Archaeological Data Recovery at Riverfront Village (38AK933): A Mississippian/ Contact Period Occupation Volume I (Phase 1-3)

In 2004, Brockington and Associates, Inc. (Brockington) was asked by the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) to carry out Phase II Testing for the Georgia Avenue Extension Project (GAEP) in North Augusta. The GAEP was an undertaking that entailed design and construction of new roadway associated with the City of North Augusta's planned riverfront revitalization. More than one year earlier, the city teamed with the Leyland Alliance (a private development partnership) to design and build a planned mixed residential and commercial community known as Hammond's Ferry situated on the second terrace of the Savannah River. To carry out the planned revitalization, the city and private partnership sought federal funding to help clean up some hazardous waste areas, and to build or modify the primary roadways accessing the planned community. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provided matching funds and defined the Area of Potential Effects (APE) for the undertaking (including both the hazardous waste cleanup area and the proposed GAEP roadway design and modifications), which would be subject to federal regulations. The GAEP undertaking was to be overseen and implemented by the SCDOT. The City of North Augusta anticipated that a Phase I Cultural Resources Survey of the APE would be required and they hired the Chicora Foundation (Chicora) to carry out the investigation. At this time, the SCDOT had not initiated the GAEP undertaking itself. In the meantime, Chicora (Trinkley 2004) identified five archaeological sites (38AK931, 38AK932, 38AK933, 38AK934, and 38AK935) within the approximately 115 acre APE. Brockington was asked to conduct a Phase II investigation at several of these sites, and to make recommendations for NRHP-eligibility and mitigation. The Phase II report (Whitley 2005a) redefined the five site boundaries as nine non-overlapping sites (38AK493/931, 38AK932, 38AK933, 38AK934, 38AK935, 38AK936, 38AK937, 38AK938, and 38AK939) with specific identified historic or prehistoric components, plus NRHP-eligibility and mitigation recommendations for each. Two of the sites (38AK493/931, and 38AK933) were recommended as being NRHP-eligible and mitigation options were presented. The Riverfront Village Site (38AK933) is an archaeological locality that exceeds 9.5 acres in size and is located on the second terrace of the Savannah River within the city limits of North Augusta, Aiken County, South Carolina. This report presents the findings of a multi-stage investigation initiated with Phase I Survey and Phase II Testing in 2004 and 2005, and Phase III Data Recovery excavations completed in the winter of 2005 and spring of 2006. Analysis of the more than 92,000 artifacts and the spatial information gathered from over 4500 features and other contexts, took place from 2006 through 2011. Phase III Data Recovery for 38AK493/391 (highlighting specifically the Wood Pottery component) was presented in a separate report (Marcoux et al. 2009). The information presented herein fulfills, in part, the stipulations of the Memorandum of Agreement signed in 2005. Those stipulations also entail preservation of a portion of the site for future investigations, compliance with the requirements of tribal consultation, and the development of an educational component.