A Technical Proposal for Conducting Archeological Survey, Testing, and Evaluation at 9McI41, Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is contracting for the testing and sub-plowzone evaluation of the Harris Neck Airfield Site, 9 McI 41, at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, McIntosh County, Georgia. Through previous examination, the site is considered to be eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. The Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to realign a section of access road and construct public use facilities along the east side of the site. Therefore, in compliance with the Advisory Council on Historic and Cultural Properties (36 CFR 800), the Service is sponsoring the archeological testing and evaluation of the project's impact on the site. This will be the third testing program to be initiated at 9 McI41 since the site was first reported. The site is located in a grassed field at the north end of Harris Neck, southeast of an abandoned airfield and west of Gould's Landing. The archeological deposits are characterized by widely dispersed shell midden, and by localized, discrete midden piles, The site was first reported by Lewis Larson in 1952, but the first subsurface testing did not occur until 1979 (Cultural Resource Management, Inc. 1979). Prior to the realignment of a section of State Road 131, a more intensive examination of the southeastern portion of the site was conducted by Carolina Archeological Services, Inc. in 1981 (Drucker 1982). The proposed project location is situated just south of the portion tested by Drucker. Potential impacts to the archeological site consist of construction activities associated with the realignment of approximately 1500 feet of State Road 131, the construction of a boat launching facility with vehicle and trailer parking, and a crabbing dock with vehicle parking. In addition to evaluating direct impacts to these portions of the site, the Fish and Wildlife Service is requesting a redefinition of site boundaries. Site 9 McI 41 has been shown to be a multicomponent site and the current estimate of site size is 220 acres (88 ha). Better definition of site/component boundaries would permit more effective management of potentially significant archeological remains.