Cultural Resources Assessment for the Proposed Raw Water Intake and Pipeline Columbia and Richmond Counties

As required by the National Historic Preservation Act, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has required the Richmond County Water and Sewerage Department to conduct an intensive cultural resources assessment for a proposed 2.4 kilometer raw water pipeline corridor and a 28.3 hectare water treatment plant site as a component of the Clean Water Act, Section 404 permitting process. The survey area is located in Richmond and Columbia Counties, Georgia about 5.2 kilometers northwest of Augusta and is adjacent to the Savannah River. Previous investigations within the general project vicinity include Elliott and Doyon (1981), Ledbetter (1988), Sassaman et al. (1989), Crook (1990) and Braley and Price (1990). Cultural resources dating to the Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian and Historic periods were identified by these investigations and aided in the development of location models regarding cultural activity along the Savannah River Valley and its peripheral watersheds. Two recorded sites are located near the project area: the Stallings Island site (Site 9Cbl) and the historic Augusta Canal. The Stallings Island site, a primarily Late Archaic shell midden and mound site, has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places and investigated by a number of researchers (Wauchope 1939; Claflin 1931; Bullen and Green 1970). The Augusta Canal and its associated historic district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Neither of these resources will be impacted by activities related to the current project. The current cultural resources assessment was performed to locate and identify cultural resources within the proposed intake pipeline corridor and water treatment plant site, assess their significance by National Register of Historic Places criteria [36 CFR Part 60.4(d)] and provide an evaluation of the effect the project may have on cultural resources within project impact areas. Six sites with a total of seven components and one isolated find were located during the assessment presented herein. These include two unassignable prehistoric lithic components (Sites RCI 1-2 and 1-5), one Late Archaic/Early Woodland lithic and ceramic component (Site RCI 1-6), one isolated quartz flake (IF-1), one middle-late 19th/early 20th century component (Site RCI 1-2), one middle-late 19th/early 20th century house site component (Site RCI 1-1), and two 20th century house site components (Sites RCI 1-3 and 1-4). The two prehistoric lithic components appear to represent seasonal/transient camps and/or activity areas, probably related to biotic extractive activities during the Archaic or Woodland periods. The Late Archaic/Early Woodland component appears to represent a specialized aggregate resource (shellfish) extraction site. The historic house sites and surface scatter components at sites RCI 1-1, RCI 102, RCI 1-4, and RCI 1-5 are probably related to rural development from the middle 19th century into the middle 20th century. Surface inspection and shovel testing at each of these resources indicate that they have been disturbed by silviculture and cultivation activities with the exception of one house site (Site RCI 1-4) which has collapsed due to neglect. Sites RCI 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5 and IF-1 were recommended as "clearly ineligible" for the National Register of Historic Places, based on the field investigations and archival research. At Site RCI 1-6, survey shovel testing indicated that intact cultural deposits are present below the plowzone. Visual inspection indicates that this site also contains a shell midden that has been partially disturbed by vandals. In view of the shovel test findings and the presence of the shell midden, Site RCI 1-6 is recommended as "clearly eligible" for the National Register of Historic Places.