Site Testing of 9BK299 for the Proposed Realignment of C.R. 349/Middleground Road, Burke County, Georgia

In compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) archeologists recorded and minimally test excavated a prehistoric site, 9BK399, on the south side of Rosemary Creek in Burke County, Georgia. The Phase I intensive survey was conducted by GDOT for the proposed realignment of Burke County Road (CR) 349, or Middleground Road, as it approaches and bridges Rosemary Creek. A new bridge across Rosemary Creek is also planned. The proposed right-of-way (ROW) of the realigned CR 349 is nearly 25 m (80 ft) wide and 9BK399 was found within and beyond the width of the proposed ROW on the dissected, northern slopes of a broad upland landform, situated immediately above the Rosemary Creek floodplain. After completion of the GDOT excavations in November of 1998, 9BK399 was recommended potentially eligible to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), requiring additional Phase II testing. Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. (SAS) returned to 9BK399 in February, 2000 to implement the additional Phase II test excavations. SAS excavated 50 shovel tests on a 10 m grid and four 1 x 2 m test units to determine eligibility status. Following analysis of the artifacts that were recovered from both the GDOT excavations and the SAS excavations, 9BK399 was found to contain a relatively rich assortment of artifacts belonging to the Middle Archaic, Late Archaic, probable Early Woodland, Middle Woodland, Late Woodland and Early Mississippian periods. The most intensive occupations apparently occurred during the later portion of the Middle Woodland period (Deptford II phase) through the Savannah period. In spite of the relatively rich cultural deposits, no cultural features or spatial or vertical artifact patterns reflecting respective occupations or activities were encountered, mostly due to extensive post depositional disturbances. The post depositional disturbances include an old and eroded road bed that runs along the centerline of the proposed ROW. The consequence was a spatially and vertically mixed amalgam of mostly Woodland and Early Mississippian period artifacts. Therefore, because of poor preservation integrity, SAS recommends 9BK399 ineligible to the NRHP and that the proposed realignment of CR 349 be allowed to proceed.