The Cultural Resources Assessment, an investigation to identify, document, and evaluate historical, architectural, and archaeological resources within a property, has been completed. Finalization of this assessment is a critical to ensure the RHCC respects the sites history and complies with legal requirements for permitting.
The thorough investigation considered both the “project area”, which will become the RHCC burial grounds, as well as the area set to become a conservation easement. Our archeology consultant, T.G. Earnest and Associates (TGEA) found “no evidence of significant historic cultural resources . . . within the project area” and concluded that “the proposed project will have no effect upon historic properties and should be allowed to proceed with no further archaeological investigations.”
TGEA focused the most thourough on-site investigations on the historically undisturbed areas, and conducted 80 “shovel tests” across the central terrace of the landscape. This map illustrates the test hole locations:
The archeologists discovered one prehistoric site (orange area on map) consisting of a low-density subsurface scatter of 31 artifacts comprising prehistoric ceramics, a single lithic flake, and a quartz nutting stone (a flat rock with a human-made indentation used to crack open hard-shelled nuts). Pottery sherds place the site within the Wakulla Weeden Island culture of the Woodland period (700 – 900 CE). This overlaps with the later period of habitation of the Letchworth Mounds in Jefferson County which were occupied between 200 and 900 CE.
We are grateful to have this step of our process complete, and are inspired by the thoughts of the humans respectfully interacting with this land so many years ago.
