Geoarchaeology of the Big Blue River Valley, NE Kansas: Implications for Paleoindian and Earlier Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Central Plains of North America have yielded fewer stratified Paleoindian archaeological sites than other regions of the Great Plains. The dearth of recorded early sites is due to geologic filtering of the archaeological record; processes of erosion and deposition have removed or deeply buried early sites, respectively. At the Coffey site in the Big Blue River valley (BBRv) in NE Kansas, however, late Wisconsinan alluvium (Late Member of the Severance Formation; LMSF) containing a stratified Folsom component was documented 50 cm below surface. Given the presence of the LMSF at the Coffey site, alluvium of similar terminal Pleistocene to early Holocene age may occur elsewhere in the valley.

We used soil stratigraphic data from seven localities and 38 radiocarbon dates spanning the last ~25,000 years to assess the temporal and spatial pattern of late-Quaternary landscape evolution in the lower BBRv, and to determine the potential for stratified Paleoindian and earlier cultural deposits. We conclude that terrace fills dating to or before ~10,000 cal BP are rare in the BBRv, but that alluvial fans along the valley margins consist of LMSF (ca. 12,000-25,000 cal BP) and are therefore targets for archaeological survey seeking stratified Paleoindian and older cultural deposits.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 41548.0