Archeological Survey of Three Proposed Bridge Replacements in Ben Hill and Coffee Counties, Georgia

The survey reported here was designed to locate archeological sites in the areas of potential effect of three bridge replacement projects proposed by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT). Two of the bridge replacement projects are in Coffee County, along State Route 268 at its crossings of Halls Creek and Roses Creek. The third project is in adjacent Ben Hill County, at the crossing of State Road 90 over Little House Creek. Where resources were identified, an attempt was made to evaluate their eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), to the limited extent possible from a few shovel tests within the narrow project corridors. The survey resulted in the identification of one archeological site and two artifact occurrences. Site 9CF262 consists of a light scatter of prehistoric artifacts west of the SR 268 crossing over Roses Creek. Four shovel tests within the existing right-of-way were positive, producing a total of one sherd and 9 lithics. The site likely extends to a ridge nose to the north on private property, but since this is beyond the area of potential effect for the project no investigations were conducted in this area. The eligibility of the site on the whole remains unknown, due to the methodological limitations of testing only within the project corridor. However, the sampled portion of the site would not contribute to NRHP eligibility. Therefore Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc., recommends that none of the three proposed bridge replacement projects will have any adverse effect upon significant archeological resources.