An Intensive Cultural Resource Assessment Survey of the Cathead Landing Parcel, McIntosh County, Georgia

From 23 May 2006 to 26 May 2006, an intensive cultural resource assessment survey was conducted by Bland and Associates, Inc. (BAI) of 7.75-acre tract in McIntosh County, Georgia. This project was undertaken to comply with federal (Department of Army Permit Application No. 200600360) and state regulations regarding the identification and management of historic properties that might occur within the project tract. The project tract is the proposed site of the Cathead Landing development, and it is located at 1219 New River Road in Darien, Georgia. This project was undertaken at the request of Kern Coleman & Co., LLC and Palmetto Telford, LLC. The goals of this project were to locate, identify, delineate, and evaluate cultural resources within the tract. The term "cultural resources" as used herein is meant to refer to those districts, structures, sites and objects that would qualify as "historic properties" as the latter term is defined in 36 CFR 800.16(1), as those such entities meeting the criteria for eligibility for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places given at 36 CFR 60.4. This work was mandated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) regulations; specifically, a letter dated 28 April 2006 from Mark Padgett, Project Manager, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE), Savannah District, to Palmetto Telford, LLC, requested this survey, and it also established the Area of Potential Effect (APE) as extending 100 m around the periphery of the of property tract. This project entailed extensive shovel testing of the project tract (n=98), as well as an underwater archaeological survey of the section of Cathead Creek directly opposite the project tract. All cultural resources within the project tract were evaluated for significance and to determine their eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). No underwater cultural resources were identified during the current project. However, 23 shovel tests were positive for cultural material, resulting in the delineation of one archaeological site. This site consisted primarily of a low density, low diversity aboriginal ceramic scatter (Savannah phase), with an overlying middle to late 20t century component that was associated with shrimp boat activities in the project tract. Overall, shovel testing, in concert with deep augering, indicated that the bulk of the project tract was composed of fill; a large portion of the project tract consists of dredge sand which was deposited in the project tract during the construction of Interstate 95. As the following report indicates, based upon the absence of intact occupational strata, the lack of artifact concentrations as demonstrated through extensive delineation testing, the unexceptional nature of the artifact assemblage, and the extensive disturbances this site has sustained, there does not appear to be future research potential within the cultural resource assemblage present at the Cathead Landing project tract; this site is recommended ineligible for inclusion in the NRHP, and no further archaeological investigation or preservation is warranted. It is recommended that this project be allowed to proceed as planned without further concern for impacts to significant cultural resources.