Article Title

Intensive Areal Survey with Deep Mechanical Testing: For the City of Ballinger Waste Water Treatment Plant Expansion, Runnels County, Texas

Authors

Katherine Turner Pearson

Agency

Texas Historical Commission

Abstract

Archaeologists from Central Texas Archaeological Resources (CTAR), on behalf of the City of Ballinger, Runnels County, Texas, conducted an intensive areal archaeological survey with deep mechanical testing within the boundaries of a proposed Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) Expansion, located in Ballinger, Runnels County, Texas on August 24-25, 2014. The proposed WWTP expansion was funded by a Texas Community Development Block Grant (TxCDBG) and therefore, subject to the Antiquities Code of Texas. The city’s current treatment plant in Ballinger was nearing it capacity and was required by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to expand its capabilities in order to meet its future needs. The project design would increase the overall size of the treatment plant, meeting the TCEQ mandate. The survey area was on public property currently owned by the City of Ballinger, Texas.

The location of the proposed new retention ponds were the Area of Potential Effects (APE) for the survey. The APE contained approximately 8.21 hectares (20.3 acres). All field work was conducted in accordance with the Texas Historical Commission (THC) and the Council of Texas Archaeologists’ (CTA) survey standards as outlined in 13 TAC 26.5(35), 13 TAC 26.20(1), and 13 TAC 26,20(2). The archaeological survey was conducted by Principal Investigator, Katherine Turner-Pearson, MA, RPA on August 24-25, 2014. A total of seven shovel tests were excavated to depths of 42-60 centimeters below the surface (cmbs). Archaeologists placed five backhoe trenches within the APE of approximately 6.5 meters (m) x 2.15 m in surface size and 2.0 m in depth. No archaeological sites or cultural remains were revealed during the shovel tests or mechanical testing; however, one archaeological site was discovered during the pedestrian survey. The site, 41RN277, was a surface lithic scatter believed to be archaic in age. The site was disturbed with no diagnostic artifacts, and did not meet the National Register of Historic Places’ eligibility requirements. Archaeologists recommended that the project proceed as planned.

Project and site documentation will be curated at the Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory (TARL) in Austin, Texas, and a copy of this report will be filed with the THC in Austin and the CTAR offices in Woodway, Texas.

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