Archaeological Survey of the Proposed Gravity Sewer Line East of Covington, Newton County, Georgia

In September 2021, Nutter & Associates, Inc., conducted a Phase I archaeological survey of a proposed gravity sewer line located on the eastern side of Covington, Georgia, in Newton County. The city of Covington through the engineering firm of Carter & Sloope proposes to construct the new sewer line adjacent to an existing sewer line, which generally runs north-south along the western side of the Alcovy River. The goal of the survey was to locate, describe, and evaluate archaeological resources within the area of potential effect (APE) for the proposed sewer line corridor so that potential effects to those resources could be evaluated in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The project area also includes a small area within an existing waste water treatment facility where an additional facility structure is planned. The total length of the proposed sewer line project is approximately 10.2 km (6.3 mi) and the width of the proposed corridor is 15 m (50 ft), most of which lies within the existing sewer line right-of-way corridor. One archaeological site and one archaeological occurrence (isolated artifact) were recorded within the proposed sewer line APE. The archaeological site, 9NE293, is a subsurface prehistoric lithic scatter that was recommended not eligible for listing on the National Register (Table 1). Since the archeological occurrence does not qualify as an archaeological site, it is not evaluated under National Register criteria. Since the proposed construction of the Covington sewer line and facility improvements will not adversely affect significant archaeological resources, we recommend that the proposed construction of the infrastructure improvements be allowed to proceed.