Phase I Cultural Resources Survey of the Old Augusta Road Project Corridor

Between December 14 and 18, 2020, Brockington and Associates, Inc. (Brockington) conducted a Phase I cultural resources survey of the proposed development of the Old Augusta Road Corridor in Effingham County, Georgia. The proposed project consists of construction of a new access road that extends Goshen Road Extension to Old Augusta Road. The investigation consisted of an archaeological survey of the 2.3-kilometer (km) long project corridor and an architectural survey of the project corridor and its immediate surrounding viewshed. The goal of our investigation was to identify all cultural resources located within the area of potential effect (APE) boundaries and to provide a definitive National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) evaluation for each resource. This investigation was carried out for Old Augusta Land Company, Georgia in partial fulfilment of guidelines established for Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.

Background research conducted on Georgia’s Natural, Archaeological, and Historic Resources Geographic Information System (GNAHRGIS) along with previous reports revealed no previously recorded archaeological sites or historic resources within the archaeological APE. Four previously recorded archaeological sites (9EF94, 9EF254, 9EF255, and 9EF312) and two historic resources (GNAHRGIS ID 25253 and 25255) have been recorded within a 1.0-km (0.62 mile) radius of the project corridor. One of the previously recorded archaeological sites (9EF94) has been recommended eligible for the NRHP; the remaining three previously recorded archaeological sites are not eligible for the NRHP. One of the previously recorded historic resources (GNAHRGIS ID 25253) is eligible for the NRHP; the remaining historic resource (GNAHRGIS ID 25255) is not eligible for the NRHP. The four previously recorded archaeological sites and the two historic resources are located outside of the project APE. Therefore, no previously recorded cultural resources, regardless of their NRHP eligibility status, will be affected by the proposed project. 

Brockington’s archaeological field survey included systematic visual examination and 30-m-interval shovel test excavations within the project tract. The historic architectural resource field survey involved driving and walking the project APE, with pedestrian inspection of all potentially historic resources. Our investigation identified three archaeological sites (9EF313, 9EF314, and 9EF315) and three isolated finds. Site 9EF313 is an unknown pre-contact lithic scatter that consisted of artifacts recovered from the ground surface. Site 9EF314 is multicompetent artifact scatter with a late-eighteenth-to-nineteenth century component and an unknown pre-contact component. Site 9EF315 is a multicomponent artifacts scatter with a Middle/Late Archaic component and a nineteenth-century component. Sites 9EF313, 9CH314, and 9CH315, along with the three isolated finds, are recommended not eligible for the NRHP. No NRHP-eligible resources will be impacted by the proposed project, and further cultural resources management considerations are not warranted.