Project Overview
ESE Partners recently conducted intensive mechanically augmented cultural resources survey of the 1,310.35-Acre 560-Hectare tract in Waller County, Texas. The Client was proposing to construct a mixed use development under a Municipal Utility District. Prior to the designation of the district by the state legislature, ESE conducted a full Reconnaissance Survey and a 20-percent Cultural Resources Survey for the purposes of due diligence and cost analysis in March of 2022. This limited survey allowed ESE to identify disturbed areas which would be omitted from future survey effort.
In December of 2023, ESE received TAC Permit #30935 and betwee December and February, the archeological crew conducted a 100 percent pedestrian survey within 510 Acres of relatively undisturbed land within the project area, as well as in areas deemed accessible and potentially worthwhile at the time of survey. Archeologists conducted a systematic transect survey within the project area and administered auger tests and shovel tests to identify buried cultural deposits. The number of excavations conducted exceeded the State of Texas Minimum Standards for survey.
Across all field efforts, a total of 795 excavations were conducted. This work included the excavation of 495 auger tests, 293 shovel tests, and seven backhoe trenches. In addition, an in-depth historical context was produced for a local town. Considering the historic land use within the project area, including land modification for rice cultivation and the development, this level of effort exceeds the Texas State Minimum Standards for Phase One Survey of projects of this size. No historic or prehistoric archeological components were encountered within the project area. The survey concluded that the project would have no impact on significant cultural resources and recommended that development be allowed to proceed.
Services Performed
- Phase One Cultural Resources Survey
- Texas Antiquities Committee (TAC) permit
- In-depth Historic Context Study
Scale
- 1,310.35-Acre 560-Hectare