Using Flouride Analysis and Artifact Density to Examine Household Formation in Prehistoric Villages: A Fort Ancient Example

Summary

Examining the formation histories of houses within prehistoric villages is difficult in cases with coarse resolution of radiocarbon dates and lack of stratigraphic relationships. Here we examine this problem by using two relative dating techniques, accumulation studies of artifacts and fluoride dating of animal bone, at the Guard site, an early (ca., AD 1000-1300) Fort Ancient village located in southeast Indiana. The sampling strategy involved excavating test units in all houses to assess the depositional history of the individual basins and to determine a relative sequence of house construction within the village. Results reveal much variation in artifact accumulation between houses, with houses containing more artifacts being hypothesized to be older structures that had been filled in with trash. Fluoride analysis was used to examine this hypothesis, producing generally consistent results. Vertical considerations revealed that stratigraphy was often reversed which is consistent with the interpretation that they were rapidly filled with trash. Horizontal considerations indicate that the initial construction age of houses with more trash were generally earlier than those with less trash.

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): 14351