Assessing Continuity and Change in Paleoindian Landscape use through Time in Indiana: Implications for site Predictive Modeling

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Geoarchaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The recent completion of the Indiana State Historic Preservation Office’s SHAARD database provides researchers with a comprehensive site archive that includes site locations, projectile point typologies, raw material types, and a marginal record of site details. We use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze the distribution of over six hundred Early, Middle, and Late Paleoindian sites that have been previously recorded in Indiana. We map site distributions relative to regional chert sources and potential travel corridors using least cost paths to highlight likely mobility patterns. These data, combined with local site and projectile point types, support an argument for multiple macrobands in the state and show the process of settling in, particularly during the Late Paleoindian Period. Site distributions along highly productive resource areas, overland travel corridors, and high rates of local chert use suggest that even Early Paleoindians were well aware of local resources.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Geoarchaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23327