Archaeological Survey of Proposed Widening of a Portion of U.S. Highway 1 Jefferson and Emanuel Counties, Georgia

In July and August of2001 and in January of 2002 Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. conducted an intensive archeological survey and site testing for the proposed widening of a 22.5 km (14.0mi) portion of U.S. Highway 1 in northern Emanuel and southern Jefferson Counties, Georgia. The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) wishes to widen this to a four-lane divided highway, which for the most part requires about 30 m (100 ft) of new right-of-way on one side of the existing highway. The project also includes a few reconfigurations of intersecting secondary roads and includes a 2.5 km (1.6mi) bypass of the small community of Dellwood. Our archeological survey of the area of potential effect for the project (essentially the 30-m wide new right-of-way and the bypass) resulted in the discovery and recording of 39 sites and six artifact occurrences. As shown in the accompanying table, the recorded sites consist almost entirely of late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century tenant houses or farm houses, with a few sparse prehistoric artifact scatters and one rich prehistoric site. Thirty-two sites are exclusively late nineteenth to twentieth century, four are similar period house sites that also contain sparse prehistoric material, two are exclusively sparse prehistoric scatters of artifacts and one (9EM73) is a large, multi-component prehistoric site (predominantly Middle Woodland) with preserved bone, charred botanical remains and features. We recommend that all of the sites except 9EM73 are ineligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places because none are associated with important persons or events and none posses sufficient integrity and research potential. No further work at these sites is recommended. Site 9EM73, which lies partially within the portion of the project that bypasses Dellwood, was archeologically tested as part of this project and we concluded in a management summary (letter dated August 21, 2001) that it is eligible for inclusion in the National Register, but that only an approximately 50-m diameter portion of the site (the" core area') contains the research potential that makes the site eligible. This core area was precisely delineated on project maps and submitted to the GDOT so that the bypass could be redesigned to avoid the core area. When the reconfigured bypass corridor was then surveyed no new potentially eligible sites were found and we confirmed that the new route does avoid the significant core portion of 9EM73. In conclusion, given the rerouting of the bypass of Dellwood to avoid the significant portion of 9EM73, we recommend that the proposed undertaking will not adversely affect any archeological sites eligible to the National Register of Historic Places.