Cultural Resource Appraisal North Stadium Project, Muscogee County School District, Control Number: 77-07-12-16

The proposed site of the North Stadium, Muscogee County School District, Muscogee County, Georgia has been examined by the Columbus Museum of Arts and Sciences, Inc. for the presence of cultural resources. The stadium site is located on a tributary of Cooper Branch, a part of the Bull Creek watershed. Elevation of the stadium site varies between 400 and 500 feet above mean sea level and encompasses 37 acres. The approximate center of the project area is at latitude N 32° 33’ 24", longitude W 84° 54’ 50". Because of its location in the fall line hills, there is a great deal of relief, with considerable erosional dissection of a schist substrate overlain by red clay and a thin upper layer of sand and humus. The small amount of first terrace bottom land adjacent to the stream is subject to frequent inundation, making it unsuitable for human habitation without considerable modification of the terrain.

All knolls and ridges in the project area were examined. All eroded areas and bare ground surfaces were examined for the presence of cultural debris and standing structures of historical significance. No standing structures or structural ruins were located. Only one artifact of any antiquity was found. This artifact, a buff colored chert drill fragment 49 mm. long, was found near the high point of a ridge at the northeast corner of the project in a petroleum pipeline right-of-way. A series of twelve shovel tests were conducted on this ridge, from northeast to southwest, with six of these tests being conducted in the vicinity of the location where the drill fragment was found. No artifacts or debitage were located in any of these tests, indicating that this one artifact was an isolate.

Our reconnaissance and testing indicates that there are no cultural resources of significance in the project area and we can see no reason to recommend further survey or that any mitigation will be necessary.