Phase II NRHP Archaeological Evaluation of 10 Sites (8BY00091, 8BY01386, 8BY01387, 8BY01496, 8BY01696, 8BY01698, 8BY01699, 8BY01701, 8BY01811, and 8BY01918) Tyndall Air Force Base, Bay County, Florida

From January 13 to February 6, 2025, WSP USA, Inc. (WSP) completed Phase II National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) evaluations of 10 archaeological sites at Tyndall Air Force Base (AFB) in Bay County, Florida on Task Order TY-24-0015. The purpose of the investigation was to determine if the sites are eligible for listing in the NRHP. The evaluations were conducted to meet the requirements of Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966 (Public Law 89-665: 16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.), as amended, and were completed in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Historic Preservation Projects (Federal Register, Vol. 48, No. 190, September 1983, P. 44716-44742, et seq.), the Florida Division of Historical Resources (FDHR) Cultural Resource Management (CRM) Standards and Operations Manual Module Three Guidelines for Use by Historic Preservation Professionals (FDHR 2015). As a result of these evaluations, five of the sites (8BY00091, 8BY01386, 8BY01387, 8BY01496 and 8BY01701) are recommended as eligible for listing in the NRHP. Site 8BY00091 is recommended eligible for both its precontact and historic component. This site yielded evidence of occupation from the Late Archaic period up through the Mississippian period. There is evidence for both vertical and horizontal separation of the different occupations, with recovered materials suggesting the Early Woodland period Deptford phase is most prominent phase represented on the site. A small number of cultigens (corn) were recovered in the southeastern portion of the site, suggesting agriculture practices may have been in use, but these cultigens could not be definitely linked to a particular time period during the current evaluations. The historic component is attributed to two late nineteenth to early twentieth century occupations associated with the historic community of Cromanton; the artifact assemblage indicates blacksmithing activities took place at this location. Although disturbance attributed to site razing and substation/utility corridor construction was noted in the area of the site containing a majority of the historic materials, the heavy density of the material and concentration of most of the materials in a smaller area correlating to a former structure location, does suggest disturbance may not be widespread and additional historic features may be present. Site 8BY01386 is a Middle Woodland period Swift Creek to Late Woodland period Weeden Island exploitation/resource collection site. The evidence for the Middle Woodland period, which is not well represented on Tyndall AFB, coupled with the stratification of deposits indicated by the distribution of the diagnostic material across the site suggested this site has high potential to yield important information concerning the time period and adaptations from the Middle Woodland into the Late Woodland period. Site 8BY01387 is a late nineteenth to early twentieth century camp site, attributed to farming and/or industrial activities occurring on the landform. While some surface disturbance is noted across the site, the identification of an intact shell midden and an area of artifact concentration suggest there is potential for additional features to be present. Few such industrial camp sites have been recorded on Tyndall AFB, and even fewer have been further investigated, indicating that this site may yield important information concerning late nineteenth to early twentieth century industrial camps in the area. Site 8BY01496 represents a Late Woodland period Weeden Island to Mississippian period Fort Walton exploitation site, with a high density of shell tools recovered to suggest use as a shell tool production site. Site 8BY01701 yielded lithic artifacts suggesting intact deposits attributed to a Late Archaic period occupation, including a lithic production activity area in one test unit. The remaining five sites (8BY01696, 8BY01698, 8BY01699, 8BY01811 and 8BY01918) are all recommended as not eligible for listing in the NRHP. Sites 8BY01696, 8BY01698 and 8BY01699 all presented as lithic scatter sites in buried deposits; although some diagnostic pottery fragments were found on the surface, these artifacts cannot be used to reliably date the buried lithic materials. Sites 8BY01811 and 8BY01918 were both heavily disturbed by a former golf course, with a majority of the precontact component on both sites attributed to secondary fill deposits used to create artificial dune landforms for the course. Site 8BY01811 also yielded a moderate amount of historic material attributed to a late nineteenth to early twentieth century church. Unfortunately, this portion of the site had been heavily disturbed by site razing, storm damage and subsequent tree clearing as part of cleanup efforts and no intact features attributed to this church, such as foundation remains, were identified.