Phase I Archaeological Investigations of the Savannah River Re-Oxygenation Project, Effingham and Chatham Counties, Georgia and Jasper County, South Carolina

The United States Corps of Engineers Savannah District (USACE) contracted AMEC Environment & Infrastructure, Inc. (AMEC) to conduct a Phase I archaeological investigations of the Savannah River Re-Oxygenation Project in association with the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project. The Phase I investigations included a terrestrial survey and a underwater remote sensing survey on proposed oxygen injection facility project areas located along the Savannah River. These proposed facilities are located on Georgia Power Company property in Effingham County and on Hutchinson Island in Chatham County. For the purpose of this report, these two facilities are referred to as the upper and lower oxygen injection facilities respectively. The terrestrial Phase I archaeological investigations included a pedestrian walkover and subsurface testing of two proposed facility footprints or Areas of Potential Effects (APE). These APEs account for a total of 16.2 hectares (ha) (40 acres) (ac) of surveyed area, 6.1 ha (15 ac) for the upper oxygen injection facility and 10.1 ha (25 ac) for the lower oxygen injection facility. The archaeological survey of both APEs was confined to the proposed facility construction footprints as these areas are to be directly impacted by the proposed undertaking. The two facility construction footprints are located in much larger project areas that include 20 ha (49 ac) at the upper oxygen facility and 35 ha (86 ac) at the lower oxygen injection facility. During the current investigation, two previously recorded archaeological sites, 9CH749 and 9EF111, were revisited and recorded. Site 9CH686, located within the boundaries of the lower oxygen injection facility project area, was not documented during these archaeological investigations because it is located outside the lower oxygen injection facility footprint.