Projects - Rutland
Archaeological Phase I Survey and Phase II Testing
Armed Forces Reserve Center Proposed Locations
Rutland and North Clarendon, Rutland County, Vermont
Client: Brockington and Associates, Inc. and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act (BRAC) Natural Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Support Team
Date completed: May-October 2009
During 2009, the NE ARC provided cultural resource services to Brockington and Associates, Inc. and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act (BRAC) Natural Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Support Team for the assessment of three proposed as alternative Armed Forces Reserve Center locations in Rutland County, Vermont.
The Preferred Alternative and Eastern Parcel project areas are located in Rutland, and the Alternative #2 Project area is located in North Clarendon, with a combined APE totaling 66 acres. Services conducted by the NE ARC included Phase I survey of each of the three proposed locations, resulting in the identification of one historic Euroamerican site and five Native American sites. Phase II testing was subsequently conducted by the NE ARC at four of the five Native American sites. Survey and testing of the combined project areas included the hand excavation of a total of 175.5 square meters, plus the mechanical stripping of 225.5 m² of the plow zone.
The Preferred Alternative project area was found to contain two newly identified Native American sites and one historic Euroamerican site. The 19th-century “Adams Farm” Historic site and one of the Native American sites were found not to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). However, Locus 4 of Native American site VT-RU-597 possessed an intact cultural feature representing a rare “ritual disposal” episode, as suggested by 16 temporally diagnostic projectile points and point fragments. These define a rare “Neville”-related Middle Archaic period context, supported by a radiocarbon date from the feature. Locus 4 of site VT-RU-597 is eligible for listing in the NRHP and the Vermont State Register.
The NE ARC successfully aided the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in determining a suitable base location which will have no negative impacts on cultural resources. In the process, the NE ARC identified a rare and significant site which has enhanced our understanding of Native American history of this region.
Report: Gammon, James G., Jessica M. Stuart, Stephen R. Scharoun, Jacob E. Grindle, Robert N. Bartone and Ellen R. Cowie 2010 Archaeological Phase I Survey of Three Proposed Armed Forces Reserve Center Locations and Phase II Testing of Four Newly Identified Native American Sites, North Clarendon and Rutland, Rutland County, Vermont. Submitted to Brockington and Associates, Inc. and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act NEPA Support Team. Northeast Archaeology Research Center, Inc.
Projects
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