from as far back as 1915. All but six sites (90%) had an historic component, and all but three of these reflected structures shown on 1915, 1930, 1938 or 1941 maps and aerial photographs. Only one of the historic sites encountered dated exclusively to the nineteenth century, and this 9JF43) was badly disturbed. One prehistoric site (9JF162) was recommended as potentially eligible to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in the draft survey report. The site measures approximately 70x70 m and lies on a ridge nose adjacent to Stephen's Branch. The site was then formally tested and found to contain buried deposits containing a moderate density of artifacts spanning from the Late Archaic to Mississippian periods. However, the testing encountered naturally disturbed soils, virtually no cultural stratigraphy, and only one feature. It is believed that further excavations are unlikely to yield additional important information. Therefore, 9JF162 is recommended not eligible for listing on the NRHP. Site 9JF164, a cemetery, is also recommended not eligible to the NRHP, but requires special consideration since it is a small family cemetery with two marked graves situated within the proposed right-of-way. This cemetery cannot be avoided by the proposed widening project and therefore the cemetery will be moved in compliance with State Code Section 36-72-4. The remaining 56 sites are recommended not eligible to the NRHP due to sparsity of artifacts, disturbance from grading or erosion, and the likelihood that the sites will provide little additional, substantial information as the result of further investigations. The vast majority of these recommended not-eligible sites are late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century tenant houses and farmsteads, but also included are three churches or schools. Some of these are well preserved, either archeologically or architecturally, but we could not identify research issues that could be meaningfully addressed by excavations at these sites.