2nd Iteration of the Archaeological Resources Survey Plan for Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center (D.O. 1047), Martin and Greene Counties, Indiana

Abstract

At the request of Naval Support Activity Crane (NSA Crane), Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology Office of Cultural Resource Management (GBL-OCRM) conducted work for the second iteration of the Archaeological Resource Survey Plan (ARSP) implementation at NSA Crane in Martin and Greene Counties (Delivery Order 1047). Fieldwork for the 2nd Iteration took place over a period of seven months in 2003, 2004, and 2005. The purpose of the ARSP is to provide NSA Crane with a tool to assist with cultural resource management under Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470). NSA Crane, a 63,000 acre naval installation, is located in southern Indiana, predominately in Martin County, within the Crawford Upland physiographic province, an unglaciated area of steeply sloping hills and valleys bordered to the west by the Wabash Lowland and to the east by the Mitchell Plain. Characterized as a maturely dissected western sloping plateau, the region possesses a highly developed dendritic drainage system, a variety of topographic features, and abundant stream valleys. Testing during this iteration consisted of both visual and shovel probe surveys, in addition to a limited reconnaissance of Hatfield’s Rockhouse (12Mn630) and previously recorded historic sites within Goldsberry Hollow. A total of 184.32 hectares (460 acres) were subjected to visual survey. Shovel probe survey covered approximately 41 hectares (102.6 acres). The purpose of visual survey was to document any sites visible on the surface, as well as to record and map geomorphic zones and topographic variables. The strategy for determining the location of shovel probe quadrats utilized both judgmental and stratified sampling, focusing primarily on the ridge top and slope bottom interface areas. A total of thirteen previously unrecorded archaeological sites were documented during the 2nd Iteration of the ARSP: two prehistoric sites, nine historic period sites, and one site with both prehistoric and historic components.