A Geoarchaeological Investigation of Site Formation Processes and Late Pleistocene and Holocene Environmental Change at the Foxwood Farm site (38PN35)

Summary

The Foxwood Farm site (38PN35) is deeply stratified (4.8 m) sedimentary sequence located on the Oolenoy River, near the boundary between the Piedmont and Blue Ridge in Pickens County, South Carolina. The lower most sediments, (4.8 to 3.2 m), consisting of channel gravels, lateral accretion sands, and clays, were deposited during the late Pleistocene prior to 12.6 ka. These sediments exhibit a fining upward sequence from channel gravels and sands, through bar sands, to a cap of clays. The upper alluvium (3.2m to surface) exhibit a well-defined series of discrete fluvial strata separated by three buried A-horizons. These strata are composed, primarily of overbank sands and indicate episodic deposition and erosion throughout the Holocene. The upper 2/3 of the Holocene strata contain multiple cultural components spanning 11ka to present. Radiocarbon and OSL dating of upper alluvium produce several distinctly different chronological models. The presence of an apparent peak in Pt is consistent with similar anomalous peaks found recently at several sites across North America at the onset of the Younger Dryas. 38PN35 not only provides a record of Holocene cultural adaptations but provides insight into the history of a fluvial system in the non-glaciated southeastern US from the late Pleistocene.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21433