Archaeological Survey of the Proposed State Route 15 Bypass-Eastern Alignment and Phase II Testing of Three Archaeological Sites, Washington County, Georgia

AECOM Technical Services, Inc. (AECOM) was contracted by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to conduct a Phase I survey, Phase II testing, and National Register evaluations for the proposed State Route (SR) 15 Bypass Project in Washington County, Georgia. The project (P.I. 0013616) proposes to construct a bypass east of the cities of Tennille and Sandersville in Washington County, Georgia. The bypass would proceed north from the project beginning at SR 15 and Stephens Road on a new location for 3.7 miles (mi) (6 kilometers [km]), crossing Grady Mertz Road/Old Harrison Road and Holmes Cannery Road, before terminating at SR 242/Bartow Road. The new bypass would construct bridges over two active railroad lines and Williamson Swamp Creek/Sun Hill Creek. The proposed typical section would include four travel lanes, with an 11-foot (ft) (3.4 meter [m]) inside and 12-ft (3.7 m) outside lane in each direction, separated by a raised 20-ft (6 m) median and with 10-ft (3 m) outside shoulders (6.5-ft [2 m] paved) and 2-ft (0.6 m) paved inside shoulders located between the travel lane and raised median. A roundabout would be constructed at the eastern terminus at the intersection of SR 242/Bartow Road. The required ROW would vary from 200 to 300 ft (61 to 91 m).

The current report adopts the results of the previous survey conducted by Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc. (EPEI) in 2009 for PI Nos. 245080 and 245090 (Quirk and Jordan 2009) as coverage for some portions of the PI 0013616 survey area. The current investigation was conducted in accordance with the Georgia Department of Transportation’s (GDOT’s) Environmental Procedures Manual (EPM) (GDOT 2013) and followed the guidelines set forth by the Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists’ (GCPA) Guidelines for Archaeological Investigation (GCPA 2014). The proposed project is state funded and work for the subject survey was conducted in compliance with the George Environmental Policy Act (GEPA) O.C.G.A 12-16-1 and GDOT’s policy 4415-10(C). Since the initial surveys began, the project was determined to require a permit under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) took jurisdiction over the full project limits and are the lead federal agency responsible for compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (36 CFR 800). The work documented in this report is therefore also in compliance with Section 106, the Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act of 1974; and Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Parts 60-66 and 800, as appropriate.

The Phase I archaeological survey and Phase II investigations were conducted within an Environmental Survey Boundary (ESB) provided by the project design team. The ESB was revised to capture design changes several times over the course of the project, resulting in multiple field mobilizations. AECOM and TerraXplorations, Inc. conducted Phase I fieldwork for the project in November and December of 2016, May of 2018, April 8 – 12, 2019, and September 28 – October 2, 2020. During the survey, AECOM recorded six new archaeological sites (9WG278, 9WG279, 9WG280, 9WG281, 9WG304, and 9WG305) and revisited six previously recorded archaeological sites (9WG202, 9WG203, 9WG204, 9WG205/9WG206, and 9WG211) (Table 1). In addition, sites 9WG203 and 9WG205/206 were investigated through Phase II archaeological testing in January of 2018. Based on the results of AECOM’s survey five sites are recommended as eligible for the NRHP, five are ineligible, and two are unknown.