The University of Iowa maintains a contract services agreement with the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) to conduct the Highway Archaeology Program as a public service providing cultural resource assessments on transportation projects statewide. Archaeological sites in project areas are examined for their integrity and significance, as are historic buildings proposed for acquisition or removal. Additionally, cultural resource evaluations are available to local governments and preservation organizations applying for SAFETEA-LU (Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act—A Legacy for Users) transportation enhancement funding or project planning assistance. Project Completion Reports are submitted to the Iowa DOT Office of Location and Environment in Ames and contain project descriptions, background cultural and environmental data, archaeological and historic architectural survey and testing methods, results, and recommendations, and include maps and photographs. Archaeological collections are curated at the Office of the State Archaeologist in Iowa City, and historic architectural documentation is curated with the State Historic Preservation Office of the State Historical Society of Iowa in Des Moines.

The Highway Archaeology Program coordinates archaeological and historic architectural surveys with transportation planners and engineers to provide cultural resource evaluations early in the planning process. In the past decade more than 850 transportation-related projects have been evaluated, including surveys across 22,000 acres (8,700 hectares), providing assessments of over 880 archaeological sites and 980 buildings or farmsteads affected by transportation improvements. In many instances, highway planners are able to successfully redesign projects to preserve significant historic properties eligible to the National Register of Historic Places.

Recent highlights include:

• The proposed reconstruction of U.S. 169 through Webster and Humboldt counties which necessitated archaeological and historic architectural surveys along a 12.5-mile stretch between Fort Dodge and Humboldt. Conducted well in advance of final plan development, project concept statements and aerial photographs aided the corridor investigation. Out of 20 standing building complexes in the survey corridor, the historic architectural survey recorded six historic properties that were eligible to the National Register of Historic Places as farmstead historic districts, or single buildings that contributed to a district, and recommended their avoidance or mitigation by the proposed project. An additional 48 archaeological sites were evaluated on the same corridor. While the majority of those were recommended as ineligible, the National Register-eligibility of four archaeological sites was left undetermined given their size and depth, and the uncertainties of final right-of-way limits. Further archaeological investigation has been recommended if their locations are included in final project limits.
• A Phase II archaeological excavation was completed for a proposed land transfer in Henry County. Site 13HN452 was originally recorded during an archaeological survey completed in 1998 prior to construction of the U.S. 218 Mount Pleasant bypass. The site, a prehistoric lithic artifact scatter of unknown cultural affiliation, is situated on a nose slope adjacent to a headwater tributary stream. Interpreted as a bivouac site that had been partially buried and protected by soil erosion processes, 13HN452 was recommended as potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The land parcel encompassing site 13HN452 was purchased for use as a material borrow associated with the reconstruction of U.S. 218, however the borrow area was subsequently redesigned in order to avoid 13HN452. The Iowa DOT now wishes to sell the parcel including 13HN452 to the City of Mount Pleasant, which proposes to incorporate the land parcel into a park. In order to clarify management issues related to the site’s National Register eligibility prior to the proposed property transfer, Phase II archaeological testing was requested for the site. Following the Phase II fieldwork and analysis, it was determined site 13HN452 does not meet qualification standards for inclusion in the National Register. The site represents an ephemeral short term encampment of unknown cultural affiliation. The archaeological signature of this component cannot be spatially or stratigraphically isolated because the context of the few archaeological materials present has been blurred by natural site formation processes. The site has produced no diagnostic artifacts or cultural features. The potential of the site to contribute further significant data is considered low. On the basis of all available evidence, no further archaeological work was recommended for the site.
• Phase II archaeological site testing in Mills County involved the proposed replacement of a Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad bridge and roadway reconstruction on Iowa 978 and Iowa 385 near Glenwood. Phase II test excavations were conducted at 13ML637 and 13ML640 where both sites are buried in footslope positions near the mouth of Keg Creek. By agency agreement, site testing included the excavation of 1-x-2-m test units within an area of potential effects considered to be the portion the sites containing prehistoric materials in the upper 1 meter of soil. The 13ML637 test excavations yielded flaking debris, chipped stone tools, ceramics, introduced rocks, and burnt earth or daub fragments. Hand- and flotation-collected charred botanical remains include wood charcoal, charred corn kernel fragments, wild plant seeds, nutshell, squash rind, and bean. Diagnostic artifacts were not recovered but stratigraphic and radiocarbon data suggest that the tested portion of the cultural deposit consists of weakly stratified Late Prehistoric age Nebraska phase and historic age components. A radiocarbon dated corn kernel with a circa 1800 date suggests, along with the bean and squash fragment, the presence of an early historic component, but in the absence of other artifacts from the period use of the site by historic period American Indians or early American pioneers can only be speculated. Documentary evidence of early historic settlement of the Glenwood locality is scant, although the presence of Otoe villages near the mouth of the Platte River west of Glenwood, and a possible trading post near the mouth of Keg Creek, are shown on historical maps. Burial of the cultural deposit at 13ML637 apparently occurred through slow sediment accumulation and soil formation during and after the prehistoric occupation. The horizontal distribution of artifacts suggests that intensive occupational activities were centered north or northwest of the tested portion of 13ML637. Due to the testing limitations imposed by the area of potential effects, the National Register eligibility status of 13ML637 remains undetermined. The test excavations at 13ML640 revealed an uncultivated site remnant consisting of a light scatter of lithic debitage, ceramics, and charcoal. The available evidence suggests repeated use of 13ML640 during the Woodland or Late Prehistoric period for flintknapping activities possibly associated with resource extraction and processing. The site may alternatively represent the margin of a scatter of refuse surrounding a Nebraska phase house. Extensive grading activities associated with past road and railroad construction have severely affected the site. Due to a lack of clearly significant archaeological remains in the tested portion of the site, site 13ML640 does not meet the eligibility criteria for listing in the National Register and further archaeological investigation within the area of potential effects was not recommended.

The Highway Archaeology Program meets professional standards and guidelines for archaeological and historic architectural fieldwork and reporting, with the goal providing counties, municipalities, and the Iowa DOT with complete preservation coverage on transportation projects. This work gathers useful historical and archaeological information that is of significant research and educational value. The program has had a long and successful tenure, and due to its comprehensive nature, is equipped to provide efficient and professional cultural resource evaluations.

Updated 2008

Carl Merry, RPA
Highway Archaeology Program Director

carl-merry@uiowa.edu

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