Archeological Survey of Proposed Improvements To a Portion of SR 316, Gwinnett County, Georgia Addendum

In August 2005, Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. (SAS) conducted a Phase I archeological survey of the area of potential effect for proposed improvements along approximately 14.6 km (9.1 mi) of State Route 316 in Gwinnett County, from Breckingridge Road to just east of Progress Center Avenue. The proposed improvements mainly consist of the addition of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes in each direction of the existing divided highway. While these additional lanes will be placed in the existing median, which is heavily disturbed, the project requires generally narrow strips of new right-of-way and easement along much of the corridor and new right-of-way at several intersections. The area surveyed thus consisted of a discontinuous set of narrow strips along existing SR 316 and variously shaped parcels at several of the intersections. Five archeological sites were discovered and recorded, and all were recommended as not eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. These included three late nineteenth to midtwentieth century house sites, one rock pile and one prehistoric lithic scatter. By 2008 the design of several components of the project had changed, requiring sections of new right-of-way and easements that were not archeologically surveyed in 2005. This additional area was composed of narrow strips along existing roads and oddly shaped parcels at existing intersections that generally abutted the 2005 project areas or existing roads. These new areas were clearly delineated on large scale project maps and were archeologically surveyed on July 17 and 22, 2008 by SAS archeologist Gail Tarver. These areas were generally heavily disturbed but included small portions of relatively undisturbed soils. This addendum to the original survey report by Gresham (2005) presents the results of the July 2008 archeological survey of these additional areas. The reader is referred to the original report for background information on the project, the project area, the culture history of the area, previous research, methods employed and the results of that original survey. Surface exposure was generally poor and patchy in the project area. A large portion of the project area had been previously graded for existing roads, adjoining commercial development and, in one parcel, a dam and small pond. Much of the project area consisted of graded and grassy shoulders of roads and adjoining narrow wooded strips. A large part of the survey consisted of comparing project plans with actual field conditions to locate and shovel test apparent undisturbed land. Survey first relied on surface inspection of exposed ground surfaces to locate artifacts and secondly on the excavation of shovel tests in areas where there was less than 25 percent ground surface exposure. We excavated 21 exploratory shovel tests. Once a site was detected, it was investigated with more shovel tests within the project area at 10- or 20-m intervals (depending on the anticipated size of the site) and with visual inspection for about 10 to 20 m beyond the project limits.