A Cultural Resources Survey for the City of Temple’s Prairie View Road Expansion Project, Bell County, Texas

In December, 2013, and January, 2014, South Texas Archeological Research Services, LLC, conducted a cultural resources survey for the City of Temple’s Prairie View Road Expansion Project, Bell County, Texas. The survey focused on discovery, identification, and preliminary assessment of archeological resources. The area surveyed was about 3,220 m of public road right-of-way about 30 m wide. It consisted of about 24 acres of land. Because the survey area was owned or controlled by the City, a political subdivision of the State of Texas, compliance with the Antiquities Code of Texas was triggered for the project. Since there was no federal link for the project, the National Historic Preservation Act did not apply to it. The survey included search of relevant data in the Texas Historical Commission’s Texas Archeological Sites Atlas, pedestrian visual surface inspection, subsurface testing, and reporting. It was done under Texas Antiquities Permit 6735 and according to applicable professional standards and guidelines. Surface inspection and subsurface testing during fieldwork revealed that much of the project area was previously disturbed in recent times by human agency, and apparently was also disturbed by natural forces such as soil erosion, deflation, and bioturbation. No archeological evidence was found and no non-archeological cultural evidence that might have been eligible for landmark designation or that merited further investigation or documentation was seen either within or adjacent to the project area. Nothing was collected or curated. Considering the methods and results of the survey, the Principal Investigator believed that the project as planned at the time of the survey should not affect any cultural resources eligible for landmark designation and therefore should proceed without further state antiquities code compliance efforts. It was also recommended that, per applicable statutes and regulations, if any archeological evidence was discovered during construction all work in the vicinity should immediately be suspended pending examination of the finds by the Texas Historical Commission and/or a Commission-qualified archeological consultant