Archaeological Survey of the Proposed Widening of the Portion of Old Alabama Road from Jones Bridge Road to Medlock Bridge Road

In August 1997 Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. conducted an intensive archeological survey of a 6.3 km (3.9 mi) long corridor for the proposed widening of a portion of Old Alabama Road in northern Fulton County, Georgia. The survey was requested by Fulton County in anticipation of receiving Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) funds for the project. For projects it funds, the DOT requires consideration of potential effects to cultural resources in accordance with Federal Highway Administration standards. Standing structures were evaluated in a separate report. Therefore the present survey dealt with only archeological resources. The project consists of the widening of the existing, two-lane roadway to a four-lane divided highway with a ca. 6.1 m (20 ft) median. Precise plans have not yet been formulated, but all construction (the area of potential effect) will occur in a 37 m (120 ft) wide right-of-way centered on the existing centerline of Old Alabama Road. The vast majority of the project area has been heavily disturbed by grading and landscaping associated with numerous housing/golf course developments that occur on both sides of the road. Combining archival research (mainly the use of old maps and 1938 aerial photographs) with field survey (visual inspection of exposed ground surfaces and shovel testing of obscured ground surfaces) our survey discovered one new site and relocated two previously recorded sites. All are late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century house sites, and one (9FU29) also contains a sparse prehistoric lithic scatter. The houses have been razed or moved, and the three sites have been disturbed by grading. None of the sites are likely to yield significant, new information about historic or prehistoric lifeways or history. None are associated with events or persons significant in our past. Therefore, we recommend that these cultural resources are not eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and that no significant archeological resources will be adversely affected by the proposed undertaking.