The Hidden Record: Soil-Geomorphic Landscapes and Settlement Archaeology in the Middle Ohio River Valley

It has been widely documented that a significant fraction of Archaic period occupations are buried in Holocene alluvial and colluvial landforms in the Midwest and Midsouth. Acknowledging this fact, there is also a recognition that biases are likely to exist in any attempt to develop a regional account of Archaic period settlement strategies based solely on the surface archaeological record (e.g., Wiant et al. 1983; Bettis and Hajic 1995; Stafford 1994). Yet to what extent does this caveat also apply to the late prehistoric record? Recent geoarchaeological studies in the Lower Ohio River valley have identified substantial tracts of late Holocene and very recent post-settlement alluvium that bury Woodland and later prehistoric occupations. Appreciable biases are, therefore, likely to affect regional settlement studies in this region for the Woodland period. Such biases have generally not be taken into consideration in analysis of settlement distributions.已有大量文献证实，美国中西部与中南部地区的大量古风期（Archaic Period）居址与人类活动遗存被埋藏于全新世（Holocene）冲积与坡积地貌之中。尽管学界已认可这一现象，但同时也意识到，若仅依靠地表考古记录来构建古风期聚落策略的区域研究体系，很可能会引入偏差（如Wiant等人1983年、Bettis与Hajic 1995年、Stafford 1994年的相关研究）。然而这一警示在多大程度上适用于晚史前时期的考古记录？近期在俄亥俄河下游河谷开展的地质考古学（geoarchaeology）研究发现，大片晚全新世及近代定居后冲积层掩埋了林地期（Woodland Period）及更晚的史前人类活动遗存。因此，该地区林地期的区域聚落研究很可能会受到显著偏差的影响，但在聚落分布的相关分析中，这类偏差通常未被纳入考量范畴。