Archaeological and Historical Investigation of the Hotel Site (8BR240) Final Report of All Project Activities

During the spring semester of 2018, the Cape Canaveral Archaeological Mitigation Project conducted Phase I exploratory testing at the Hotel Site, 8BR240, a known archaeological site on the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. During fieldwork, field school students from the University of Central Florida recorded historic surface features and excavated 103 shovel test pits. Shovel tests contained both Euro-American and Indigenous artifacts, reflecting the known multi-component nature of the Hotel Site. Artifacts, notes, and spatial data collected at the Hotel Site were analyzed to reassess previous determinations of site temporal affiliations, spatial boundaries, historic usage, and condition. Shovel test results were used to identify spatial concentrations of Indigenous and historic activity and locations of substantial modern disturbance. Argonne National Laboratory researchers also conducted a geospatial and historic records survey. The result is a core artifactbearing area was expanded to 8.77 acres (3.55 hectares), with the total site boundary extending across 17.8 acres (7.2 hectares),including a main temporal occupation component during the early twentieth century and a possible Indigenous component dating to the Malabar I-II periods. It is determined that 8BR240 does not meet critera for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NHRP).