An Intensive Archaeological Survey of Proposed Road Improvements and Borrow Pits, Screven County, Georgia

In early November, 1995 Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. conducted an intensive archeological survey of proposed road improvements and borrow pits in Screven County, Georgia. The project entails the widening and paving of portions of three separate roads which together total 7.5 km (4.6 ml), and the creation of three one acre borrow pits. All of the proposed impact areas are just outside the city of Sylvania. The survey resulted in the discovery of 13 sites and 7 artifact occurrences. With the exception of one prehistoric lithic scatter, all of the sites date to the nineteenth or twentieth century. Two of the historic sites are cemeteries, and the remainder are artifact scatters that represent the remnants of houses, and in one case, a school. All of the prehistoric and historic artifact scatters are either disturbed or lacking in sufficient artifact density to suggest any significant further research potential. These eleven sites are all recommended ineligible to the National Register and, pending approval of these recommendations by the State Historic Preservation Office, require no further study. The two cemeteries (9SN181 and 9SN185), while also recommended ineligible to the National Register, will require special consideration. As the proposed projects are currently envisioned, one of the cemeteries lies entirely within the project area, while the other lies just outside (less than 2 m away). We recommend that the project should be redesigned to avoid the sites mainly by not expanding the existing right-of-way in the direction of the cemeteries. We recommend the County attorney review Georgia Code Section 36-72 to determine if a permit from the local Superior Court is needed before proceeding with construction near the two cemetery sites. One facet of the permitting process is the archeological delineation of the cemeteries, that is, the determination of the number and location of graves present. We recommend that this step be undertaken regardless of whether a permit is sought. The accurate delineation of graves will ensure that no graves are inadvertently disturbed during construction or future road maintenance. It is possible that erosion of the road bank will adversely affect some of the graves at the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery on Deer Run Road (9SN185). We recommend that the edge of the cemetery fronting the road be stabilized, either by grassing or by a low retaining structure. Any such efforts as these should be preceded by archeological delineation of the graves to ensure that graves are not inadvertently disturbed.