A Depositional Analysis of Pit Features at the Pocumtuck Fort

Summary

Subsurface features are a basic unit of archaeological analysis, yet there is surprising little standardization in their identification, classification and analysis. In the Northeastern region of the United States most archaeologists rely on simplistic pit feature typologies. I argue that studying features by deposit rather than as whole units allows for a clearer understanding of separate cultural depositions as indexes of specific past practices. The pit feature assemblage at Area D (19FR415), a mid-seventeenth century Pocumtuck site in Deerfield, Massachusetts, demonstrates the potential for depositional analyses of pit features. I identify the range of past human practices manifested in these features through a systematic sorting of deposits based on 24 recorded attributes, which measure and describe deposit morphology, soils and content.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16445