Archaeological Survey of the Private Property Portion of the Proposed North Burton 115 kV Transmission Line, Rabun County, Georgia

In late 2000, Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. (SAS) conducted a Phase I intensive archeological survey of portions of four alternative corridors for a proposed 115 kV transmission line that would run from just south of Tiger to near the headwaters of Lake Burton in Rabun County, Georgia (Pluckhahn 2001). The survey was limited to U.S. Forest Service lands, which comprised the majority of each alternative. Because the precise layout of the proposed transmission line had not been established, the survey examined a wide (152 m, or 500 ft) corridor for each alternative. Since the time of the original survey, a preferred alternative has been selected (Alternative D). Much of the final alignment of Alternative D within U.S. Forest Service land lay within the corridor surveyed in 2000, but small portions were outside of the previously surveyed corridor. In April 2002, an intensive archeological survey was conducted of approximately 5 km (3 mi) of proposed transmission line corridor falling outside of the 152-m wide corridor surveyed in 2000, as reported by Benson (2002). In addition to these realignments, Benson's (2002) survey also included a section of the original alignment of Alternative D over Crukleton Ridge that was not surveyed initially due to lack of access. The Benson (2002) survey also included all construction access roads that will be constructed or improved. The present survey considered several small revisions to the route of the transmission line corridor as previously surveyed by Pluckhahn (2001) and Benson (2002), but primarily focused on several areas pf privately held land that were not originally surveyed due to a lack of access. The survey considered three discontinuous segments that together measured approximately 1.6 km (1.0 mi) in length (Figure 1). The width of the area of potential effect for the transmission line corridor is 23 m (75 ft), far narrower than the original North Burton transmission line archeological survey (Pluckhahn 2001). Most of the survey was on privately property, but small sections crossed lands of the U.S. Forest Service. The Forest Service issued a special-use permit for the archeological survey and any potential Phase II archeological testing on April 1, 2002 (Benson 2002 :Appendix A). This survey, as well as the two previous studies, were conducted to ensure compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (as amended). According to Section 106, all federal agencies or entities funded, regulated or licensed by federal agencies, must take into account any significant cultural resources that may be adversely affected by the proposed undertaking, in this case the construction of the transmission line right-of-way. Significant cultural resources are those on or eligible to the National Register of Historic Places. The goal of the survey was to locate all archeological sites and evaluate them in terms of their eligibility for inclusion in the National Register. The original survey recorded 15 sites on the four alternatives, including five that were assessed as being potentially eligible for inclusion in the National Register. One of the five potentially eligible sites (prehistoric site 9RA247) was on Alternative D. However, the final route of Alternative D avoids potentially eligible site 9RA247 by a considerable distance. One additional site (9RA255) was recorded on the survey of Alternative D by Benson (2002). This site was recommended ineligible to the National Register. The present survey was conducted by the report author and SAS field technician Daniel Barber on June 3 and July 1, 2002. The survey identified one archeological site (9RA256), consisting of a sparse scatter of prehistoric artifacts on a bench adjacent to a small creek. The scatter is limited to disturbed surface contexts, and therefore has little research potential. We recommend that the site is ineligible to the National Register. Thus, it is our recommendation that the proposed transmission will have no adverse effect to any significant archeological resources. The focus of the following pages is the results of the present survey. Background information will not be repeated here, since these topics were presented in the Pluckhahn (2001) survey and cover the present project area.