Laura Barfoot Archaeological Site Prediction: Woodland Indians in Houston County
AbstractThis project aims to establish a model for predicting likely locations of archaeological sites. By examining Houston County soils, land levels, and hydrography, I chose the areas for which Woodland Indian environments and material culture preservation co-existed. Upon completion of the project, an area of 115,451,000 sq. m and a perimeter of 110,664 m, south of Perry,GA, matched the conditions (Fig. 1).
IntroductionThis GIS project deals with the prehistorical archaeology of the Woodland Indians of Houston County, GA. With convential methods, predicting new sites is a difficult, time consuming process involving hours of research and preliminary surveys. Many newly discovered sites are the result of Phase I Cultural Resource projects, which are usually conducted before construction of a new building. Pedestrian surveys are time-consuming, and test trenches and pits are expensive and may cause unnecessary site damage and disturbance. By providing the people’s favored habitation environment and isolating environmental and subsurface conditions favorable for preserving archaeological features and artifacts, one might be able to predict areas that will most likely yield archaeological treasures (Goldberg, 2006 and White 2002).
The purpose of this project is to narrow down new locations of archaeological sites for Woodland Indians (1000 BC – AD 1000), and hopefully to establish a new method for locating sites for future utilization.
Fig. 2. Methodology
References:Goldberg, Paul and Richard Macphali. Pracitcal and
Theoretical Geoarchaeology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Science, Ltd., 2006.
Holliday, Vance. Soils in Archaeological Research. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
White, Max. The Archaeology and History of the Native Tribes. Gainesville, Fl:University Press of Florida, 2002.
Hammack, Stephen. Email correspondence. Archaeological Director at RAFB.
United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. http://soils.usda.gov/technical/classification/taxonomy.
Data sources:Georgia GIS Clearinghouse.
https://gis1.state.ga.us. US Bureau of Census. Houston County hydrography, Houston County contour, Houston County boundary. 1:100,000, UTM 1983 projections, 1998.
USGS Georgia Department of Natural Resources. USGS Center for Spatial Analysis Technologies – GIS Data for Georgia. (22 March 2006). http://csat.er.usgs.gov/statewide Georgia Slopes and Georgia Soils NAD 1983, 1:100,000
ESRI Tigerline 2000 Census Data – US Bureau of Census. http:arcdata.esri.com/data/tiger2000/tiger_county.cfm?sfips=13. Designated Places 2000, (28 March 2006)
Woodland Indians (1000 BC – AD 1000)
Part of the Hopewell Culture, centered in the Ohio ValleyThe Woodland Indians “followed the seasonal cycle, hunting and gathering as natural foods became available in different environmental zones…” (White 41-52)
Early Woodland (1000 BC – AD 1)
-- Round-house structures, storage pits, ate acorns, walnuts, and hickory nuts-- Medium-Sized triangular projectile points-- “sites are typically on the floodplain of rivers and sometimes cover an acre or more Thick middens have been found at some sites of this period, and the larger cooking pits are up to 3 feet deep” (44), and found in deciduous forest (White 41-52)
Middle Woodland (AD 1-500)-- More permanent village life-- Began minimal horticulture (White 41-52)
Late Woodland (AD 500-1000)-- still living in mounds-- began farming maize (AD 660), sunflower, squash--Stratified culture (White 41-52)
Background: Soils and Slopes
Series OrdersVaucluse UltisolsLakeland EntisolsOrangeburg UltisolsChewacla InceptisolsRiverview InceptisolsChastain InceptisolsFaceville UltisolsLucy UltisolsBoswell AlfisolsGreenville UltisolsBibb EntisolsTifton UltisolsDothan UltisolsGrady UltisolsOsier EntisolsPelham UltisolsRains Ultisols
Boswell-Greenville-BibbChewacla-Riverview-ChastainOsier-Pelham-RainsVauclusa-Lakeland-OrangeburgOrangeburg-Faceville-Lucy
Soils (Goldberg 47)Entisols – less erosion, acidic, can handle stability, good location for people to live, but bad for future preservationInceptisols – form in humid regions, which destroys organic materials and is bad for overall preservationUltisols – weathered soils, found in older landscapes and good for preservationAlfisols – somewhat good for preservation, especially ecofacts (pollen and charcoal, bone, etc.), keeps the horizon levels which preserves stratigraphy
Orangeville-Faceville-LucyTifton-Dothan-Grady Boswell-Greenville-Bibb
-Cultural Resource Management – Overlay maps of potential construction sites-Compare the findings with known archaeological sites-Plan Field Excavations in the area-Apply this methodology to other times and places to locate new archaeological sites
Potential ErrorsEven though my data is several years old, soil, slope, and hydrography information has changed little. As a result, the quality of findings will not be impacted.Since some of the data required reprojection, minor shifts in projection are likely.My research provides a generalized picture of occupation sites for Woodland Indians; however, with more research the data is easily refined.I was not able to include any control groups of archaeological sites due to their classified status.
Houston BoundaryShapefile
Houston Boundary
GA Soils
HoustonBoundary, Soil, Slope
GA SlopeVector
GA SlopeRaster
HoustonHydrography
HoustonBoundary, Soil, Slope
Hydrography
Slope less thanOr = to 8%
Soils—Orangeville-Faceville-LucyTifton-Dothan-Grady
Boswell-Greenville-Bibb
Soils-Boswell-Greenville-BibbChewacla-Riverview-Chastain
Slope less thanAnd = to 3%
Slope less than and 3% contained w/in
Selected soils
Slope less than and= to 8% contained w/in
Selected soils
Best Preservation and BestHabitation
Common soil
Common Slope
Best location for Archsites
Import
Clipped
Convert to shapefile
Clipped by
Boundary
Clipped by boundary
Add layer
Create new data Frame
Select by attribute
Select by location
Create New Data Frame
Select by attribute
Select by
location
Create new data frame
Select by attribute
Select by location
Create new layer
Upper slopes topsoils, A horizons
Displaced artifacts, common location of negative features (pits, ditches, postholes)
Midslpes bedrock, exposed in gullies, eroded/ overthickened sediment, well-drained soils, buried, eroded features
Lower slopes Stabilized topsoils and stony horizons, overthickened A horizon,increased stratigraphic resolution, potential locations of buried occupations
Valley Floor Poor drainage, seasonably high water tables, peats, human activities, good stratigraphy, possible preservation of organic remains
Future Directions with the Data
Greenville
Bibb
Boswell
Well Drained
Poorly Drained
Medium Well Drained
No Flood
Long Flood(Dec-May)
No Flood
Ultisol
Entisols
Alfisols
Conclusions
Table 1. Soil series and their orders in Houston County, GA
Table 2. Soil orders and their relationship to forests, the favored dwelling locations for Woodland Indians (USDA)
Ultisols Support hardwood and coniferous forests, freely drained
Entisols House steep and eroded slopes and floodplains, tolerates permanent and sporadic wetness, support forest and wildlife
Inceptisols Contain forest vegetation, very poor drainage, water near surface
Alfisols Support Deciduous forest settings
Table 3. Soil orders and their relationship to the preservation of artifacts
Table 4. Correlation between land rise and archaeological preservation (Goldberg 78-79)
Fig. 3. Robins Air Force Archaeological Dig
Fig. 1. Houston County map displaying area most likely to yield archaeological remains for Woodland Indians
I discovered that an area of 115,451,000 sq. m and a perimeter of 110,664 m oriented East-West just south of Perry, GA provides the most suitable co-existence of soils and slopes. In this area, Boswell-Greenville-Bibb soils show evidence of floodplains and forests – the favored habitats of Woodland Indians (Table 5, Fig. 1). In addition, Boswell-Greenville-Bibb are the third most archaeological friendly (Table 6). The area, which contains 53 bodies of water, could support a community of hunter-gatherers with slight horticulture. Central Houston also supports medium elevations, between 70 and 110 meters with an average of 100 meters high. As noted elsewhere, midslopes preserve archaeological remains and stratigraphy. Bibb series’ soils, with long flood durations, expose the existence of floodplains (Fig. 4). Crops such as soybeans, peanuts, oats, and maize also reflect the Woodland Indians’ diet.
Fig. 4 Boswell-Bibb-Greenvile’s drainage, flood duration, and order
Table 5. Descending order of soil series depicting favored Woodland Habitations
Table 6. Top 3 descending archaeological friendly soil series
Contour
Water System
Selected Area
Slope