Integrating Site Formation Processes, Spatial Analysis, and Local Statistics to Assess Archaeological Site Structure: A Case Study from a Multicomponent Site in the Western Great Lakes

Summary

This paper presents a method to delineate discrete temporal occupations at open-air multicomponent sites by integrating site formation processes, spatial analysis, and local statistics. Open-air multi-component sites, formed on stable surfaces but lacking strong vertical integrity, pose many challenges for the delineation and interpretation of temporally discrete occupations. Such sites often lack vertical stratigraphy, so defining the horizontal spatial structure of components represents a critical first step in analysis and a prerequisite for further interpretation. The case study reviewed here focuses on the Finch site (47JE902) in southeastern Wisconsin. Finch harbors prehistoric occupations that span circa 8,300 B.C. to A.D. 1400. Recent excavations generated over 200,000 artifacts and a high density of in situ cultural features including living floors, hearths, and cooking, processing, and refuse pits. Site formation processes are used to determine temporally sensitive factors such as the origination depth of cultural features. A GIS-aided analysis using descriptive statistics and kernel density maps are used to explore the patterning of diagnostic material culture and guide the selection of weighting measures for the local statistics. Local statistics are then used to delineate areas within the site that are the focus of activities associated with each cultural-temporal component.

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): 15399