Archeological Testing at Prehistoric Site 41UR36 Upshur County, Texas

From September 27-30, 1999, TxDOT archeologists conducted archeological testing of site 41UR36 within the proposed areas of impact for the FM 1002 widening at Glade Creek in Upshur County. Archeologists hand-excavated four 1 -x- 1 -m test units and one 1.5-x-0.5-m test unit. The goal was to assess the integrity of the portion of the site within the Area of Potential Effect (APE) and determine whether it was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Relatively few temporally or functionally diagnostic tools were recovered. Except for two Middle Archaic and one Late Archaic Period projectile points, only one other formal tool, a large axe-like biface, was recovered. The remainder consists of a few culturally modified stones and an expedient edge-modified flake. The twelve ceramic sherds recovered from the site are comprised of body sherds and one rim sherd, that fit within the descriptive range of ceramics identified at this site in 1985 during the Big Sandy Project (e.g., Late Caddoan Period brushed, incised, and punctated ceramic wares). The three identified features consisted of only a few disarticulated rocks. No bone, shell, charred materials, or discolored sediments were observed in association with any of the features. Furthermore, none of the surrounding matrix could be distinguished from the feature matrix on sedimentologic or pedologic properties. Testing results indicate that some of thearcheological deposits at 41UR36 may be stratified. An isolated, discrete Archaic occupation zone appears to be present below the range of mixed deposits. However, the portion of the site within the area APE does not offer reasonable potential to contain information to address significant research issues about land use, subsistence, technology, chronology, or site function. Finally, features and presumed associated artifacts are only tenuously linked and without sufficient temporal controls, stronger relationships cannot be firmly established. Based on these investigations the portion of site 41UR36 within the proposed widening will not likely yield information that would contribute to the NRHP eligibility of the site. Therefore, the proposed project should have no effect on archeological historic properties and no further archeological work is recommended for the proposed bridge widening