An Archeological Survey of the Proposed Extension of William Few Parkway, Columbia County, Georgia

In February of 2002, Southeastern Archeological Services conducted an archeological survey of a 2.6 km (1.6 mi) stretch of proposed new roadway northwest of the city of Augusta in Columbia County, Georgia, for the Georgia Department of Transportation. The goal of the survey was to locate, describe, and evaluate archeological resources within the area of potential effect for the proposed project, so that the potential effects to those resources could be evaluated in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The proposed project is a roadway extension of William Few Parkway (County Road 1427). The project begins northeast of the intersection of William Few Parkway and Riverwood Parkway and continues east to Hardy McManus Road (County Road 92). Improvements will include a four lane section with 12 foot lanes, a raised center median, side ditches, a bridge over Uchee Creek, and the addition of turn lanes where warranted. Hardy McManus Road will be reconstructed to create a three way intersection with a traffic signal. The proposed right-of-way measures about 45 m (150 ft) wide and about 1.8 km (1.1 mi) long. The portion of the parkway extension west of Uchee Creek falls within an area that was recently surveyed by Price and Elliott (1999). Much of the area traversed by the proposed extension of William Few Parkway consists of wetlands, particularly in the flood plains adjacent to Uchee Creek. The upland areas at the eastern and western ends of the survey corridor are covered by young planted pines or mixed pines and hardwoods. The corridor was undeveloped at the time of our survey, but houses and schools are currently being established in the area. Archival research at the Georgia Archaeological Site Files revealed that a number of sites were previously reported near the project corridor, on the survey of Riverwood Plantation and Big Three Golf Club by Price and Elliott (1999). A portion of one of these sites (9CB580) is located within the portion of William Few Parkway that was completed prior to our survey. The site, which consisted of a prehistoric artifact scatter, was recommended ineligible to the National Register of Historic Places (Price and Elliott 1999). Additional archival research of old maps and aerial photographs at the University of Georgia Science Library suggested that one house was present near the proposed right-of-way during the twentieth century. The field survey of the project corridor included visual inspection of exposed ground surfaces and the excavation of shovel tests in areas where surface exposure was inadequate. The fieldwork resulted in the identification of three archeological sites and one artifact occurrence. Site 9CB605 includes the remains of the house that was identified during archival research, and site 9CB606 consists of a scatter of twentieth century artifacts. Both of these sites also produced isolated prehistoric artifacts Site 9CB607 is an artifact scatter which consists exclusively of prehistoric lithics. All three of the sites are recommended ineligible to the National Register due to either their poor research potential or lack of integrity, or both. Thus, the proposed undertaking will have no effect to any significant archeological sites.