Mitigation
When an adverse effect to an NRHP-eligible or listed historic property, either archaeological or above-ground, cannot be avoided, measures are taken to help mitigate the impact to offset the loss. Referred to broadly as mitigation, it is up to the participants in the Section 106 process to determine the appropriate measures. For archaeological resources, Phase III Data Recovery is perhaps the most common form of mitigation, designed to acquire the significant archaeological data from the site before it is destroyed. For historic resources projects, a common mitigation measure is a Phase I Historic Resources survey of a nearby area. In addition, mitigation often calls for a public outreach/education component. In recent years, “creative mitigation” alternatives to data recovery or historic resources survey mitigation have been implemented, such as the preservation of other eligible sites, heritage tourism, historic contexts, educational materials, and websites. Southern Research has conducted numerous mitigation projects, from extensive archaeological data recoveries to historic resource mitigation surveys.
Phase III Data Recovery
Archaeological data recovery efforts on a turn of the century tenant house site located near Augusta, Georgia were performed by Southern Research staff in 2014. The site was originally identified by Southern Research in 1999 as part of a survey of a tract slated for a residential community. Southern Research later conducted Phase II testing at the site, and eventually performed the data recovery. Results of the excavation indicated a dwelling was constructed around 1910 and was likely occupied by tenant farmer(s) and their families until the 1930s.
Beginning in 2016, Southern Research embarked on a years’ long relationship with the Development Authority of the City of Milledgeville and Baldwin County to survey a 1,587 tract of land for GRAD certification. Forty archaeological sites were identified, seven of which Southern Research conducted Phase II testing on. Two of those seven sites underwent data recovery efforts. Over the course of four months, our crews conducted close-interval shovel testing, excavated 2x2-meter excavation units, and excavated dozens of features. The results of the investigations provided an immense amount of data on a poorly understood temporal and cultural period in Georgia prehistory.