Archaeological Phase Ia Survey for Road Rehabilitation on State Route 244 From 1.40 km East of State Road 3 to US 52 in Rush and Franklin Counties, Indiana

Abstract

From 14 June 2001 through May 2002, the Glenn A. Black Laboratory Office of Cultural Resource Management (GBL-OCRM), Indiana University, conducted a Phase Ia archaeological survey of the proposed road rehabilitation on State Route 244 in Rush and Franklin Counties, Indiana, under contract with the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT). The initial report summarizing our findings and recommendations was submitted to INDOT for review in August of 2003. A partial review of the report by INDOT archaeologist Curtis Tomak outlined a number of issues in need of correction or clarification. In this report submission the GBL-OCRM addresses the issues of concern expressed by INDOT. The project area consists of a 9.3-mile-long corridor along SR 244, beginning in Milroy and extending east to Andersonville. The goals of the project were to locate sites and to make recommendations regarding the management of the cultural resources identified by the survey. Although the survey was limited by a rather narrow, linear corridor, 91 previously undocumented sites were identified and one previously identified site was resurveyed. The GBL-OCRM recommends avoidance or Phase II investigation for four prehistoric sites and eight historic sites. Recommendations of avoidance or Phase II testing for a subsample of the prehistoric sites is based on the potential of sites to yield information about culture history, population, and settlement trends for the region. The historic sites recommended for avoidance or Phase II testing focus on homestead and commercial sites that may yield information about rural and urban town growth in the area during the middle to late nineteenth century.