The Partnership for Response and Recovery (PaRR) has conducted a Phase I archaeological survey of the Albany Water Gas & Light Commission relocation site, located in Dougherty County, Georgia. Because the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will provide assistance for the relocation, this study was undertaken in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and other regulations that require consideration of the effects of Federal undertakings on cultural resources. Phase I field investigations included an initial site walkover and shovel testing. The project area was entirely wooded at the time of this study, so almost no exposed ground surfaces were identified. Walkover survey of the wooded study area provided no indications of prehistoric or historic archaeological resources. Excavators completed shovel testing at 100-foot intervals across the area in an effort to identify subsurface artifact concentrations. Additional testing was conducted in cardinal directions from artifact-bearing shovel tests in an effort to define artifact concentration limits. A total of 72 shovel test pits (STPs) were excavated and prehistoric artifacts were recovered from 4 STPs. These positive shovel tests were located at the two ends of a narrow, gently sloping hill top that extends from northeast to southwest across the site. They appear to mark the east and west limits of a small prehistoric site which has been registered as 9DU99 in state archaeological site files at the University of Georgia. Representative stratigraphic profiles indicate that the hill top on which this site is situated has eroded more recently to the point that almost no plow zone survives in some locations. Due to the limited research potential of this small prehistoric lithic scatter and the denuded nature of the site, it does not appear to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, and additional archaeological investigation would not provide significantly more data than has been recovered to date. Therefore, no additional archaeological investigations are recommended for the Albany Water Gas & Light relocation site.
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