Phase I and II Investigations along State Route 225, adjacent to New Echota, Gordon County, Georgia

This report presents the results of Phase I and II investigations along the Georgia State Route 225 (SR 225) corridor in Gordon County, Georgia. URS Corporation conducted this work for the Georgia Department of Transportation. Planned improvements call for the replacement of the existing bridges over New Town Creek and the Coosawattee River, as well as a realignment of the existing right-of-way (ROW). Most of the new ROW falls on the north side of the existing SR 225. East of New Town Creek, the ROW falls between New Echota and the Lum Moss Site (9GO59). Phase I testing demonstrated that scattered lithic debris and ceramics were present in disturbed or plowzone contexts on both the north and south side of SR 225, and that these artifacts represent the southernmost boundary or area of the Lum Moss Site. No archaeological features or cultural materials, with the exception of a single sherd of pearlware, were documented that could be associated with the Cherokee Capitol of New Echota. Phase I testing between New Town Creek and the Coosawattee River revealed the previously unrecorded Boat Ramp Site (9GO297), which contained stratified Archaic and Woodland period occupations. Phase II investigations at the Boat Ramp Site involved the placement of three test units to clarify the site's depositional contexts. Excavations in one test unit revealed a bifurcate component stratified beneath an Early to Middle Woodland component on the site's western margin. Testing on the eastern edge of the site revealed a hearth feature assumed to date to the Late Archaic period situated within a buried A horizon that capped even deeper cultural deposits, albeit lacking in chronologically diagnostic materials. If this site cannot be avoided, it is recommended that data recovery excavations be conducted to mitigate any adverse impact that would be caused in the SR 225 project development. Phase I testing on the eastern side of the Coosawattee River in a low-lying broad floodplain revealed another previously unrecorded site, 9GO296. Scattered lithic materials and several sherds recovered from plowzone contexts characterized this site. A Middle Archaic Stanly point was found in the plowzone and is considered to be out of context. Deeper deposits in the Site 9GO296 area were sampled via placement of 11 backhoe trenches and two 1.5-x-1.5-meter test units. Although these trenches revealed variably complex floodplain stratigraphy, no deeply buried cultural deposits were present within the ROW corridor. No additional work is recommended for Site 9GO296. Phase I testing south of SR 225 at the eastern portion of the ROW uncovered the remains of a previously unrecorded historic house site, 9GO298. A standing brick chimney and collapsed wood structure were observed at the surface, while early-to-mid-twentieth-century domestic artifacts were recovered in A-horizon soils surrounding the former structure. No additional work is recommended for Site 9GO298.