ARPA Report for a Phase I Archaeological Resources Survey of USFS Land Located Within the Proposed US 441 Widening Corridor, Putnam County, Georgia

In December 2017, February 2018, between May and June of 2019, and April 2020, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (VHB), Inc. completed a second addendum Phase I archaeological survey in support of the Georgia Department of Transportation's (GDOD proposed widening and reconstruction of United States (US) 441 /State Route (SR) 24 from Madison Road in Putnam County to approximately 1575 feet (ft) (480 meters [ml) north of the Morgan County Line. The original project was known previously under GDOT Pl No. 222580 and has been the subject of two previous Phase I archaeological surveys; the first conducted by Brockington and Associates in 2001 (Mozingo 2002); and an addendum conducted by GDOT in 2002 (Lotti 2002). Since the time of the previous surveys in 2001 and 2002, the project has been reprogrammed by GDOT as Pl No. 0013615, is now state funded, and therefore subject to the Georgia Environmental Policy Act (GEPA). The existing right-of way (ROW) along the US 441 corridor is 100 ft (30 m) wide. The proposed ROW would vary up to a maximum of 500 ft (152 m), but for the most part would vary up to 200 ft (60 m) in width. The entire project length is projected to be approximately 9.4 miles (mi) (15 kilometers [km]).

Over the past two years, GDOT Pl No. 0013615 has undergone design modifications that necessitated a second addendum survey, including changes to required ROW, easements, and construction limits, as well as the addition of remnant parcels throughout the project. The second addendum survey for Pl No. 0013615 focused on design modifications that extended more than 50 ft (15 m) from the previous 2001 and 2002 survey limits. In some of these areas, a 100-ft buffer was added as part of the survey in consideration of any future design changes. For this reporting effort, the project footprint and all buffer areas are collectively referred to as the Pl 0013615 project area.

Some portions of the project area overlap with United States Forest Service (USFS) property. Through prior coordination with USFS, and in order to fulfill the requirements of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), this archaeological survey report documents the results of the Pl No. 0013615 second addendum survey within USFS property. The area of potential effects (APE) for this report (herein referred to as the ARPA APE) consists only of those areas of the Pl No. 0013615 project area that overlap with USFS property and are subject to ARPA. The ARPA APE for this report is discontinuous and totals about 25 acres. The ARPA APE is located wholly to the west of the existing US 441 corridor and is part of the Oconee National Forest.

Through coordination with the USFS, an ARPA permit was ultimately not required for the Pl No. 0013615 second addendum survey. The USFS documented the survey in a Heritage Resources Clearance Short Form, which was provided to VHB in lieu of an ARPA permit in November 2019. Background research revealed that one previously recorded archaeological site, 9PM783, is partially located within the limits of the ARPA APE. Site 9PM783 was revisited during the course of the survey for GDOT Pl No. 0013615. Additionally, 32 previously recorded sites fall within 1 km of the ARPA APE.

During the course of archaeological survey within the ARPA APE, a total of 95 shovel tests were excavated. Of this total, 7 were positive for cultural material. A further 8 planned shovel test locations could not be investigated due to steeply sloping terrain and were recorded as "No Digs".

Locations of all shovel tests were subject to pedestrian visual inspection. No above ground or subsurface features were identified. Of the 7 positive shovel tests that were excavated during survey within the ARPA APE, 6 are associated with the revisit to site 9PM783, and 1 is associated with an Isolated Find (IF) of cultural material. The IF identified during the current survey consists of a single flake fragment of milky quartz. As a solitary artifact, IFs such as this are not generally considered archaeological sites and are thus not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

Site 9PM783 is a previously recorded historic artifact scatter located atop a ridge slope within the Oconee National Forest. A total of 33 historic artifacts were identified during the revisit and included a mix of nineteenth and twentieth century material. The current revisit expanded the site's boundaries by about 40 m to the southeast. The recovered assemblage was similar to that identified during previous investigations at the site and consisted of historic ceramics, glass, iron nails, an unidentified iron object, and a horseshoe fragment. Previous to this revisit, 9PM783 was recommended ineligible for the NRHP. The results of the current revisit do not add any new information to the existing data sets already identified at 9PM783, and therefore, within the ARPA APE, the revisited portion of the site continues to lack integrity and significant data potential under Criterion D of the NRHP. VHB does not offer a change to the original NRHP recommendation for 9PM783, and the site should be considered ineligible for the NRH P under Criterion D.