Archaeological Testing of Access Routes Jekyll Island Revetment Project

The Jekyll Island Authority (JIA) has applied for an Army Corp of Engineer's permit for the improvement of the rock revetment along the Atlantic Ocean beach. This project is intended to protect the beach front from erosion. Hurricanes Mathew and Irma caused significant erosion of the beach dune system and threatened a number of ocean front structures. During the inspection of the erosion caused by Hurricane Irma, JIA Conservation staff discovered an archaeological site exposed in the eroded dune face. This site was evidenced by a stratum of black sandy soil containing oyster and clam shells. It was deposited above a stratum of brown sandy soil and overlaid by a strata white sand. The archaeological deposit was approximately one meter below the white dune sand deposit. The stratigraphy suggests that the archaeological material was deposited on an earlier ground surface and subsequently covered by a white sand dune formation.

The Director of Historic Resources for JIA and professional archaeologist, Bruce Piatek visited the site and collected artifacts on the beach that had eroded from the site. The Weber family, regular visitors to the island, collected and turned in additional artifacts from the beach on the west side of the rock revetment. Based on this evidence the site boundaries were estimated to extend approximately 200 meters along the beach front. This estimate included the in situ archaeological midden deposit to the south, then north to the location where artifacts were found on the active beach on the west side of the revetment. State Archaeologist Bryan Tucker visited the site and consulted with Bruce Piatek and Ben Carswell, Director of Conservation and the revetment project manager for the JIA. The State Archaeologist recommended that the access routes, to be used for equipment and materials to access the beach, be subjected to subsurface archaeological testing. This testing would determine presence or absence of significant archaeological resources in these areas of potential impact.

The following methods were used to collect data as defined in the research design. Subsurface test excavation would need to extend to a depth of 1.5 meters below ground surface given the depth of the in situ midden deposit. A mechanical auger with a 30 centimeter diameter and 2 meter long auger bit was used to excavate the test holes. All the soil removed by the auger was screened with 114 inch hand screens, all cultural artifacts were collected and all provenance data was recorded. Test units were located along each defined access route with the first test unit located 10 meter from the eroded dune face and then at 30 meter intervals until a paved surface was encountered.

These methods resulted in 12 test units excavated over the four access routes. One ceramic artifact was recovered from one test unit. All the other test units were culturally sterile. This demonstrates that there are no cultural resources at the following access routes: Albright Street, Villa's by the Sea South Property Line, and Drift wood Beach Access. The single artifact was recovered from the test unit located I 0 meters west of the eroded dune edge at the Villa's by the Sea North Powerline Easement. The soil profile of this test unit did not reveal any visible midden soil deposits and no shells were recovered, only a single small potsherd. The sherd is a fiber tempered "St. Simons" type and is triangular, measuring 2.5 centimeters on a side. The recovery of only a single small artifact indicates that access along this route will not adversely impact any significant archaeological resources. The archaeological testing demonstrates that no adverse impacts will result from using the selected access routes for revetment construction activities.