Highway 61 Revisited: Archeological Evaluation of Eight Sites in Bartow County, Georgia

Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc., (SAS), under contract with the Georgia Department of Transportation, recently completed archeological evaluation of eight previously recorded sites in Bartow County, Georgia. All of the sites are located to the southwest of the city of Cartersville, in the extensive bottomlands of the Etowah River. All are within the boundaries of the Etowah Valley National Register District. The primary components on the portions of each of the sites that were tested appear to be Middle Woodland (Cartersville and Swift Creek). However, both earlier (Early Woodland) and later (Mississippian and historic) components were also identified on a few of the sites. Each of the sites will be affected (to varying degrees) by the proposed widening of State Route 61 from the existing two-lane road to a four-lane divided highway. The testing follows an intensive archeological survey of the proposed right-of-way expansion by SAS in 1994. The survey report recommended additional testing at eight sites (Price 1994). However, two of these sites have been greatly affected by recent private development along State Route 61. As a result, archeological testing was conducted at only six of the eight sites that are to be evaluated. Fieldwork commenced in late March and continued into early May of 1997. After two months delay, the testing resumed in July for three additional weeks. Testing included the hand excavation of I x 2 in test units on each site. The machine-aided excavation of backhoe trenches measuring approximately 2 x 3 m was initiated on all but one of the tested sites. Table 1 summarizes the work that was performed at the six sites that were tested, and presents updated eligibility recommendations for each of the eight sites. Locations of the sites are indicated in Figure 1. The Leake Mound site (known by site numbers 9BR2 and 9BR663) is the most famous, and perhaps the most significant, of the eight sites. Early accounts, although sometimes conflicting, document the presence of two or three mounds on this site (Fairbanks et al. 1946; Thomas 1894; Wauchope 1966). More recently, the site has been investigated by Dr. David Hally and his colleagues (Hally 1989, 1990a, 1990b; Rudolph 1989). As the significance (and thus eligibility) of the site was already well documented, our testing of the Leake site focused on the evaluation of portions falling within the proposed right-of way. The excavation of a number of test units and backhoe test strips demonstrated locally heavy deposits of artifacts and features on the Leake site. Perhaps more importantly, the excavation of a series of test units in the area of one of the mounds that was borrowed for road construction in the middle twentieth century lends additional support to previous suggestions that the lower portion of this mound is still preserved (Hally 1989, 1990a, 1990b). In addition, the hand excavation of one test unit in the mound area led to the discovery of a probable burial dating to the Mississippian period. Although the relationship of this burial to the earlier (Middle Woodland) mound deposits is unclear, it would appear to be related in some way, perhaps as part of a later mound addition that was removed for road fill in the 1940s. Our testing lends further support to the current listing of the Leake Site on the National Register as a contributing member of the Etowah Valley National Register District. In addition, the testing demonstrates the existence of significant deposits within the portions of the site that lie within the proposed right-of-way. Table I - Management Information. Site# Site Name Summary of Testing Previous Updated Test Test Features Eligibility Eligibility Units Strips Recommendation Recommendation 9BR2,663 Leake 23 25 115 Eligible Eligible 9BR638 Prince Street no testing conducted Potentially Potentially Eligible Eligible 9BR662 Mosquito Field South 2 7 7 Potentially Eligible Eligible 9BR668 Mosquito Field North 4 0 2 Eligible Eligible 9BR664 Elks Club 3 19 26 Eligible Eligible 9BR665 Riverside Drive 6 18 34 Potentially Eligible Eligible 9BR856 Southern Terrace 2 8 0 Potentially Ineligible Eligible 9BR857 Shopping Center no testing conducted Potentially Ineligible Eligible The excavation of test units on the Mosquito Field North site (9BR668), to the north of Highway 61 adjacent to the Etowah River, revealed potentially stratified Early and Middle Woodland components. Although portions of the site within the proposed right-of-way have been destroyed for gas and water lines, a narrow (1-2 m wide) strip of undisturbed deposits remain. We recommend that these undisturbed deposits are significant, and therefore concur with the previous recommendation that the site is eligible for the National Register. Testing also revealed significant deposits on the opposite side of Highway 61 near the river, on the Mosquito Field South site (9BR662). Although two test units were largely unproductive, the presence of a number of features in our test strips attests to the research potential of this site. Accordingly, we recommend that it too is eligible for the National Register as a contributing member of the Etowah Valley National Register district. The Riverside Drive site (9BR665), to the south of the Leake site on the north side of the road, also appears to contain significant deposits. However, the excavation of a number of test strips indicated that features are present only the northern one-third of the 400-m long site. Nevertheless, we recommend that the site is eligible as a contributing member of the Etowah Valley National Register district, and that significant research potential exists for this portion of the proposed right-of-way. Similarly, portions of the right-of-way across the Elks Club site (9BR664), on the south side of Highway 61, also appear to hold significant research potential. A number of features were identified in backhoe test strips within approximately 100 m sections at the northern and southern limits of this 400-m-long site. As a result, we concur with the previous recommendation that the site is eligible as a contributing member of the Etowah Valley National Register district. The last of the six sites that were archeologically tested is the Southern Terrace site (9BR856), which straddles the highway near the southern end of the alluvial bottom. Test units and backhoe test strips on this site were unproductive, exhibiting very low artifact density and a complete absence of features. We therefore recommend that this site is ineligible as a contributing member of the Etowah Valley National Register district. As was previously noted, archeological testing was originally proposed for two other sites in the project area. The first of these, the Shopping Center site (9BR857), is located within a heavily developed area at the intersection of Old Mill Road and Highway 61, approximately 1.5 km north of the Etowah River. The survey documented minimal quantities of probable Woodland artifacts on both sides of the highway, but primarily to the north in a thin strip of land between the road and railroad rights of way (Price 1994). Although no further development has taken place in the period since these recommendations were made, we argue that the additional work on other Woodland components in the area (particularly that which has been conducted on this project) effectively diminishes the research potential of the Shopping Center site. We therefore recommend that the site should now be considered ineligible as a contributing member of the Etowah Valley National Register district. Testing was also proposed for, but not completed on, the Prince Street site (9BR638), to the north of the Etowah River and to the west of Pettit Creek. This site was originally recorded by Southerlin (1991), who collected a large quantity of artifacts from what was then a cultivated field. At the time of the more recent survey for road improvements, shovel tests failed to penetrate a layer of fill over a meter deep that had been added to the field (Price 1994). Trenching was recommended to appraise the possibility that intact deposits remain beneath this fill. However, in the past two years the site has been more seriously impacted for the construction of a large business complex. The construction of a gas line, driveway, and parking lot has compromised the portion of the site within the right-of-way. Moreover, aerial photographs indicate that this portion of the site may have been previously affected by the older road. Although the site remains potentially eligible as a contributing member of the Etowah Valley National Register district, we recommend that the area of potential effect is lacking 'in integrity and will not require any additional work. In sum, we recommend that two of the sites (9BR856 and 9BR857) are ineligible as contributing members of the Etowah Valley National Register district. No additional work is necessary on these two sites. Five of the sites (9BR2/9BR663, 9BR662, 9BR664, 9BR665, and 9BR668) are recommended eligible as contributing members of the Etowah Valley National Register district. If the proposed right-of-way cannot be redesigned to avoid these sites, data recovery will be necessary for those portions that lie within the area of effect. Finally, site 9BR638 remains potentially eligible. However, the portion of the site that lies within the proposed right-of-way is lacking in integrity, and road construction can proceed with no effect to the site as a whole.