Cultural Resources Survey of the Donnelley Wildlife Management Area Mitigation Tract

"Between August 30 and October 3, 2011, Brockington and Associates, Inc., conducted an intensive archaeological survey of the 691-acre Donnelley Mitigation Tract in the Donnelley Wildlife Management Area (WMA), Colleton County, South Carolina. These investigations were requested by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) in compliance with federal laws concerning the management of historic properties (i.e., archaeological sites, buildings, structures, objects, or districts listed on or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places [NRHP]) affected by proposed timber thinning activities related to the management of red-cockaded woodpecker habitat. These laws and regulations include the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (16 USC 470), as amended, and the National Environmental Policy Act. The project tract is located south of the intersection of US Route 17 and SC Route 303 between the Ashepoo and Chehaw rivers in southcentral Colleton County. The 691-acre Donnelley Mitigation Tract includes selected timber stands in the central portion of the Donnelley WMA. Vegetation across these stands consisted of mature loblolly and longleaf pines and mixed hardwoods, with moderate to light understories. A significant portion of the project tract had undergone controlled burning within the last year. The central portion of the project tract extends into hardwood wetlands. During the survey of the timber stands, field conditions varied from very dry in late August/early September to very wet in late September. Field investigations at the Donnelley Mitigation Tract included archaeological survey of the entire tract. There are no survey-eligible structures within the project tract; therefore, an architectural survey was not necessary. This investigation includes resurvey of lands previously visited by Eubanks and Poplin (1994). During the archaeological survey we spaced pedestrian transects 30 meters apart, excavating shovel tests every 30 meters. No shovel tests were excavated in wetlands. Investigators identified 14 previously unrecorded archaeological sites (Sites 38CN1111-38CN1123 and 38CN1127), three cultural landscape resources (Resources 38CN1124-38CN1126), and six isolated finds (Isolates 1-6). Table 1 summarizes these cultural resources. Eight sites (38CN1112-38CN1119) contain only Pre-Contact artifacts, ranging in date from the Late Archaic to Late Woodland period. Two sites (38CN1111 and 38CN1120) contain both Pre-Contact and Post-Contact artifacts. Site 38CN1122 is a late-nineteenth/early-twentieth-century scatter. Site 38CN1123 is a nineteenth-century tar kiln (previously known to SCDNR personnel and being preserved). Site 38CN1121 is a late-nineteenth/early-twentieth-century well. Resource 38CN1126 contains cultural landscape features indicative of an eighteenth/nineteenth century inland rice field. Three resources/sites (38CN1124, 38CN1125, and 38CN1127) contain artifacts or cultural landscape features associated with late-nineteenth/ early-twentieth-century tram lines. Site 38CN1120 is a large subsurface scatter of Pre-Contact ceramic and lithic artifacts and Post-Contact artifacts located on a sand ridge between two limestone sinks in the central portion of the tract (see Figure 1.1). We recommend 38CN1120 eligible for the NRHP and the site should be preserved. We recommend the remaining 16 resources/ sites and six isolated finds not eligible for the NRHP. These 16 resources/sites and six isolated finds warrant no further management consideration."