Phase Ia Archaeological Survey for the Union Street Trail, Town of Westfield, Hamilton County, Indiana

Abstract

At the request of the Town of Westfield, the Office of Cultural Resource Management at the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Indiana University (GBL-OCRM) conducted a Phase Ia archaeological reconnaissance survey of the proposed Union Street Trail in Westfield, Hamilton County, Indiana. The Town of Westfield proposes to construct a walking/biking trail south of town. The project area consists of a single corridor approximately 1,400 meters (4,593 feet) long and 3 meters (9.8 feet) wide located on the west side of Union Street. The project area is located in Washington Township. The project area is 1.03 acres in size. Approximately 0.90 acres were tested using a shovel probe survey. The remaining 0.13 acres were subjected to an overview and were documented as disturbed due to the presence of a buried fiber-optic cable and previous bridge construction activities. The purposes of survey were 1) to identify and document all cultural resources in the project area, 2) to evaluate any sites found with regard to their eligibility for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and the Indiana Register of Historic Sites and Structures (IRHSS), and 3) to make recommendations for the protection of significant and potentially significant sites within the project area. Fieldwork was conducted on October 7-8, 2002 by GBL archaeologists Melody Pope, George Mankowski, Jon Cracraft, Zarko Tankosic, and Bob Adkins. No previously unrecorded archaeological sites were documented during the survey. No further archaeological investigation is recommended. Cultural resource clearance is therefore recommended for the proposed trail provided that all earth-moving activities are restricted to the currently delineated project area boundaries.