Phase I Archaeological Addendum Survey of Easements and Road Widening of SR 26/U.S. 80

New South Associates (NSA) has completed the archaeological survey of approximately 1.23 miles (2 km.) of SR 26/U.S. 80 near Statesboro, Georgia, in response to a request from the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) for additional testing within the initial project corridor. GDOT plans to widen and improve a segment of SR 26/U.S. 80 from County Road (CR) 491/Amanda Road to just east of CR 423/Old Lee Field Road. The proposed project would include the construction of passing and turning lanes within the project limits. A passing lane is proposed in the eastern direction beginning approximately 1,100 feet (335 m.) east of Burkhalter Road and ending at Grimshaw Road. A passing lane is also proposed in the western direction beginning approximately 1,000 feet (304 m.) east of Old Lee Field Road and ending approximately 1,000 feet (304 m.) west of CR 350/Bud Lee Lane. Auxiliary (turning) lanes, both right and left, would be added along the corridor as warranted by traffic data.

The current Phase I survey serves as an addendum to a previous survey (Davis 2014), and as such, was designed to address gaps in the archaeological survey between NSA’s Phase I study (Davis 2014) and a survey conducted by Edwards-Pitman in 2008 (Pietak 2009). Studies for other elements of the project were conducted by Richardson (1996) and Williams (2012), which were addressed in the previous study by Davis (2014). The latter study was halted and never officially filed with GDOT for review, although archaeological site forms were filed with the Georgia Archaeological Site File (GASF) and an unreviewed draft report (Pietak 2009) was completed. Two segments were investigated for this current study. The first and longest segment covers about 0.74 miles (1.19 km.) of SR 26/U.S. 80 beginning about 479 feet (146 m.) east of CR 491/Amanda Road and extending about 1,014 feet (309 m.) west of CR 493/Youngblood Road. This covers both sides of the road and includes historic site 9BU100, previously reported by NSA (Davis 2014). The second segment lies between CR 493/Youngblood Road and Burkhalter Road on both sides of the road and covers about 650 feet (198 m.). The Area of Potential Effects (APE) extends 100 feet (30 m.) from the edge of pavement on both sides of the road and the Extended Survey Corridor (ESC) reaches 100 feet (30 m.) beyond the limits of the APE. The APE includes the existing ROW, which varied between 48-70 feet (14.21 m.) from the centerline. The APE also includes the required ROW, which in the case of this survey, is limited to individual driveways where the required ROW will cover the width of the driveway extending about 10 feet (3 m.) beyond the existing ROW. The work for this survey was conducted in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (36 CFR 800), and was intended to determine the presence of significant archaeological resources in the project’s APE.

The survey found three new historic sites and conducted additional work on two other historic sites, all located on the north side of the road. The survey also located an isolated find (Isolated Find 1), consisting of a single whiteware fragment in ST 12 at the far eastern end of the APE. The three new sites all consist of late nineteenth- to mid-twentieth-century historic artifact scatters (9BU105, 9BU106, and 9BU107). Work at these sites included systematic shovel testing, metal detecting, and surface survey. Sites 9BU106 and 9BU107 have structural remains consisting of brick and concrete block foundations. Both are visible on aerial photographs and topographic quadrangles from about 1921 until the 1970s. Site 9BU105 consists of a historic artifact scatter located adjacent to an early twentieth-century apartment house. This house appears at least as early as 1921 on the topographic quadrangle. The three newly discovered sites lie mostly within the ESC and very narrow portions extend into the APE. The portions of the sites within the APE/ESC lack significant data potential; however, the overall eligibility of the site is unknown.

The survey involved additional delineation testing and metal detecting at 9BU100, a late nineteenth- to mid-twentieth-century historic artifact scatter, which identified additional artifacts in line with the previous findings from NSA’s initial discovery of the site in 2014. Initial testing during this survey also found a historic artifact scatter that extended the eastern limits of 9BU101, a historic site dating to the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. The identified portions of both sites are primarily within the ESC, with the southern boundaries extending into the APE; while the identified portions of the sites investigated for this survey do not appear to meet eligibility criteria for inclusion within the NRHP, their eligibility for listing in the NRHP is unknown since they may extend outside of the ESC.