US Route 301 Predictive Modeling

Summary

Survey along the US Route 301 corridor was guided by a 2006 predictive model. The effort was informed by previous modeling efforts in Delaware and by earlier models primarily prehistoric in focus.The historic component identified margins adjacent to older roadways as having at least medium potential for sites and isolated house locations shown on nineteenth-century maps as high potential locations. Sites dating to the later eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were at times encountered in medium and high zones. Earlier colonial sites adjacent to several unimproved and abandoned paths and "cart roads" often fell in low potential zones. Smaller nineteenth-century tenant houses and "house-garden" structures that were not identified on historic maps were equally invisible. One conclusion is the utilization of more complete historic data in model construction. Less obvious lessons include the need to engage in probability sampling and reversal of testing intensities by placing more—not fewer—tests in "low potential" zones.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016   •
• New Highway Uncovers New Histories: Archaeology Mitigations From the U.S. Route 301 Mega Project in Delaware

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 146