The Hidden Record: Soil-Geomorphic Landscapes and Settlement Archaeology in the Middle Ohio River Valley

Author(s): C. Russell Stafford; Steven D. Creasman

Year: 1998

Summary

It has been widely documented that a significant fraction of Archaic period occupations are buried in Holocene alluvial and colluvial landforms in the Midwest and Midsouth. Acknowledging this fact, there is also a recognition that biases are likely to exist in any attempt to develop a regional account of Archaic period settlement strategies based solely on the surface archaeological record (e.g., Wiant et al. 1983; Bettis and Hajic 1995; Stafford 1994). Yet to what extent does this caveat also apply to the late prehistoric record? Recent geoarchaeological studies in the Lower Ohio River valley have identified substantial tracts of late Holocene and very recent post-settlement alluvium that bury Woodland and later prehistoric occupations. Appreciable biases are, therefore, likely to affect regional settlement studies in this region for the Woodland period. Such biases have generally not be taken into consideration in analysis of settlement distributions.

Cite this Record

The Hidden Record: Soil-Geomorphic Landscapes and Settlement Archaeology in the Middle Ohio River Valley. C. Russell Stafford, Steven D. Creasman. Presented at 65th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Seattle, Washington. 1998 ( tDAR id: 391916) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8Q52QQS

Keywords

Culture
Archaic • Early Woodland • Late Woodland • Middle Woodland • Woodland

Site Type
Archaeological Feature • Artifact Scatter • Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Settlements

Investigation Types
Archaeological Overview • Collections Research • Data Recovery / Excavation

Geographic Keywords
470 Distributary Channel Zone • Kentucky (State / Territory) • Louisville • Manchester • Middle Ohio River Valley • Ohio (State / Territory) • Ohio River Overbank/Levee • Old Town Channel Belt • Outer Bluegrass Region

Spatial Coverage

min long: -84.792; min lat: 36.633 ; max long: -81.848; max lat: 41.079 ;

Notes

General Note: Paper presented at the symposium Formation Processes in Regional Perspective, 65th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, March 25-29, 1998, Seattle, Washington.

File Information

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1998-CRAI-Stafford-Creasman.pdf 93.65kb Jan 23, 2014 11:12:58 AM Public