A CULTURAL RESOURCES ASSESSMENT SURVEY OF THE MIDSTATE MATERIALS PROJECT PARCEL (FOLIO NO. 30-3953- 000-0163), MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA By: Joseph F. Mankowski, M.A., RPA ADVANCED ARCHAEOLOGY, INC. 1126 S. Federal Hwy. #263 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316 Phone: 954-270-6624 FAX: 954-533-0265 Email: [email protected] Prepared for: SZAUER ENGINEERING, INC. OCTOBER 2018 PROJECT #2018.68 AAI TECHNICAL REPORT #275 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ii LIST OF TABLES iii CONSULTANT SUMMARY 1 ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT 3 CULTURAL SETTING 8 PREVIOUS RESEARCH 13 METHODOLOGY 17 RESULTS 20 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 21 BIBLIOGRAPHY 22 APPENDIX I. FMSF SURVEY LOG i LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. USGS map of the Midstate Materials project parcel. 2 Figure 2. Aerial photograph (1969) of the Midstate Materials project parcel. 5 Figure 3. Photograph view southeast at the project parcel and 8DA11507. 6 Figure 4. Photograph view southwest at the project parcel and 8DA11507. 6 Figure 5. Photograph view south at the project parcel. 7 Figure 6. Photograph view east at the project parcel. 7 Figure 7. Aerial photograph (2017) of the Midstate Materials project parcel and shovel tests. 18 Figure 8. USGS map of the Midstate Materials project parcel and shovel tests. 19 ii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Previously Recorded Cultural Resources 15 Table 2. Previous Cultural Resource Investigations 15 iii CONSULTANT SUMMARY In October 2018, Advanced Archaeology, Inc. conducted a Cultural Resources Assessment Survey of the Midstate Materials project parcel for Szauer Engineering, Inc. The project parcel is located in Miami-Dade County (Folio: 30-3953-000-0163), and is being proposed for improvements of an industrial area. The objective of this investigation was to locate and assess any prehistoric or historic cultural resources that may be present within the project boundaries, and to determine the effects upon any potential resources found. This assessment was conducted to fulfill historic resource requirements as part of the review by the State of Florida’s Division of Historical Resources (DHR Project File No.: 2018-4171), in response to Chapters 267.061 and 373.414, Florida Statutes. This assessment also was conducted in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89- 665), as amended in 1992, and 36 C.F.R., Part 800: Protection of Historic Properties. The work and the report conform to the specifications set forth in Chapter 1A-46, Florida Administrative Code. The project parcel lies within Lot 3, Township 53 South and Range 39 East, as depicted on the USGS Hialeah SW Quadrangle map (Figure 1), and is 2.5 hectares (6.25 acres) in size. The parcel is an irregular polygon in shape, and is bounded by a spur of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (8DA11507) on its north side, and private properties on all other sides. The parcel is currently vacant and overgrown with vegetation, and no structures exist within the parcel boundaries. Investigations were accomplished by reviewing existing literature, maps, aerial photographs, and conducting fieldwork. A review with the Florida Master Site File (FMSF) indicated that no previously recorded cultural resources or previous cultural resource investigations occur on the project parcel. However, a segment of site 8DA11507 is located adjacent and on the north side of the project parcel (Figures 3 & 4), which is a spur of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad that was built sometime between 1952 and 1963, and was found to be eligible for listing in the NRHP by Janus Research (FMSF 2012). A pedestrian survey was conducted across the entire property, and a total of 12 shovel tests were excavated across the project parcel at 50-meter intervals on a grid (Figures 7 & 8). The entire project parcel was determined to be in a Low Probability Zone. All shovel tests were found to be negative for cultural material. Subsoils within shovel tests were generally found to be characterized as intact gray clayey sand (0-30 cm), intact very dark grayish brown peat (30-40 cm), and intact limestone bedrock (40 cm). In conclusion, no prehistoric or historic cultural resources were found on the project parcel as a result of this Cultural Resources Assessment Survey. It is the consultant’s opinion, based on the available data that no sites regarded as being eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places occur within the project parcel. No further archaeological assessments are recommended. 1 2 ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT The project parcel is located in Miami-Dade County, Florida; it lies within Lot 3, Township 53 South and Range 39 East, as depicted on the USGS Hialeah SW Quadrangle map (Figure 1), and is 2.5 hectares (6.25 acres) in size. The parcel is an irregular polygon in shape, and is bounded by a spur of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (8DA11507) on its north side, and private properties on all other sides. The parcel is currently vacant and overgrown with vegetation, and no structures exist within the parcel boundaries. A 1969 aerial photograph (Figure 2) of the project parcel shows that the property was historically located within an Everglades prairie. Currently, the project parcel is heavily vegetated (Figures 3- 6) with sawgrass and non-native species consisting primarily of Cogon grass, melaleuca, Brazilian Pepper, and Australian Pine. PHYSICAL SETTING The geology of the general area is characterized by organic deposits of peats (“mucks”) of varying depths covering oolitic and calcitic limestone bedrocks and marls. The surfacial peats are organic depositions formed over the past several thousand years through a combination of plant processes and periodic dry-season fires. These deep peat formations and the extensive wetlands they encompass are what help define the Everglades as a unique geographic feature and determined the sorts of human activities/interaction taking place there in the last five thousand years. The project parcel is considered to lie in the eastern portion of the Everglades Trough, an immense drainage feature extending from Lake Okeechobee south to the Shark River/Florida Bay area in Southern Florida. Historically, the immediate area lay many miles to the west of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge and was a part of the “sawgrass” Everglades, an area little explored and seldom penetrated by historic settlers prior to the turn of the century. The dominant plant of the area is sawgrass (Cladium jamaiciensis), a grass or sedge whose blades are well armed with fine serrations. The Everglades contained many thousands of acres of this plant before drainage efforts were initiated by developers and public works around the turn of the century. The Everglades is not, as many believe, a monoculture of sawgrass but a fairly diverse community of other sedges and grasses such as beak rushes (Rhynchospora spp.), and succulent marsh plants such as arrowhead (Sagittaria spp.), pickerelweed (Pontederia lanceolata), and lizard’s tail (Saururus cernuus) as well as coastal plain willow (Salix caroliniana), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) and other plants whose presence and percentage in any given area is governed by periodic fires occurring in the dry season. This diverse plant community is found growing in shallow water varying in depth from a few inches to two or more feet in the wet season of the year (late summer/early fall). Certain animals such as the alligator play a major role in the disposal and shaping of plant communities by creating 3 depressional ponds that act as “oasises” for fishes, snakes, birds, and other wildlife during times of low water in the late spring of the year. The unique Everglades natural communities grow in a fine black silty “muck” (properly termed peat) that is the end product of at least five thousand years deposition of plant activity. There are several varieties of peat, whose composition is governed in great part by the prevalent plant associations that produce it and the type and percentage of clastic materials such as sand and limestone that may be present through geologic transport or coalescing. These peat deposits can range in depth from several inches to as much as twenty feet and form mantles over a bed of Pleistocene limestone caprock that in itself can be spalled, irregular, or solutioned depending on the erosional forces at work. The project parcel contains two soil types according to the USDA Soil Survey of Dade County Area, Florida (USDA 1996). These soil types are defined as follows: ∙ Lauderhill muck, frequently ponded, 0 to 1 percent slopes: This moderately deep, nearly level, very poorly drained soil is in narrow drainageways and broad open areas within sawgrass marshes. It is ponded for 9 to 12 months in most years. Slopes are smooth or concave and are less than 2 percent. Typically, the soil is muck to a depth of about 30 inches. The upper 7 inches is black, and the lower 23 inches is very dark brown. Hard, porous, oolitic limestone bedrock is at a depth of about 30 inches. ∙ Udorthents-water complex: This soil consists of unconsolidated or heterogeneous geologic material removed in the excavation of ditches, canals, lakes and ponds. It is commonly piled along banks and has slopes of 2 to 40 percent. This soil is moderately well drained. Shovel testing within the project parcel found that the general stratigraphy of the subsoils was found to be characterized as intact gray clayey sand (0-30 cm), intact very dark grayish brown peat (30-40 cm), and intact limestone bedrock (40 cm). 4 5 6 7 CULTURAL SETTING The Glades area, which includes all of southern Florida, was originally defined as a distinctive cultural area by Stirling (1936). Goggin (1947) defined more specific boundaries for the area and identified three inclusive sub-areas: the “Calusa” in southwest Florida, the "Tekesta" in southeast Florida and the Florida Keys, and the “Okeechobee” around Lake Okeechobee.