Archaeological Survey of a Proposed 72-Acre Industrial Tract, Cook County, Georgia

Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. completed an archeological survey of a proposed industrial tract in Cook County, Georgia. Since the project will affect wetlands it requires a Section 404 permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which triggers compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 as amended. Compliance entails that an archeological survey be conducted of the property. The goals of the survey were to locate, delineate, describe and evaluate the significance of archeological sites in the area of potential effect for the project. Site evaluations were made in terms of their eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The subject tract encompasses an area of roughly 29 ha (72 ac) and is located between US 41 and Interstate 75 south of the town of Adel. At the time of our survey, most of the tract was in fallow fields or recent clearcut, exhibiting little vegetation, but also little ground surface exposure. Over a quarter of the tract is composed of scattered, irregular patches of wetlands. The tract was archeologically investigated by shovel testing to locate subsurface artifacts. The survey resulted in the identification of three archeological sites (9CX29, 9CX30 and 9CX3 1) and one artifact occurrence. The three sites are small, sparse prehistoric lithic scatters, each yielding only one or two chert flakes in one to four shovel tests. We recommend that all three sites and the artifact occurrence are ineligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places due to their poor research potential and/or lack of integrity. Therefore, it is our conclusion that no significant archeological resources will be affected by the proposed project and it should be given clearance to proceed.