Archaeological Survey of U.S. Highway 19 from Americus to Lee County, Sumter County, Georgia

Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. (SAS) conducted an intensive archeological survey of an 18.3 km (11.3 miles) length of U. S. Highway 19 in southern Sumter County, Georgia. The existing two-lane highway is being widened to four lanes, divided by a 12 m (40 ft) median. For the most part, the widening will occur to one side of the existing highway. However, the widening alternates several times from the east to the west side, and there are three short lengths (ca. 730 m, 915 m and 1460 m) of new location right-of-way. Basically, the right-of-way is being expanded 30 m (100 ft); new location right-of-way is 60 m (200 ft). The project corridor was surveyed by a crew of four from November 10-14, 1996. A large portion of the project area is in cultivated or recently fallow fields, which afforded good to excellent surface exposure. Where exposure was not good (less than 75 percent) shovel tests were placed at 30 m intervals across landforms that had the potential for containing sites. The survey recorded 19 sites (Table 1) and 11 artifact occurrences. Occurrences are defined as loci with five or fewer surface artifacts or two or less subsurface artifacts. The majority of the sites (N = 14) are remains of late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century houses and farmsteads that may be correlated to house locations shown on soils maps and aerial photographs dating between 1910 and 1937. Several have been obliterated by land clearing and plowing, and are nothing more than artifact scatters in a plowed field. Others retain remnants of house foundations. The five prehistoric sites are primarily chert lithic scatters. Two of the sites also produced small numbers of sherds. One extensive site area, previously designated as two sites, 9SU24 and 9SU25, contains denser deposits of chert artifacts compared to other sites in the project area. The survey of the 9SU24/25 site areas also yielded prehistoric sherds and small numbers of nineteenth century historic material. There were no visible indications of a house site, but the artifacts may support the former existence of a structure. Sites 9SU24 and 9SU25, which logically represent arbitrary divisions of a single large site, may retain preserved deposits of significance. The area presently designated 9SU24 (east of Highway 19) is not in the proposed project's area of potential effect. 9SU25 will be impacted by the highway widening. The old highway angles through the proposed right-ofway, and there has been some earth moving near the terrace edge where the site overlooks the floodplain of Muckaloochee Creek. Shovel testing indicates that even the area of the old road bed retains buried intact deposits. On a site-wide basis, artifacts were found to depths of 100 cm (the maximum depth of shovel testing), although most were found to extend to approximately 70 cm. Based upon previous research, that depth is typical for upper coastal plain sandy sites (Gresham et al. 1989). Shovel testing indicated the presence of distinct loci on the site characterized by high artifact density and differing components. Although large piles of dirt on the site would seem to indicate great disturbance, much of the dirt has been dumped on the site and subsurface deposits remain. Site 9SU25 was investigated further through test pit excavation. Four 1 x 2 m test units were excavated to recover data for interpretation of stratigraphy and site integrity as well as recover larger artifact samples to further refine component identification. As a result of site testing, 9SU25 is recommended ineligible for listing in the National Register, because it lacks sufficient integrity and archeological potential to address important issues regarding prehistoric settlement and lifeways. Testing indicated primary components dating to the Late Archaic and Woodland period. Minor components (prehistoric and mid-nineteenth century) were defined or suspected based upon small collections of other artifact types. Cultural deposits within the project corridor could not be separated into discrete stratigraphic zones. The upper deposits have been mixed as the result of plowing and the lower deposits have been affected by bioturbation. Bioturbation is, of course, a factor on any site in the sandy soils of the coastal plain. 9SU25 was found to be generally mixed, although there was evidence in the vertical distribution of diagnostic pottery and projectile points of a general stratigraphic sequence. The results of testing suggest limited potential for further research. Because 9SU24 was not tested (because it would not be affected), it is recommended as potentially eligible. Based on our limited survey of 9SU24, we believe that testing would demonstrate that this site would also be eligible, as it is very similar to 9SU25, and even less disturbed. Site 9SU118 represents a small prehistoric site that was identified during the survey and then tested with one 1 x 1 m unit and two 1 x 2 m units. The placement of test units and shovel tests indicated a well-defined area of high artifact density approximately 15-20 m in diameter within a larger site area. Artifacts extended to approximately 100 cm, but were concentrated in a zone 40-70 cm below surface, just below the plowzone. 9SU118 produced moderate amounts of chert tools and debris within a relatively small area. Unlike site 9SU25, the site may contain deposits relating to a single Late Archaic component, but only one diagnostic artifact was recovered. The cultural deposits of site 9SU118 have been affected by bioturbation, but evidence of discrete activity areas still remains. No features were encountered and few, if any, are likely to exist on the site. While testing of 9SU118 provided meaningful information relating to Late Archaic occupation in the region, further work is unlikely to produce important, non-redundant data. We recommend that 9SU118 is ineligible for listing on the National Register. We recommend that all sites within the area of potential effect are not eligible for listing in the National Register because they lack the integrity and research potential that would qualify them under criterion d.