Archeological Survey and Testing Site 9FU532, 10510 Crabapple Road, Fulton County, Georgia

On October 2, 2006, RSWA conducted an archeological survey of the southwest corner of the proposed development site located at 10510 Crabapple Road in the City of Roswell, Fulton County, Georgia. The project was conducted on behalf of Richland Development, LLC. The goal of this study was to determine if significant archeological sites are present in the project area in compliance with Section 10.34.3 of the Roswell Zoning Ordinance. This ordinance requires that a Certificate of Appropriateness must be granted by the Historic Preservation Commission prior to any land disturbance, property development, or building construction for areas located within 100 feet of an archeological site. The City of Roswell required that an archeological survey be conducted on a ridge terrace near Hog Wallow Creek, in the southwest corner of the project tract. One site, Site 9FU532, was identified as a result of the archeological survey of the project tract. This site was initially identified as a Woodland/Mississippian period lithic and ceramic scatter. The frequency, density, and diversity of artifacts identified during the survey suggested that this site presented the possibility for containing significant archeological data. We recommended that archeological testing be conducted at Site 9FU532 to determine if this site should be considered archeologically significant. From October 9-10, 2006, RSWA conducted archeological testing at Site 9FU532. Before the archeological fieldwork, a literature review was conducted to determine if any archeological sites have been previously recorded within 100 feet of the project area. An archeological field survey, consisting of 30 m or less interval shovel testing and surface inspection, was conducted in the southwest corner of the project tract. The archeological survey consisted of the excavation of 26 shovel tests. Initially, shovel tests were excavated at 30 m intervals. In order to define the site boundaries within the project tract, close-interval shovel tests were excavated at 15 m intervals in cardinal directions from the initial positive shovel tests. Archeological testing consisted of the excavation of two 1.0 by 1.0 meters (m) test units. The 1.0 by 1.0 m test units were excavated in arbitrary 10 cm levels into sterile substrate. All excavated soils were screened through 0.64-cm hardware cloth. Recovered artifacts were bagged by unit, level, and stratum (when applicable). At the base of each level or stratum, the unit was troweled and inspected for the presence of cultural features or soil anomalies. Following test unit excavation, a wall of each unit which best illustrated the natural stratigraphy was drawn and photographed. Site 9FU532 is recommended ineligible for the NRHP under Criterion D (information potential). Therefore, this site is not considered archeologically significant. The justification for this recommendation is that 1) the archeological deposits exhibit little or no contextual clarity due to historic period disturbance of the site, 2) low artifact density, 3) absence of an artifact midden, cultural features, or intact subsurface artifact deposits, and 4) low percentage of diagnostic artifacts. Site 9FU532 is not likely to yield additional important information on Late Archaic or Middle Woodland lifeways in the Georgia Piedmont. Cultural resources clearance is recommended for Site 9FU532.