Archaeological Testing between Broad Street and Reynolds Street for the St. Sebastian Way Project, Augusta, Georgia

Between April 27 - 29, 2004, Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. conducted an archeological testing program in Augusta, Georgia. The study was undertaken to ensure that Augusta/Richmond County is in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (as amended). Testing was necessary to determine if intact and significant archeological deposits were located beneath gravel and asphalt parking lots within the proposed right-of-way of St. Sebastian Road, in the 1400 blocks of Broad, Jones and Reynolds Streets (Figure 1). The proposed project had been previously surveyed (Braley 2003), but the presence of asphalt and gravel parking lots and fenced areas between Broad Street and Reynolds Street prevented subsurface testing. Consultation with the Georgia Department of Transportation established that archeological testing would be required prior to road construction, and that monitoring during construction, as has been done with other urban projects, was not an option. As a result of an on-site meeting between the Georgia Department of Transportation, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Historic Preservation Division, and SAS, it was agreed that a backhoe would be used to excavate a series of short trenches through the parking lots and underlying fill between Broad and Reynolds Streets. Notice to Proceed was issued in mid-April, 2004.

Seven backhoe trenches were excavated within the proposed right-of-way and intact archeological features and midden zones were encountered in each trench. Although four house lots were sampled, the archeological deposits have been given a single site number, 9RI1110. Because of the urban setting, the site boundaries are arbitrarily defined as Broad Street on the south, Reynolds Street on the north and the width of the proposed right-of-way (30 m).