Archaeological Resources Planning Study for the State Route 20 Improvement Projects from Interstate 575 to State Route 400, Cherokee and Forsyth Counties, Georgia

The goal of this Archaeological Resources Planning Study is to assist the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) in their efforts toward determining viable design alternatives for the proposed improvements along State Route (SR) 20. This study is designed as a planning tool to be used to evaluate objectively the potential of each alternative for containing archaeological and historic resources in order to provide general insight into the effort and cost of each potential design alternative with regards to archaeological resources. This Archaeological Resources Planning Study is being carried out prior to standard Phase I archaeological survey for planning purposes only and is not meant to preclude the survey from being done in accordance with applicable Georgia guidelines and GDOT procedure.      The SR 20 improvements project begins at Interstate (I) 575 in the City of Canton, in Cherokee County, and extends eastward approximately 24 miles to SR 400 in the City of Cumming, in Forsyth County, Georgia (GDOT Project Nos. STP00-0002-00[862], STP00-0003-00[681], and STP00-0003-00[682]; P.I. Nos. 0002862, 0003681, and 0003682), a distance of approximately 24 miles (39 kilometers) (Figure 1.1). From west to east, jurisdictions along the corridor include the city of Canton; unincorporated communities of Buffington, Macedonia, Orange, and Free Home in Cherokee County; as well as the unincorporated community of Ducktown and the city of Cumming in Forsyth County. Existing land uses along the corridor include a mix of suburban and exurban uses including low density residential, strip commercial, and agricultural. Residents and the commuting public experience congestion, limited mobility, and safety issues along this heavily traveled corridor. The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is sponsoring the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to identify potential improvements to the SR 20 corridor, between the cities of Canton and Cumming, Georgia. The SR 20 Improvements project will conduct engineering and environmental studies to evaluate possible alternatives to relieve congestion, improve mobility, and reduces crashes along SR 20 between Canton and Cumming. The project is in the public scoping phase where issues to be addressed in the environmental study, including the project’s need and purpose, are being defined. The next phase of the project will include the development of alternatives to be evaluated. A full range of alternatives will be evaluated, including expanding roadway capacity along the existing SR 20 or new travel lanes on new alignment, intersection improvements, and Transportation Systems Management (TSM) solutions. The No Build alternative will also be evaluated in the EIS. At this point, there are no preferred alignments or solutions.      Most of the SR 20 project area has been developed. Commercial development around Canton and Cumming characterizes the east and west ends of the project area. In and around these two towns this development is relatively dense and has resulted in the clearing of forests and leveling of land for the construction of commercial enterprises, parking lots, and other transportation and utility infrastructure associated with urban development. The central portion of the SR 20 project area is characterized primarily by residential development and agricultural/animal husbandry establishments. This development is not as dense nor has it resulted in the degree of ground disturbing activity observed on the east and west ends of the SR 20 project area. Development in the central portion of the SR 20 project area typically includes landscaped residences, buried utilities associated with residential development, and limited agricultural terracing.      Environmentally, the project area is located in upland settings with moderate topographic relief that is dissected by numerous drainages of various sizes. The SR 20 project area crosses both the Etowah and Chattahoochee River basins, with all streams and creeks west of Sawnee Gap situated in the Etowah drainage and those areas east of the gap located in the Chattahoochee drainage. For most of the project area, SR 20 follows ridge crests that divide various drainages located throughout the region. Consequently, the topography is such that landforms slope downward and away from the route of SR 20 and very little level terrain is present along the highway.      For the purpose of this project, Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc. (EPEI) was requested to provide two archaeological resources services: 1) a review of archaeological literature from the Georgia Archaeological Site File (GASF) and other sources that includes work completed within the proposed SR 20 project area, as well as in the surrounding area for the purpose of establishing potential Precontact period site contexts based on previous work in the project area by creating a predictive model; and 2) the creation of a map that depicts the location of all historically recorded structures within the project area as derived from a search of historic maps and other imagery that include the proposed SR 20 project area. As is explained in the body of this report, Precontact era and Historic period sites are treated separately because variables affecting settlement preference in each time are very different. When used together, the results of the predictive model study for Precontact era sites and the compilation of a master historic resources map for potential Historic period sites will establish potential site contexts for the entirety of human occupation in the SR 20 project area.      The first requested task directed EPEI to identify and review relevant archaeological reports for areas surrounding the SR 20 project area to provide a well-rounded approach to understanding potential archaeological resources. Additionally, a review of select literature on predictive modeling in Georgia and adjacent portions of surrounding states was completed for the purpose of providing a basis for establishing environmental variables that could be used in a basic predictive model that could be applied to the survey area to determine potential precontact site contexts prior to Phase I archaeological survey. In the second task, EPEI was asked to search for and examine historic maps that include the project corridor. Examples of such might include: United States Geological Survey (USGS) topographic  archaeological sites derived from this map search were placed on a master map of the project corridor and tagged with the source reference in an accompanying table.      The following report is arranged into chapters. As noted above, Chapter 2 summarizes the results  to determine potential site contexts and Chapter 3 details the map search portion of this project. Both parts of the study, the map search and literature review, are summarized in Chapter 4. The report is followed by a complete bibliography and three appendices. Appendix A contains a series of maps that show the results of EPEI’s predictive model. In Appendix B is located the master map showing the location of all discovered historic resources and an accompanying table. Appendix C is a resume of the Principal Investigator.