Geoarchaeological Reconnaissance of a Proposed Pavilion and Other Improvements at the Nutten Hook Preserve, Town of Stuyvesant, Columbia County, New York

The purpose of this report is to aid in the description and interpretation of soils exposed by some recent archaeological excavations on the Nutten Hook Preserve, and to begin to place the area into the broader contexts of the Late Pleistocene - Holocene geomorphological and geoarchaeological history of the Hudson River valley.
Examination of profiles made in 10 small archaeological excavation units in the area of a proposed pavilion reveals the presence of at least four Historic period fills over truncated bedrock (Germantown Formation bedded shale and sandstone). Stratigraphic relationships suggest a hypothetical sequence of events first involving the removal of sand and gravel deposits from the tip of a high-level Hudson River paleo-fluvial bar. Later the irregular bedrock surface was truncated and leveled, producing shale-rich fills. Final leveling was accomplished by bringing in a relatively clean deposit of sand, to make a pad-like earthen structure. The present day soil A horizon continues to develop into the fill surface, but no sub-A soil horizons were documented, reflecting the young (Historic) age of the deposits. No buried soil horizons were identified, and it seems likely that prehistoric remains recovered from the Pavilion squares are incidental inclusions within the fill, derived from the various source areas that were also archaeological sites. The documentation of high-level sand and gravel flood deposits on Nutteen Hook are of geohistorical interest in the search for buried Paleoindian remains in the region.
Four main historic fills were documented in the area to be impacted by construction of a new pavilion. Although prehistoric remains were recovered from the squares, it is likely that they are in secondary contexts as incidental inclusions within the fills, and their source remains unknown.

本报告旨在对纳滕胡克保护区（Nutten Hook Preserve）近期考古发掘揭露的土壤开展描述与解读，并将该区域纳入哈德逊河谷晚更新世（Late Pleistocene）-全新世（Holocene）地貌与地质考古史的宏观背景框架之中。
对拟建展馆区域内10个小型考古发掘探方（archaeological excavation units）的剖面进行考察后发现，经削顶的基岩（truncated bedrock，岩性为杰曼敦组层理页岩与砂岩（Germantown Formation bedded shale and sandstone））之上至少存在四套历史时期堆积物（Historic period fills）。地层关系（stratigraphic relationships）表明，其形成事件的假想序列如下：首先从哈德逊河高阶古河漫滩坝（paleo-fluvial bar）的尖端移除砂与砾石沉积；随后对不规则的基岩表面进行削平处理，形成富含页岩的堆积物；最后通过引入相对纯净的砂质沉积物完成最终整平，构筑出垫状土结构。现今的土壤A层（soil A horizon）仍在堆积面之上持续发育，但未发现亚A层土壤（sub-A soil horizons），这反映出该沉积物的形成年代较新（属历史时期范畴）。本次研究未识别出埋藏土壤层（buried soil horizons），且从展馆探方中出土的史前遗存大概率为堆积物中的偶然混入物，其来源为当时同为考古遗址的各类区域。在本区域搜寻古印第安人遗存（Paleoindian remains）的研究中，纳滕胡克高阶砂质砾石洪积物的记录具备重要的地质历史研究价值。
在受新展馆建设影响的区域内，共记录到四套主要的历史堆积物。尽管从探方中出土了史前遗存，但这些遗存大概率处于次生埋藏环境（secondary contexts），属于堆积物中的偶然混入物，其具体来源仍未明确。