Negative Findings Phase I Archaeological Survey of the Proposed Tom Morris Telecommunications Facility in Covington, Newton County, Georgia

An intensive Phase I archaeological survey was performed on June 1, 2015 of the proposed lease area and access (hereafter called survey area) of the Tom Morris telecommunication facility located in Covington, Georgia (33° 35' 5.96'' N, 83° 54' 34.89" W). The study was conducted for Terracon Consultants, Inc., on behalf of Cellco Partnership and its controlled affiliates doing business as Verizon Wireless, in order to locate and identify archaeological resources and to assess resource significance based on National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) criteria [36CFR Part 60.4 (a-d)]. This survey was conducted to comply with the provisions of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) permitting under the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement (47 CFR Part 1). In accordance with the permitting process, the survey was conducted in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHP A) of 1966, as amended.

                An intensive Phase I archaeological survey of the proposed Tom Morris telecommunications facility was performed on June I, 2015 in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended. The archaeological survey area is equal to the area of ground disturbing activity (APE for direct effects), which is a 7,971-sq. ft. (741-sq. m) proposed lease area and a 404.79-ft by 30-ft (123.37-m by 9-m) proposed access easement (Figure 5). The survey area is located in northwest Newton County 4.6 km

(2.8 mi) southwest of Covington, Georgia and 128 m ( 419 ft.) northwest of the intersection of Brown Bridge Road and Crowell Road (Figure 1). Billy McCarley completed the fieldwork and subsequent data analysis for this project.

                One archaeological site (9NE240) and three surveys (McCarley 2014; Thomas et al. 2000; Webb 1986) were discovered within .5 mi (.8 Jan) of the survey area. Because of the absence of archaeological materials within the survey area, it is recommended that the current proposed project receive archaeological resource clearance; no further archaeological work is recommended for the survey area.