Archeological Testing of Two Sites in the Riceboro-Tradeport Industrial Park 115 kV Transmission Line Corridor, Liberty County, Georgia

In late 2008 Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. conducted a Phase I archeological survey of a proposed 10.3 km (6.4 mi) transmission line corridor and proposed substation sites at either end of the line in Liberty County, Georgia (Gresham 2008). The project is being undertaken by the Georgia Transmission Corporation, which adheres to the regulations of the Rural Utilities Service. One of the regulations is compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, which requires that projects take into account effects of an undertaking on significant cultural resources, that is, those resources eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The transmission line begins on the north side of the town of Riceboro and extends generally east-northeastward to an industrial park about 1.2 km east of Interstate Highway 95 (Figure 1). The survey located and investigated 13 archeological sites, three of which had been previously recorded and most of which are in the west half of the corridor (Figure 2). Three sites were exclusively prehistoric, six exclusively historic and four had both prehistoric and historic period components. Three of the sites were recommended as being potentially eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (Gresham 2008). It was generally recommended that either the project be designed so as to avoid any ground disturbing effects to the sites or, if avoidance was not possible/feasible, that site testing be implemented at the specific points of effect. One of the three sites, site 9LI1161, was to be affected only by the clearing of an existing woods road that runs through the large prehistoric and historic period so that construction trucks can reach a pole location on the proposed transmission line beyond the site. The Georgia Transmission Corporation agreed to hand clear any vegetation along the road and not conduct any grubbing, large tree removal or other major ground disturbing activity. It appeared to us that perhaps a few low hanging limbs would need to be removed, but little other work would be needed to make the existing road suitable for large trucks. Thus, no further archeological work was recommended at site 9LI1161 (Gresham 2008:52) and none was done. Site 9LI1638 is a large, mostly historic period site on the west side of U.S. Highway 17 on the north side of the town of Riceboro. It borders the marsh of Riceboro Creek and also has a minor prehistoric component. This area was part of Riceboro (or Riceborough) from the late 1790s through the 1830s, and based on the results of 19 positive shovel tests excavated during the survey, the site dates almost exclusively to this period. Thus, the site is a portion of the old part of Riceboro, but also contains a minor prehistoric component as well. The transmission line is proposed to cross through the site and make a nearly 90 degree angle near the center of the site, on the west side of U.S. Highway 17. Georgia Transmission Corporation agreed to hand clear the corridor and prevent heavy, ground disturbing activity in the corridor so as to not disturb subplowzone archeological deposits, which are about 30 cm (1 ft) below surface. Disturbance to the site at the location of the pole (Structure 3) cannot be avoided. This structure will be a single self-supporting steel rising 85 ft above ground. It will be placed on a poured concrete foundation approximately 7.5 ft in diameter and 3 5 ft deep. Survey-phase shovel tests on either side of the proposed pole location revealed relatively large numbers of historic period artifacts, as many as 966 artifacts per square meter. Gresham (2008:38) recommended excavating a 2 x 2 m test unit at the precise location of the proposed Structure 3, and this was done by Southeastern Archeological Services during the week of May 4-8, 2009. The results of the testing of site 9LI1638 comprise the bulk of this report. A third potentially eligible site, 9LI1641, is also to be affected by the proposed transmission line in that the line will cross though the northern edge of the site and make an obtuse angle in it. Site 9LI1641 is predominantly a nineteenth century site (42 artifacts from 12 shovel tests), but also contains a modest amount (21 artifacts from 10 shovel tests) of prehistoric material, much of which is plain, sand tempered pottery. Distribution maps of prehistoric and historic artifacts showed that the densest areas of material for both components lay to the south of the transmission line corridor. No artifacts were found in shovel tests at the proposed pole location (Structure 19). Even though the proposed corridor crosses through a non-critical portion of the site (an area with low artifact density), the Georgia Transmission Corporation agreed to hand clear the corridor and prevent heavy, ground disturbing activity in the corridor so as to not disturb the undisturbed archeological deposits, which are about 30 cm (1 ft) below surface. Gresham (2008:50) recommended excavating 1 x 1 m test units at the four guy wire anchors, which extend into the portion of the site that contained a greater density of artifacts. After completion of the original survey report in 2008, the route of the line at Site 9LI1641 was shifted slightly leading north from Structure 19, and in late February 2009, SAS returned to the project area to survey this new alignment (Gresham 2009). The area around Structure 19 was investigated with two more shovel tests, placed at the more distant of two proposed guy wire anchors. Both shovel tests were sterile. This reinforced the earlier perception that the portion of the site where the structure and guy wires were to be placed has very low artifact density and is not critical to the understanding and importance of the site. With this new information, the testing of site 9LI1641 in 2009 was modified to begin with a series of shovel tests placed at each of eight proposed guy wire anchors (four along each tangent of the line), with 1 x 1 m test units to follow at productive shovel tests. The result of the shovel testing in May of 2009 was that all eight shovel tests were sterile, and thus we concluded that no test units were warranted. We conclude that the construction of the transmission line through site 9LI1641 (with hand clearing of the corridor and no ground disturbing clearing) and the installation of the Structure 19 pole will not create an adverse effect to site 9LI1641.