A segment of construction plans for the Main Street Bridge improvement shows the results of archaeological survey. The thick dark line defines the limits of construction impacts that were expected for the bridge improvement. The grid of circles in the shaded area represents systematic shovel testing in an area with high probability for finding archaeological sites. It is relatively level and has no sign of recent disturbance from modern construction. Indeed, most of the shovel tests are darkened, indicating they were positive (contained artifacts). The archaeologists designated this cluster of positive tests Site 44PY181 and recommended it as potentially significant. Later, more intensive testing confirmed it significant enough to be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Since it was impractical for VDOT to avoid the site during construction, 44PY181 underwent the large-scale "data recovery" excavations described on this website.

(from Wuellner et al. 1993:Fig. 14)