Phase II Archaeological Investigations of Five Sites at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay Camden County, Georgia

During October through December of 2021, Environmental Research Group, LLC, of Baltimore, Maryland conducted Phase II archaeological investigations at sites 9CM175, 9CM 17 6, 9CM 178, 9CM 180, and 9CM 196 within Naval Submarine Base (NSB) Kings Bay, Camden County, Georgia for the Department of the Navy (DON) Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Southeast (NAVFAC SE). These sites are located in the northern, western, and southeastern portions of the installation. The Phase II investigations conducted at these sites included surface reconnaissance, metal detection (as warranted}, targeted shovel test

probe testing (as warranted), GPS mapping, and the excavation of 1 x 1-meter test units. The purpose of this document is to provide a discussion of all archaeological sites documented, which includes National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility evaluations when applicable. This document follows previously submitted work plans, which were discussed in detail with both NSB Kings Bay and NAVFAC SE staff prior to the initiation of fieldwork. Additionally, a discussion of background research, survey methodology, and laboratory analysis methods is provided.

ERG conducted the Phase II archaeological investigations described in this report in compliance with both state and federal guidelines, including Section 7 70 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 7966 (as amended through 2000), the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's implementing regulations (36 CFR Part 800), Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology and Historic Preservation (1983), and the Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists' Georgia Standards and Guidelines for Archaeological Surveys(revised 2019). The preparation of this report and recommendations concerning the

NRHP eligibility of archaeological resources were made in accordance with the Department of Interior and the National Park Service's 36 CFR 60: National Register of Historic Places; the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology and Historic Preservation ( 1983); and National Register Bulletin 15, How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation (National Park Service 1997). The principal investigator, Rosie B. Tullos, and the project managers who supervised this work, Michael D. Farrell and Kathleen K. Scanlan, meet or exceed the qualifications described in the Secretary of the Interior's "Professional Qualifications Standards" (48 FR44738-9). NSB Kings Bay serves as the federal lead agent for

this investigation and, as part of the Section 110 review compliance process, the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs serves as a consulting party. Additional consulting parties include the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the Alabama Quassarte Tribal Town, and the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana. As an assessment under Section 110, sites 9CM175, 9CM176, 9CM178, 9CM180, and 9CM196 are not currently under any proposed action by NSB Kings Bay that would impact their current condition.

Following supplementary Phase II testing, ERG recommends site 9CM196 as eligible for listing on the NRHP. ERG and previous investigations have uncovered several sub-plowzone features with evidence indicating an association with aboriginal pre-contact or Mission Period architecture and patterning of features suggesting additional sub-plowzone features still remain; the site therefore retains archaeological integrity. As a consequence, the pre-contact and Mission Period components at Cherry Point likely contain information that could inform our regional understanding of the Mocama peoples' lifeways just prior to and during the dynamic changes associated with the establishment of the Spanish Missions. Additionally,

excavation in the vicinity of post-contact features suggests that sub-plowzone deposits may not have been impacted by disturbance to the extent that the vertical and horizontal integrity of the deposits have been completely compromised on-site. This means that intact precontact, Mission Period, and post-contact deposits still exist within the site that may offer potentially significant information about life along the Georgia coast during the pre-contact, Mission Period, late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, and the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Following supplementary Phase II testing, ERG recommends sites 9CM 1 75, 9CM 17 6, 9CM178, and 9CM180 as not eligible for listing on the NRHP. These sites exhibit extensive disturbance with no evidence of existing intact deposits or features. These sites lack archaeological deposits or artifact assemblages that inform or enhance our understanding of the occupations at these or other temporally/functionally similar sites. No further work is warranted for these sites as additional research would produce results redundant to work completed to date.