Archeological Survey Of Lots 3 And 6 In Turtle Creek Village, Round Rock, Williamson County, Texas

On December 3, 2014, an archeologist with Prewitt and Associates, Inc., conducted an intensive archeological survey of two parcels totaling 13.5 acres in Round Rock in southern Williamson County, Texas. The survey was completed prior to proposed residential development on Lots 3 and 6 in Turtle Creek Village, just west of A. W. Grimes Boulevard. The survey found that the project area has been extensively disturbed by cultivation, erosion, earthmoving, and the channelization of Dry Branch Creek, which bisects the project area. Fourteen shovel tests excavated in the project area encountered no archeological materials; many of them identified areas of graded fill, and one contained modern trash. A few lithic fl akes were observed on the surface, but they were on or near imported fi ll and likely of nonlocal origin; these flakes were not designated an archeological site. The project area has been substantially disturbed and has no potential for archeological sites that are eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Therefore, it is recommended that the proposed project be allowed to proceed without additional archeological investigations

Archeological Survey For The Culebra Creek NWWC Drainage Project, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

On August 31, 2017, personnel from Prewitt and Associates, Inc., conducted an intensive archeological survey on Culebra Creek in west-central San Antonio, Texas, for Adams Environmental, Inc., and the City of San Antonio under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 8145. This work was completed prior to proposed channel improvements below existing bridges at Culebra Road and Timber Path. The horizontal Area of Potential Effects (APE) for the project is 10.6 acres of city-owned property composed of 1.7 acres at Culebra Road and 8.9 acres downstream at Timber Path. The APE segment at Culebra Road encompasses a 380-ft-long by 165-ft-wide bridge corridor, with a 45-ft-wide corridor for a proposed pilot channel stretching 95 ft east and 160 ft west. The APE segment at Timber Path encompasses a 510-ft-long by 130-ft-wide bridge corridor, with a 175-ft-long by 45–80-ft-wide area for a proposed pilot channel west of the bridge and a 7.4-acre area slated for various channel improvements east of the bridge corridor. Review of topographic maps, aerial photographs, satellite imagery, and project schematics before the field investigation revealed extensive disturbance in the project area derived from previous channel modification and road and bridge construction. The field investigation included pedestrian survey and the excavation of nine shovel tests in and adjacent to the APE. The field investigation identified shallow surface soils, surface or near-surface gravel deposits, and exposed limestone bedrock across the project area. No artifacts or archeological sites were found. Furthermore, the APE does not include surface soils of sufficient depth to contain buried archeological sites. Based on this observation, the APE has very little potential for intact archeological deposits that meet eligibility criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic Places or designation as a State Antiquities Landmark. Therefore, Prewitt and Associates, Inc., recommends that the proposed project be allowed to proceed without additional archeological investigations

Archeological Survey Of Parmer Village Duplexes (Lot 4), Austin, Williamson County, Texas

On December 4, 2014, an archeologist with Prewitt and Associates, Inc., conducted an archeological survey of a small property in northwest Austin in Williamson County, Texas. The work was performed for the proposed residential development of a 9.3-acre parcel of private property just west of Lake Creek at the intersection of Parmer Lane and Sage Grouse Drive. The field investigation was limited to the edges of the project area due to ongoing earthmoving and residential construction, which had extensively disturbed and reworked almost all of the parcel. Surface survey identified a small amount of lithic debitage and burned rocks in the northwest corner of the project area and one ground stone fragment along its east edge.These artifacts are undoubtedly associated with previously recorded prehistoric archeological site 41WM585, which encompassed the current project area and adjoining lands to the west and southwest.This site has been subjected to extensive disturbance over the past 15 years, and the current investigations indicate that no intact archeological deposits are present in the project area. Hence, the site is considered ineligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. It is recommended that the proposed project be allowed to proceed without additional archeological investigations

Archeological Survey For The Proposed Extension Of State Highway 249 In Montgomery And Grimes Counties, Texas, CSJ 0720-02-072 and CSJ 0720-02-073

In May 2014, personnel with Prewitt and Associates, Inc., conducted an intensive pedestrian archeological survey along portions of the proposed route of the extension of State Highway (SH) 249 in Montgomery (CSJ 0720-02-073) and Grimes (CSJ 0720-02-072) counties under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 6798 for Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., and the Texas Department of Transportation, Houston District. The project area extends 14.9 miles northwest from existing SH 249 just southeast of Pinehurst in Montgomery County to Farm to Market Road (FM) 1774 about 1.8 miles north of Todd Mission in Grimes County. The project will consist of construction of a four-lane, controlled-access toll road with auxiliary lanes on mostly new location, typically within a 400-foot-wide right of way. The horizontal Area of Potential Effects for the road route is approximately 720 acres, of which 676 acres will be new right of way. The project also may require up to 98 acres for as many as four runoff detention ponds. Thus, the Area of Potential Effects for the entire project could encompass up to approximately 818 acres. Project personnel consisted of Ross C. Fields (principal investigator), Aaron R. Norment (project archeologist), and Rob Thrift and Jennifer Anderson (archeological technicians). Fieldwork was conducted on May 5–9 and 19–23, 2014, and entailed approximately 24 person-days of effort. The pedestrian survey with shovel testing succeeded in covering 2.8 miles (127 acres) of the 14.9-mile route. Lack of right of entry prevented coverage of 4.3 miles and a 31-acre potential detention pond. Very dense vegetation and debris from the 2011 Magnolia wildfire prevented pedestrian coverage of the remaining 7.8 miles of the road route and three potential detention pond sites totaling 67 acres. Four archeological sites were recorded in the segments surveyed. Three sites (41GM464, 41MQ319, and 41MQ320) are low-density scatters of Native American lithic artifacts; the fourth site (41GM465) is a historic house site probably dating to the mid twentieth century. Artifacts recovered from them and records of the project will be curated at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin. The eligibility of these four sites for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places and designation as State Antiquities Landmarks is considered undetermined, pending completion of the survey and inventory of sites that potentially will be affected by the project. The results of the survey done to date, observations made of areas that could not be surveyed, and results of the background research indicate that the original plan for fieldwork in the remaining unsurveyed areas should be modified. Based on the low likelihood of either Native American or historic sites, it is recommended that survey is not warranted along about 4.7 miles of the road route and on 20 acres in one potential detention pond. Of the remaining unsurveyed lands, about 7.2 miles of the road route and 78 acres in four potential detention ponds should be surveyed with shovel testing, and 0.2 miles of the road route should be surveyed with backhoe trenching. This additional survey should be done after sufficient clearing of vegetation and wildfire debris has been done to enable systematic and safe pedestrian coverage

Phase I Archaeological Survey Of The Proposed West Of The Pecos Solar Project, Reeves County, Texas

In November and December 2015, personnel with Prewitt and Associates, Inc., conducted a Phase I archeological survey of the proposed 716-acre West of the Pecos Solar Project area in northern Reeves County, Texas. The survey resulted in the identification of six previously unrecorded archeological sites. The four Native American sites are an open campsite (41RV87) and three open campsites and lithic procurement localities (41RV89, 41RV90, and 41RV91) characterized by stone hearth remnants and sparse scatters of chipped stone and occasional ground or battered stone artifacts. No temporally diagnostic artifacts were identified at these sites. The two twentieth-century historic sites are a work camp or staging area and adjacent water control feature (41RV88) and a roadway with adjacent utility pole remnants (41RV92). All six sites have no potential to contain important information and are considered ineligible for designation as State Antiquities Landmarks (13 TAC 26.2, 8). No diagnostic Native American artifacts were found, and the few diagnostic historic artifacts at 41RV88 were not collected, so the project resulted in no artifacts that will be curated. The records generated by the project are curated at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory of the University of Texas at Austin

Archeological Survey Of The Proposed Capitol Parks Little League Ball Fields, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

On April 10 and June 6, 2018, personnel with Prewitt and Associates, Inc., conducted an intensive archeological survey on 23.7 acres of undeveloped land to be utilized for the creation new Little League baseball fields just east of the intersection of Wurzbach Parkway and Wetmore Road in northeast San Antonio, Texas. This survey was conducted under the direction of Adams Environmental, Inc., for Cude Engineers, partially under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 8379. The proposed development will be done as a private-public partnership. Most of the project area (23.0 acres) is privately owned land (Capitol Aggregates, Inc.). The public component of the project will involve use of City of San Antonio bond money to construct a road and bridge to access the property on its southeast side. This will be done on 0.7 acres of publicly owned land, and only this part of the project is governed by the terms of the antiquities permit. No prehistoric or historic artifacts or archeological sites were identified during the survey. The access bridge and road section has seen extensive disturbance from development along the eastern creek bank, and the main western section of the proposed park has seen disturbance associated with land clearing and the construction of embankments along Wurzbach Parkway. Shovel testing and examination of cut banks in this western section found no evidence of archeological sites. The proposed project will not impact any archeological resources that meet eligibility criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic Places or designation as a State Antiquities Landmark. Prewitt and Associates, Inc., recommends that the proposed project be allowed to proceed without additional archeological investigations

Two Archeological Surveys In The Texas Department Of Transportations Atlanta District: FM 450 At Little Cypress Bayou, Harrison County (CSJ 0843-02-012), And County Road 4114 At Brutons Creek, Morris County (CSJ 0919-20-030)

Prewitt and Associates, Inc., was contracted by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to perform two intensive archeological surveys in TxDOT’s Atlanta District under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 6385. This work was completed prior to replacement of a bridge and realignment of approaches on Farm-to-Market Road (FM) 450 at Little Cypress Bayou in Harrison County (CSJ 0843-02-012) and replacement of a bridge and improvement of approaches on County Road 4114 at Brutons Creek in Morris County (CSJ 0919-20-030). The Area of Potential Effects (APE) for the FM 450 project is 50 acres and includes existing and new TxDOT right of way; approximately half of the APE was surveyed in 2010 (McKee 2010). The APE for the County Road 4114 project is 1.2 acres and includes a short segment of existing right of way and 0.9 acres of temporary construction easements. Prewitt and Associates archeologists surveyed the remaining 25 acres of the FM 450 APE and the County Road 4114 APE in December 2012 and January 2013. These investigations required a total of about 11 person-days of effort. The FM 450 survey included the excavation of 50 shovel tests and 11 trenches. This effort identified a small amount of modern trash on the upland margin at the north end of the project area and prehistoric site 41HS973 on the floodplain near Little Cypress Bayou. Site 41HS973 consists of a diffuse scatter of seven pieces of lithic debitage identified on two sandy rises on the Little Cypress Bayou floodplain. The investigation indicated that the archeological deposits in the investigated part of the site lack both integrity and significance. Thus, Prewitt and Associates recommends that the recorded portion of 41HS973 is not eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D (36 CFR 60.4; 36 CFR 800.4, 5) or designation as a State Archeological Landmark (13 TAC 26.2, 8). The County Road 4114 survey included the excavation of 15 shovel tests and 4 trenches in and adjacent to the temporary construction easements. No archeological materials or deposits were identified during this investigation. Both surveys were conducted under no artifact collection policies. Identified artifacts were noted, briefly described, and returned to the point of recovery

Seven Archeological Surveys CSJs 0440-04-014, 1200-03-048, 0914-19-030, 0914-19-015, 0914-19-022, And 0914-26-006: RM 243, FM 973, CR 142, CR 119, and Spring Street: Burnet, Gillespie, Mason, And Travis Counties, Austin District

Personnel with Prewitt and Associates, Inc., completed seven archeological surveys in 2013 for the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) Environmental Affairs Division in TxDOT’s Austin District under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 6541. The surveys were done to identify archeological sites that could be affected by bridge and road construction at the following six locations: Ranch-to-Market Road 243 at Bear Creek in Burnet County (CSJ 0440-04-014), Farm-to-Market Road 973 at the Colorado River in Travis County (CSJ 1200-03-048), County Road 142 at Palo Alto Creek (two locations) in Gillespie County (CSJs 0914-19-030 and 015), County Road 119 at the Pedernales River in Gillespie County (CSJ 0914-19-022), and Spring Street at Comanche Creek in Mason County (CSJ 0914-26-006). Two phases of survey were done in the Mason County project area. Fieldwork was performed by a team of one to three archeologists, with Damon Burden serving as project archeologist and Karl Kibler, Eloise Gadus, Aaron Norment, or John Dockall assisting as field archeologist or geoarcheologist. Ross C. Fields served as principal investigator. The surveys were done over about 30 work days (60 person days) in May–June and August– October 2013. Five of the locations have small horizontal Areas of Potential Effects, ranging from 0.6 to 3.3 acres and totaling 7.2 acres. The sixth, FM 973 at the Colorado River, is much larger at 43.9 acres. In addition to surface inspection, the surveys involved excavation of 34 backhoe trenches at all six locations and 46 shovel tests at five of them. In addition, 5 hand-dug test units were excavated at the Mason County location. Survey determined that three of the locations—RM 243 at Bear Creek, FM 973 at the Colorado River, and County Road 142 at Palo Alto Creek Location #2—do not contain archeological sites that could be impacted by the proposed projects. Two others—County Road 142 at Palo Alto Creek Location #1 and County Road 119 at the Pedernales River—were found to contain archeological sites (41GL476 and 41GL475, respectively), but the portions within the project areas have no capacity to contribute important information and thus are considered ineligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places or designation as State Antiquities Landmarks. In contrast, 41MS99 found in the Spring Street at Comanche Creek project area is eligible for listing and designation. Artifacts were collected only during the two phases of survey in the Mason County project area; they will be curated, along with artifacts recovered during subsequent data recovery excavations at 41MS99, at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory of the University of Texas at Austin. This also is the repository for all the records resulting from these surveys

National Register Testing At 41TT896 And 41TT906 And Archeological Survey Of Three Parcels, FM 1000 Realignment Project (CSJ No. 1226-04-001), Titus County, Texas

Prewitt and Associates, Inc., was contracted by PTP Transportation, LLC, to perform archeological investigations for Titus County in the proposed final alignment of FM 1000. The work, performed under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 5998, consisted of archeological test excavations at sites 41TT896 and 41TT906 to assess their eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and designation as State Archeological Landmarks and archeological survey of three parcels. Fieldwork was done in July–August 2011, January–February 2012, and July 2012 and required about 99 person-days of effort. Test excavations at 41TT896 consisted of 23 backhoe trenches, eight 1x1-m test units, and 13 shovel tests. This effort revealed low-density scatters of prehistoric chipped stone artifacts and twentieth-century historic artifacts, along with a single historic feature. No prehistoric cultural features were identified. Recovered projectile points and the absence of prehistoric ceramics suggest that the prehistoric component dates to the Late Archaic period. The historic component relates to a farm complex outside the project area. Neither component at 41TT896 has the capacity to contribute important information, and thus the site is ineligible for National Register listing or State Archeological Landmark designation. Test excavations at 41TT906 consisted of 15 backhoe trenches and four 1x1-m test units; the final task consisted of mechanically scraping 1,864 m2 of the site to ensure that no Native American burials were present. These efforts revealed a lowdensity scatter of prehistoric chipped stone artifacts and ceramics and a single disturbed burned rock feature representing sparse Late Caddo, Archaic, and perhaps late Paleoindian components. The investigated part of 41TT906 has no capacity to contribute important information and thus is ineligible for National Register listing or State Archeological Landmark designation. Investigation of Survey Areas 1–3 included the excavation of 50 shovel tests across 13 acres. No archeological sites were identified in Survey Areas 1 or 2. A historic-age residential structure in Survey Area 2 was moved onto the property in the 1960s–1970s; it does not possess integrity of place or materials and is not eligible for listing in the National Register. Historic site 41TT918 was identified in Survey Area 3. It consists of a historic scatter that represents outbuildings associated with a twentieth-century farmstead located outside the project area to the southeast. It has no capacity to contribute important information and thus is ineligible for National Register listing or State Archeological Landmark designation. All artifacts and records generated by this project are curated at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin

Archaeological Investigations Under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 4925 for the Texas Department of Transportation, Fort Bend, Galveston, and Harris Counties, Texas

In May 2008, PBSJ (now Atkins North America, Inc.), was contracted by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), to conduct archaeological impact evaluations and surveys for the Houston and Beaumont Districts under Contract 578-XX-SA004. This contract was for on-demand services, with specific work defined by individual work authorizations. However, all investigations were subsumed under a single Texas Antiquities Permit (No. 4925) for the contract, with Michael Nash serving as Principal Investigator during fieldwork. Four work authorizations were issued, but only three surveys were conducted due to a refusal of Right-of-Entry on one job. All fieldwork was conducted between October 2008 and April 2010. Projects were located in Fort Bend, Galveston, and Harris Counties. Following completion of the fieldwork and the majority of reporting, the permit was transferred to TxDOT, with James T. Abbott serving as Principal Investigator. Final preparation of this report was performed by Abbott, based upon a draft provided by Atkins. WA 1 authorized survey of a planned detention pond adjacent to Farm to Market Road (FM) 2978, between 0.065 and 0.145 south of Bogs Road in Harris County. An intensive survey of the 4.13-acre site was conducted on October 2, 2008 by Rebecca Sager and Ephriam McDowell. Four shovel tests were excavated during the survey, all of which were negative for cultural material. No cultural resources were encountered during the survey, and Atkins recommended that no further investigations were warranted and the project receive archaeological clearance. WA 2 authorized a survey prior to construction of beach stabilization structures along a 4.7- mile length of SH 87 in Galveston County. The archaeological project area designated in the scope of work consisted of 35 acres of existing right-of-way (ROW) within an overall 70.0 acres of existing ROW. A visual inspection of the project area and excavation of one shovel test was conducted on February 4 and 5, 2009, by Damon Burden and Joe Craig. No cultural resources encountered during the survey, the survey area was found to be heavily disturbed, and Atkins recommended that no further investigations were warranted. WA 3 was a proposed realignment of Conroe-Hufsmith Road at FM 2978 in Montgomery County. The project would have required 2.0 acres of new ROW, and the APE would have included the new ROW as well as any existing ROW along the project length. However, permission to conduct archaeological investigations was denied by the affected landowner, and the Work Authorization was cancelled. WA 4 was issued for an intensive survey in advance of improvements to FM 1464 at New Home Cemetery in Fort Bend County. An initial survey was conducted at the location, but due to a contractual dispute between Atkins and TxDOT regarding the scope of services, not all work associated with the project was completed by Atkins. This report describes the work that was completed under this permit