The survey described here was designed to locate and evaluate archeological sites in the area of a Wilkes County bridge replacement project proposed by the Georgia Department of Transportation. The survey located portions of two archeological sites within the project corridor, sites 9WS347 and 9WS348. Site 9WS347 yielded both prehistoric and historic period deposits, while site 9WS348 yielded only prehistoric material. The segment of site 9WS347 within the area of potential effect (APE) contains cultural features and other significant deposits that would contribute to its being eligible to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The threatened segment of site 9WS348 does not contain archeologically significant deposits that would contribute to NRHP eligibility. Since we examined only the portions of site 9WS348 within the APE we cannot assess its eligibility on a whole, and thus recommend that its NRHP eligibility remains unknown. Based on the results from testing within the APE, site 9WS347 is recommended as eligible to the NRHP.
After results from archeological testing at site 9WS347 were made known, construction plans were altered by the project engineer to eliminate the on-site detour that would have passed through the site. Instead, an off-site detour will reroute traffic away from the site during construction. We recommend that, with the proposed off-site detour and due caution during construction, the bridge replacement project would cause no adverse effects to significant archeological resources.
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