Review of \u3ci\u3e Principles of Geoarchaeology: A North American Perspective\u3c/i\u3e by Michael R. Waters

First published in 1992, this book-now in paper-presents the fundamentals of geoarchaeology, the field of study that applies the concepts and methods of the geosciences to archaeological research. Although a number of good books have been written about this subdiscipline of archaeology, Waters restricts his review to late Quaternary landscapes in North America. Furthermore, he limits his discussion to the field aspects of geoarchaeology. Stratigraphy, site formation processes, and landscape reconstruction are the centerpieces of this study. Readers looking for information about laboratory methods, dating techniques, or the application of geophysics and geochemistry to archaeology must go to other sources. Waters\u27s topical, temporal, and geographical focus is, nonetheless, effective, allowing for detailed discussions of geoarchaeological concepts and field methods that are directly applicable to archaeological research in North America. A broader scope would have diluted his effort

Review of \u3ci\u3e Soils in Archaeological Research\u3c/i\u3e by Vance T. Holliday

When I teach geoarchaeology, I tell students on the first day of class that soils are the canvas for much of the archaeological record. Just as an artist\u27s canvas holds and affects the paint, soils hold archaeological materials, and soil-forming processes strongly influence the preservation and spatial pattern of cultural deposits. Given this close relationship between soils and the material remains of humans, we have long needed a treatise that addresses all aspects of soils from an archaeological perspective. Vance Holliday\u27s latest book, Soils in Archaeological Research, does this and more

The Honey Creek Member: A New Holocene Alluvial Stratigraphic Unit in the Midwest

This paper describes the type locality and type section for the Honey Creek Member, a stratigraphic unit first recognized in the Honey Creek drainage in southeastern Nebraska. The alluvial chronology for Honey Creek basin is similar to the regional chronology of streams in the Midwest, and all of the formal members of the DeForest Formation occur in the basin. However, the lithology of one unit, the Honey Creek Member, does not correlate with any of the formally recognized members of the DeForest Formation. The Honey Creek Member is composed of grayish brown silt loam overbank facies coarsening downward to a gravelly loam channel facies with prominent, large-scale cross-bedding. At its type locality, aggradation of the Honey Creek Member occurred from ca. 3700 14C yrs. B.P. to ca. 600 14C yrs. B.P. Paleochannels preserved within the unit suggest that aggradation was interrupted by at least two episodes of channel entrenchment and filling. The Honey Creek Member is significant because it has been identified within many basins across the eastern Plains. Recognition and detailed mapping of this unit facilitates our understanding of fluvial behavior during the late Holocene

Systematic Approach to Identifying Deeply Buried Archeological Deposits

This project is designed to assist cultural resource specialists involved in Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) project planning and development. The goal was to develop Geographic Information System (GIS) data layers that spatially delineate different landform-sediment assemblages (LSAs) and depict the associated geologic potential for buried cultural deposits in select watersheds in Nebraska. The Nebraska Buried Sites GIS resource will allow planners and cultural resource specialists to determine whether future project areas are likely to be free of deeply buried sites or whether subsurface exploration is necessary

Using the factors of soil formation to assess stable carbon isotope disequilibrium in late Pleistocene (MIS 3) buried soils of the Great Plains, North America

The stable carbon isotope composition of both soil organic matter (SOM) and pedogenic carbonate are widely used as paleoenvironmental proxies. This study utilizes δ13C analyses to reconstruct bioclimatic change from a series of buried soils in the central Great Plains of North America that developed between ca. 44–24 ka. Results revealed a paradoxical isotopic disequilibrium between the isotopic composition of bulk SOM (δ13CSOM) and pedogenic carbonate (δ13Ccarb). Specifically, Δ13C values are 0.1 to 6.3 per mil greater than the highest expected equilibrium value of 17 per mil in the Bk horizons. In contrast, Δ13C values are 0.1 to 4.8 per mil lower than the lowest expected equilibrium value of 14 per mil in the Ak horizons. A soil-forming factor approach was utilized to establish multiple working hypotheses regarding the influence of climate, vegetation, parent material, and time on the observed isotopic disequilibrium. Of the various hypotheses presented, we suggest that the following most likely explain the observed isotopic disequilibrium. The greater-than-expected Δ13C values in the Bk horizons most likely reflects seasonal bias in pedogenic carbonate formation, resulting in an apparent C4-biased signal. The lower-than-expected Δ13C values in the Ak horizons remains perplexing. The most likely explanation is that detrital carbonate contributions affected the δ13Ccarb record or that the δ13Ccarb and δ13CSOM records are asynchronous. Overall, it appears that different factors have affected the δ13CSOM and δ13Ccarb records independently and therefore results of this study highlight the importance of assessing pedogenic carbonates for isotopic equilibrium as well as the need to understand past environmental conditions (i.e., soil-forming factors) when interpreting isotopic trends

Quaternary Stratigraphy and Stratigraphic Nomenclature Revisions in Kansas

This paper outlines Quaternary nomenclature changes to Zeller (1968) that have been adopted by the Kansas Geological Survey (KGS). The KGS formally recognizes two series/epochs for the Quaternary: the Holocene and Pleistocene. Pleistocene stage/age names Kansan, Aftonian, Nebraskan, and Yarmouthian are abandoned and replaced with the broader term "pre-Illinoian." Formation names Bignell, Peoria, Gilman Canyon, and Loveland are maintained for loess units. Formation names for the following alluvial lithostratigraphic units are abandoned: Crete, Sappa, Grand Island, Fullerton, and Holdrege. The Severance Formation is adopted as a new lithostratigraphic unit for thick packages of late Pleistocene alluvium and colluvium in Kansas. The DeForest Formation is accepted as a valid lithostratigraphic unit for deposits of fine-grained Holocene alluvium in Kansas. Formation names Iowa Point, Nickerson, and Cedar Bluffs for glacial tills and Atchison and David City for glaciofluvial deposits are abandoned. The Afton and Yarmouth Soils are abandoned as pedostratigraphic units, whereas the Sangamon Geosol and Brady Geosol are maintained

Footprints- In the Footprints of Squier and Davis: Archeological Fieldwork in Ross County, Ohio

TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements....................................................................iList of Tables...................................................................vii List of Figures...................................................................ix Contributors .........................................................................xiii Chapter 1 In the Footprints of Squier and Davis : Archeological Fieldwork in Ross County, Ohio Mark J. Lynott................................................................................1 Previous Studies in Ohio ...................................................1 Hopewell Studies Today ................................................................4 Recent Field Research ..........................................................................6 Goal of this Volume ................................................................................12 Chapter 2 In Non-mound Space at the Hopewell Mound Group Jennifer Pederson Weinberger .........................................13 Geophysical Survey .......................................................15Western Village Area.....................................................................16 Near the East Village .....................................................................18 Central Area ............................................................................19 Discussion .......................................................................................19 Chapter 3 Field Studies of the Octagon and Great Circle, High Bank Earthworks Ross County, Ohio N’omi B. Greber and Orrin C. Shane III ..............................................23 Excavations at the Octagon ............................................................25 Geophysics at the Great Circle ............................................................30 Excavations at the Great Circle ..........................................................33 Radiocarbon Assays ...........................................................................41 Comments ....................................................................................44 Addendum ..........................................................................................46 Chapter 4 Spruce Hill Earthworks: The 1995-1996 National Park Service Investigations Bret J. Ruby .............................................................................................49 Background .......................................................................................49 The Spruce Hill Earthworks .......................................................................49 Spruce Hill Revisited ......................................................................53 The 1995-1996 National Park Service Investigations ............................53 Discussion and Conclusions ..............................................................61 Chapter 5 Falling Through a Crack in the Core: The Surprise and Demise of Anderson Earthwork William H. Pickard and Jeffrey W. Weinberger ........................................ 67 History and Setting ..................................................................................68 1993 Excavations ..................................................................................70 Discussion ..............................................................................................72 Conclusion ............................................................................................74 Chapter 6 Middle Woodland and Other Settlement Remains in the Overly Tract Near The Hopeton Earthwork, Ross County, Ohio William S. Dancey .....................................................................................................77 Research Design.............................................................................77 Artifact Categories and their Distributions..............................................80 Discussion............................................................................................92 Chapter 7 Hopewell Occupation at the Hopeton Earthworks: Large Scale Surface Survey Using GPS Technology Jarrod Burks and Dawn Walter Gagliano................................................97 The Survey Area ................................................................................98 Survey Methodology .............................................................................99 Survey Results ...................................................................................99 The Surface Data: A Siteless Approach .................................................103 Discussion and Conclusion .........................................................................106 Notes ...................................................................................................107 Chapter 8 Hopewellian Centers in Context: Investigations In and Around the Hopeton Earthworks Bret J. Ruby And Mark J. Lynott .................................................................109 Surface Survey ......................................................................................110 Redwing Site ...........................................................................................111 Comparisons .........................................................................................118 Conclusions ......................................................................................122 Chapter 9 Searching for Hopewell Settlements: The Triangle Site at the Hopeton Earthworks Mark Lynott ...................................................................................... 125 Field Investigations ............................................................................127 Geophysical Survey ............................................................................128 1998 Season ....................................................................................128 Features, Artifacts and Radiocarbon Dating ........................................130 Animal Remains ...............................................................................137 Plant Remains ................................................................................138 Interpretations ..............................................................................139 Chapter 10 Geophysical Investigations at the Hopeton Earthworks John Weymouth, Bruce Bevan, and Rinita Dalan ...............................145 The Cesium Gradiometer Survey ...........................................................146 Cesium Gradiometer Results ...................................................................146 Geoscan Instrument Surveys ..............................................................148 Comparison of Cesium Magnetic and Resistance Data ........................148 Small Circles...........................................................................................149 Trench Excavations ...................................................................................149 Discussion ................................................................................................152 Conclusions ......................................................................................157 Chapter 11 Archeological and Geoarcheological Study of the Rectangular Enclosure at the Hopeton Works Mark J. Lynott and Rolfe D. Mandel ......................................................159 The Study of the Rectangular Earthwork ................................................161 Geophysical Survey ..............................................................................163 Trench Excavations .............................................................................164 Chronology ........................................................................................170 Geoarcheological Analysis of Trench 1 .................................................172 Interpretations ................................................................................174 Chapter 12 Ohio Hopewell Ritual Craft Production Katherine A. Spielmann ............................................................ 179Raw Material Procurement ....................................................................180 Hopewell Crafting ................................................................................181 Deposition ...........................................................................................186 Conclusions ....................................................................................188 References Cited .....................................................................................................18

Watson Brake, A Middle Archaic Mound Complex in Northeast Louisiana

Middle Archaic earthen mound complexes in the lower Mississippi valley are remote antecedents of the famous but much younger Poverty Point earthworks. Watson Brake is the largest and most complex of these early mound sites. Wry extensive coring and stratigraphic studies, aided by 25 radiocarbon dates and six huninescence dates, show that minor earthworks were begun here at ca. 3500 B.C. in association with an oval arrangement of burned rock middens at the edge of a stream terrace. The full extent of the first earthworks is not yet known. Substantial moundraising began ca. 3350 B.C. and continued in stages until some time after 3000 B.C. when the site was abandoned. All 11 mounds and their connecting ridges were occupied between building bursts. Soils,formed on some of these temporary surfaces, while lithics. fire-cracked rock. and,fired clay/loam objects became scattered throughout the mound fills. Faunal and floral remains from a basal midden indicate all-season occupation, supported by broad-spectrum foraging centered on nuts, fish, and deer All the overlying fills are so acidic that organics have not survived. The area enclosed by the mounds was kept clean of debris, suggesting its use as ritual space. The reasons why such elaborate activities first occurred here remain elusive. However some building bursts covary with very well-documented increases in El Nino/Southern Oscillation events. During such rapid increases in ENSO frequencies, rainfall becomes extremely erratic and unpredictable. It may be that early moundraising was a communal response to new stresses of droughts and flooding that created a suddenly more unpredictable food base

Holocene landscape evolution in the Pawnee River valley, southwestern Kansas

A basinwide study of terraces, Holocene alluvial fills, and soils was conducted in the valley of the Pawnee River, a tributary of the Arkansas River that drains nearly 4,000 km2 in southwestern Kansas. By focusing on all levels of the drainage hierarchy, I was able to evaluate the similarities among drainage elements composing the basin and the differences in stratigraphy and chronology that occur in various parts of the basin. This information was used to infer causes of Holocene erosion, alluviation, and landscape stability and to define their temporal and spatial relationships in the Pawnee River basin. Only one terrace (T-1) is present in the upper and middle reaches of small streams (less than fifth-order), but remnants of a slightly higher terrace (T-2) occur in lower reaches of fourth-order streams near their confluences with the Pawnee River. The bulk of the valley fill underlying the T-1 terrace aggraded between 2,800 and 1,000 yr B.P. Most of the alluvium beneath the T-2 terrace accumulated between 10,000 and 5,000 yr B.P. Three terraces, numbered consecutively upward from T-1, are present in the valley bottoms of large streams (greater than fourth-order). The modern floodplain (T-0) is the lowest surface; the T-2 and T-3 surfaces are Pleistocene terraces, and the T-1 terrace is the surface of Holocene valley fill. Radiocarbon assays suggest that the upper 8-9 m (26-30 ft) of the T-1 fill aggraded between ca. 10,500 and 1,600 yr B.P. Aggradation of the adjacent T-0 fill was underway by 1,000-500 yr B.P. Radiocarbon ages determined on humates from multiple buried paleosols in valley fill of large streams suggest that the period 10,000-5,000 yr B.P. was punctuated by several episodes of floodplain stability and soil development. However, Holocene valley fills in the Pawnee River basin are devoid of any evidence of soil development between 7,000 and 5,000 yr B.P. Radiocarbon assays suggest that soil development was underway by at least 5,000 yr B.P. on floodplains in large valleys. Two discrete periods of paleosol development were detected in large valleys: one at 2,750-2,600 yr B.P. and another at 2,000-1,600 yr B.P. The older of these two episodes partially coincides with the soil-forming period dated to 2,800-2,000 yr B.P. in small valleys. However, the most recent episode of paleosol development in large valleys (2,000-1,600 yr B.P.) precedes the beginning of the major soil-forming period dated to 1,350-1,000 yr B.P. in small valleys. Hence episodes of late Holocene deposition appear to have been time transgressive throughout the entire extent of the drainage network. Radiocarbon assays indicate that Holocene erosion and alluviation as well as periods of net transport and storage of sediment were diachronous throughout the Pawnee River basin but were roughly synchronous in similar-sized streams of the drainage network. Early, middle, and late Holocene alluvium is stored in valley fill of large streams, but only late Holocene deposits are present in valley bottoms of small streams. Although valley erosion and alluviation may have several causes, major bioclimatic changes explain the pattern of Holocene fluvial activity detected in the stratigraphic record in the Pawnee River basin. Reduced vegetative cover combined with infrequent but intense rainfalls during the warm Altithermal (8,000-5,000 yr B.P.) favored erosion and net transport of sediment in small valleys. As mean annual precipitation increased during the late Holocene, vegetation recovered and erosion rates decreased, promoting sediment storage in small valleys. The Holocene record of entrenchment, alluviation, and soil formation in the Pawnee River valley generally agrees with alluvial chronologies for valleys elsewhere in the Great Plains and Midwest. Detailed correlation between river basins cannot be done at this time, however, because of a lack of sufficient detail from adjacent areas

Holocene landscape evolution in the Pawnee River valley, southwestern Kansas

A basinwide study of terraces, Holocene alluvial fills, and soils was conducted in the valley of the Pawnee River, a tributary of the Arkansas River that drains nearly 4,000 km2 in southwestern Kansas. By focusing on all levels of the drainage hierarchy, I was able to evaluate the similarities among drainage elements composing the basin and the differences in stratigraphy and chronology that occur in various parts of the basin. This information was used to infer causes of Holocene erosion, alluviation, and landscape stability and to define their temporal and spatial relationships in the Pawnee River basin. Only one terrace (T-1) is present in the upper and middle reaches of small streams (less than fifth-order), but remnants of a slightly higher terrace (T-2) occur in lower reaches of fourth-order streams near their confluences with the Pawnee River. The bulk of the valley fill underlying the T-1 terrace aggraded between 2,800 and 1,000 yr B.P. Most of the alluvium beneath the T-2 terrace accumulated between 10,000 and 5,000 yr B.P. Three terraces, numbered consecutively upward from T-1, are present in the valley bottoms of large streams (greater than fourth-order). The modern floodplain (T-0) is the lowest surface; the T-2 and T-3 surfaces are Pleistocene terraces, and the T-1 terrace is the surface of Holocene valley fill. Radiocarbon assays suggest that the upper 8-9 m (26-30 ft) of the T-1 fill aggraded between ca. 10,500 and 1,600 yr B.P. Aggradation of the adjacent T-0 fill was underway by 1,000-500 yr B.P. Radiocarbon ages determined on humates from multiple buried paleosols in valley fill of large streams suggest that the period 10,000-5,000 yr B.P. was punctuated by several episodes of floodplain stability and soil development. However, Holocene valley fills in the Pawnee River basin are devoid of any evidence of soil development between 7,000 and 5,000 yr B.P. Radiocarbon assays suggest that soil development was underway by at least 5,000 yr B.P. on floodplains in large valleys. Two discrete periods of paleosol development were detected in large valleys: one at 2,750-2,600 yr B.P. and another at 2,000-1,600 yr B.P. The older of these two episodes partially coincides with the soil-forming period dated to 2,800-2,000 yr B.P. in small valleys. However, the most recent episode of paleosol development in large valleys (2,000-1,600 yr B.P.) precedes the beginning of the major soil-forming period dated to 1,350-1,000 yr B.P. in small valleys. Hence episodes of late Holocene deposition appear to have been time transgressive throughout the entire extent of the drainage network. Radiocarbon assays indicate that Holocene erosion and alluviation as well as periods of net transport and storage of sediment were diachronous throughout the Pawnee River basin but were roughly synchronous in similar-sized streams of the drainage network. Early, middle, and late Holocene alluvium is stored in valley fill of large streams, but only late Holocene deposits are present in valley bottoms of small streams. Although valley erosion and alluviation may have several causes, major bioclimatic changes explain the pattern of Holocene fluvial activity detected in the stratigraphic record in the Pawnee River basin. Reduced vegetative cover combined with infrequent but intense rainfalls during the warm Altithermal (8,000-5,000 yr B.P.) favored erosion and net transport of sediment in small valleys. As mean annual precipitation increased during the late Holocene, vegetation recovered and erosion rates decreased, promoting sediment storage in small valleys. The Holocene record of entrenchment, alluviation, and soil formation in the Pawnee River valley generally agrees with alluvial chronologies for valleys elsewhere in the Great Plains and Midwest. Detailed correlation between river basins cannot be done at this time, however, because of a lack of sufficient detail from adjacent areas