Archaeological / Historical Reconnaissance of Catfish Lake Road, Croatan National Forest, North Carolina

This project. involving a contract between the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Coastal Zone Resource Corporation. was designed to locate and investigate any cultural remains which may have been located within a corridor 400 feet wide centered on the existing Catfish Lake Road right of way. The road will be widened and paved, and Federal Highway Administration guidelines require that such an evaluation be performed. Sites located were to be evaluated for potential of nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, and recommendations made for eliminating any adverse impacts to the sites determined eligible for inclusion on the Register. The survey began with an investigation of previous work in the area including surveys for prehistoric and historic sites. and historic overviews of the area to determine the potential for locating particular types of historic sites in the project area. After the background research had been concluded a pedestrian survey was conducted in the field. This survey examined all open ground in the project area (approximately 10% of the total area) and included subsurface testing in areas with ground cover and in areas which showed high potential for site location. Testing in areas of dense ground cover included a stratified sampling technique. In areas of high site probability (high ground) tests were located every 50 meters and consisted of 50 em square holes excavated to culturally sterile subsoil. In areas of low probability such as the swamps and other very low areas tests were further apart. ranging from 40 meters separation up to 1/ 4 kilometer separation in areas that were essentially underwater where the holes filled immediately to the top with water making any such testing close to useless. Testing was more intense adjacent to the existing roadway and less intense as the edges of the 400 foot wide corridor were app roached. Three sites had already been recorded in the area. Jnvl6. and two located by a previous National Forest Service survey assigned temporary numbers CR43-186 and CR43-286. In addition. one artifact was found by this survey and one apparent historic site. In the vicinity of these sites and finds test squares one meter on a side were opened in an array to determine the quality of the site. Following the survey all data were collected and analyzed to determine if any sites met National Register criteria. While the results were not totally negative. no sites were located which were deemed eligible to the National Register of Historic Places. Jnv16 and CR43-286 were found to be entirely outside t he project boundaries. CR43-186 was found to be such a thin scatter of materials that it possessed no research potential and was clearly of no significance. One Palmer projectile point was located in the ditch adjacent to the roadway but no other artifacts were found in the vicinity making this an isolated find. One tar kiln was located, but it had been previously located by a fireplow so that nothing remained intact at this site. One hunting cabin was seen but this was modern with no research or historical value whatever. Based on these data a recommendation is made that implementation of t he plan to pave Catfish Lake Road will in no way impact any significant cultural resources.本项目基于北卡罗来纳大学威尔明顿分校（University of North Carolina at Wilmington）与海岸带资源公司（Coastal Zone Resource Corporation）签订的合同，旨在定位并调查位于现有鲶鱼湖路（Catfish Lake Road）路权中心线两侧各200英尺（总宽400英尺）的廊道范围内可能存在的文化遗存。该道路将进行拓宽与铺装作业，根据美国联邦公路管理局（Federal Highway Administration）的规范要求，需开展此类文化遗存评估工作。本次调查需对发现的遗存点进行评估，判断其是否具备列入《国家历史遗迹名录》（National Register of Historic Places）的潜力，并针对被认定符合名录收录条件的遗存点，提出规避或减轻不利影响的相关建议。本次调查首先梳理了该区域既往的考古工作，包括史前与历史时期遗存的专项调查，以及区域历史概况梳理，以明确项目区内特定类型历史遗存的发现潜力。背景调研完成后，项目组开展了野外步行调查。本次调查覆盖了项目区内所有开阔地表（约占总面积的10%），并对有植被覆盖的区域以及遗存发现潜力较高的区域开展了地下试掘。针对植被茂密区域的试掘采用了分层抽样技术；在遗存发现概率较高的高地，试掘点间距为50米，试掘坑规格为50厘米见方，开挖至不含文化遗存的生土层为止。在遗存发现概率较低的区域，如沼泽及其他低洼地带，试掘点间距则更大：在间距40米至250米（即1/4公里）不等的区域中，若区域基本处于水下，试掘坑会迅速被水填满，此类近距离试掘几乎无实用价值。试掘强度紧邻现有道路的区域更高，随着向400英尺宽廊道边缘靠近，试掘强度逐步降低。该区域此前已记录有3处遗存点：Jnvl6，以及美国国家森林局（National Forest Service）既往调查发现的2处临时编号为CR43-186与CR43-286的遗存点。此外，本次调查还发现了1件遗物（artifact）与1处疑似历史遗存点。针对上述已发现的遗存点及相关遗物分布区，项目组布设了1米见方的试掘方格阵列，以评估该遗存点的保存质量与学术价值。调查结束后，项目组对全部数据进行了整理与分析，以判断是否存在符合《国家历史遗迹名录》收录标准的遗存点。尽管本次调查结果并非完全无收获，但未发现任何符合《国家历史遗迹名录》收录条件的遗存点。经核查，Jnv16与CR43-286两处遗存点完全位于项目边界之外；CR43-186遗存点的遗物分布过于稀疏，不具备任何学术研究价值，显然不具备历史意义。在紧邻道路的沟渠中发现了1件帕默式投射尖状器（Palmer projectile point），但周边未发现其他遗物，因此该发现属于孤立标本。本次调查还发现了1处焦油窑遗址，但该遗址此前已被火耕犁（fireplow）破坏，遗址内未留存任何完整遗存。发现1处狩猎小屋遗迹，但该遗迹为近现代遗存，不具备任何学术研究或历史价值。基于上述调查结果，本项目提出建议：实施鲶鱼湖路铺装计划，不会对任何具有重要价值的文化资源造成不利影响。