An Archaeological Assessment of Huntington Reservoir: Identification, Prediction, Impact

An archaeological survey of Huntington Reservoir was conducted under a Department of the Interior Historic Preservation Fund Survey and Planning Grant administered by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology with matching funds supplied by Ball State University. The goals of the project were: to identify the archaeological resources within the Huntington Reservoir area, to determine the impact of the reservoir on those resources, and to initiate the development of a model to predict the distribution of archaeological resources within the project area. The predictive model should be applicable to secondary river valleys located in the Upper Wabash drainage.
The 245 sites recorded during this survey bring the total number of sites known within the Huntington Reservoir area to 360. Late Paleo-Indian through Late Woodland components were identified, and the heaviest utilization of the area appears to have occurred during the Middle to Late Archaic and the Late Woodland periods.
The impact of Huntington Lake on the archaeological resources of the area include erosion caused by agriculture, and fluctuations in the pool level and artifact hunting. Recommendations were made for testing sites which may still contain deposits that have not been completely disturbed.
A model predicting the distribution of three site types in three environmental zones was formulated. Some testing of predictions generated during this project was carried out, but thorough testing of the model will require additional archaeological reconnaissance.