Phase I Archaeological Survey of the Piner Stream Restoration Tract in Boone County, KY

This proposal has been prepared in response to a request from Mr. Scott Fennell of the Northern Kentucky University Center for Environmental Restoration (NKU-CER; the Client) for a proposal and cost estimate for conducting Phase I archaeological survey of the proposed Piner Stream Restoration Tract in Boone County, Kentucky. About 24,000 linear feet of stream courses are involved in the project, and these will be subjected to various stream restoration tasks including, preservation, stream rehabilitation, and stream re-establishment. Some stream segments are in comparatively good condition, and these will be allowed to recover naturally, without additional modifications. The Piner tract (project area) measures about 215 acres (86.8 ha) in extent and is located about 1.5 km northeast of Big Bone Lick State Park. Gum Branch is a south-flowing tributary to Big Bone Creek, which in turn is a tributary to the Ohio River. The project area includes a portion of the Gum Branch drainage and the drainage of an unnamed but principal tributary to Gum Branch (GB1). However, but only small sections of the overall tract will be directly impacted by the stream restoration work and be subject to archaeological survey. Other areas that have high archaeological potential, in particular upland ridge crests, also will require systematic archaeological survey so that the ultimate landowners of the Piner Tract (Kentucky Division of Parks) can more effectively manage the land and preserve known and potentially significant cultural resources. The work that will be conducted will conform to the Kentucky Heritage Council’s Specifications for Conducting Fieldwork and Preparing Cultural Resource Assessment Reports (revised 2006). The Phase I archaeological survey will provide an inventory of the cultural resources within the investigated portions of the project area and will provide preliminary evaluations of the research potential of each cultural resource (archaeological site) identified and of each site’s eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). An archaeological site is any location on the landscape that produces artifacts more than 50 years old from intact deposits. Agricultural activities alone do not constitute disturbance of a site under current guidelines.