Archaeological monitoring of construction of a six-inch force main sewer over Lookout Creek, Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee

The Jeffrey L. Brown Institute of Archaeology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, conducted archaeological monitoring of trenching activities associated with the construction of a six-inch diameter force main sewer pipeline crossing Lookout Creek, Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee at Mile 0.7 above the left bank of the Tennessee River. The sewer main extended from the Lora Lee Knitting Mill off Cummings Highway north and west across Lookout Creek for a total extant of about 4130 feet / 1260 meters. The monitoring was conducted for the Hamilton County Engineering Department and was required by the Regulatory Branch of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Tennessee Historical Commission. The Institute performed continuous monitoring of approximately 1880 feet / 570 meters, more or less, of the proposed route of the sewer beginning near the Lora Lee Knitting Mill and running north to the crossing of Lookout Creek. Portions of the sewer trenching on the north/west bank of the creek were also monitored, but coverage of this 2250 feet / 685 meters (more or less) of proposed sewer line on the north/west riverbank was not continuous; this segment of proposed sewer largely followed an existing roadbed. Monitoring on the north/west bank focused on the vicinity of an historic homestead and Civil War battleground. Opportunistic surface collections from the trench spoil yielded 32 fragments of aboriginal lithics from the Lora Lee tract. In addition, one aboriginal ceramic fragment and four pieces of a mineral specimen were recovered. No cultural materials were collected from the trenching north/west of Lookout Creek. In no portion of the observed sewer trench were significant aboriginal or historic features encountered.https://scholar.utc.edu/archaeology-reports/1035/thumbnail.jp