Our project created a computer program (GPRrofile) to visualize the subsurface using parallel GPR... more Our project created a computer program (GPRrofile) to visualize the subsurface using parallel GPR transects. GPRrofile displays the data in a 2D map and profile view which allows the user to trace features and place them in the study area. GPRrofile is flexible and allows the ...
The Pine Lake Environmental Campus of Hartwick College in West Davenport, New York comprises a fl... more The Pine Lake Environmental Campus of Hartwick College in West Davenport, New York comprises a floodplain nestled between a kame moraine (formed between 14 to 12 Kyr before present) and Charlotte Creek. This setting provided a home to Native American peoples at several times during the Holocene. There is evidence for older (pre-5000 BP) human occupation on the moraine and on the floodplain immediately adjacent to the moraine. Occupation on the moraine is associated with a Kirk serrated style point, known to date between 9700-8000 BP. On the floodplain, pre-5000 BP occupation is documented only in a small area immediately adjacent to the moraine toe. In this area there was a fire hearth and a few (non-temporally diagnostic) stone artifacts associated with a paleosol (A horizon) at approximately 80 cm below the present land surface. Another occupation with very limited artifacts dating to about 5000 BP rests about 25-30 cm above the fire hearth level and in close proximity to the moraine. Most artifacts unearthed from the floodplain cluster in age at 4000 BP and 1000 BP. The older artifacts were recovered closer to the moraine, while the younger artifacts occupy an area farther onto the floodplain and closer to the present location of Charlotte Creek. An historic dump from the early 20th century occupies the shallow subsurface (<0.5 m depth) in a small part of the floodplain. Based on historic artifacts, floodplain accretion since the arrival of Europeans is not likely to exceed 0.2 m on average in this area. The association of artifact age with distance from the moraine is suggestive of floodplain development via lateral accretion, a model which supports the idea that Native Americans preferred to occupy locations in close proximity to an active channel. We developed a test for this model of floodplain development via lateral accretion by characterizing sub- surface stratigraphy using ground penetrating radar (GPR). We pushed a 500 MHz GPR system back and forth across the floodplain collecting 1 meter-spaced profiles. We surveyed endpoints of each profile using global positioning system receivers and a total station electronic distance measurement tool. Thus, we could hang the profiles in a geospatial reference frame, and combine our data with other georeferenced data sets. The profiles extend to roughly 1.3 m depth, at which point the signal was strongly attenuated. A strongly reflective irregular surface, which we interpret as channel and bar structures, can be traced for considerable distance across the floodplain in the subsurface. The buried channels run approximately parallel to the modern channel. They are not obviously related to the shallow flood channels on the modern floodplain. Our results rule out a simple growth of the floodplain via a laterally sweeping channel. The presence of multiple channels and bars implies abrupt shifts of the main channel. Modern channel and floodplain features nearby exhibit similar channel and bar structures with floodplains etched by small flood channels, thus providing a direct analog for understanding the subsurface features at the Pine Lake floodplain.
Although the Cuzco Valley of Peru is renowned for being the heartland of the Incas, little is kno... more Although the Cuzco Valley of Peru is renowned for being the heartland of the Incas, little is known concerning its pre-Inca inhabitants. Until recently it was widely believed that the first inhabitants of the Cuzco Valley were farmers who lived in scattered villages along the valley floor (ca. 1000 BC) and that there were no Archaic Period remains in the region. This perspective was challenged during a systematic survey of the valley, when numerous preceramic sites were found. Additional information came from excavations at the site of Kasapata, the largest preceramic site identified during the survey. It is now clear that the Cuzco Valley was inhabited, like many other regions of the Andes, soon after the retreat of the Pleistocene glaciers and that it supported thriving cultures of hunters and foragers for hundreds of generations before the advent of permanent settlements. This edited volume provides the first overview of the Archaic Period (9000 - 2200 BC) in the Cuzco Valley. The chapters include a detailed discussion of the distribution of Archaic sites in the valley as well as the result of excavations at the site of Kasapata. Separate chapters are dedicated to examining the lithics, human burials, faunal remains, and obsidian recovered at this remarkably well-preserved site.
Our project created a computer program (GPRrofile) to visualize the subsurface using parallel GPR... more Our project created a computer program (GPRrofile) to visualize the subsurface using parallel GPR transects. GPRrofile displays the data in a 2D map and profile view which allows the user to trace features and place them in the study area. GPRrofile is flexible and allows the ...
The Pine Lake Environmental Campus of Hartwick College in West Davenport, New York comprises a fl... more The Pine Lake Environmental Campus of Hartwick College in West Davenport, New York comprises a floodplain nestled between a kame moraine (formed between 14 to 12 Kyr before present) and Charlotte Creek. This setting provided a home to Native American peoples at several times during the Holocene. There is evidence for older (pre-5000 BP) human occupation on the moraine and on the floodplain immediately adjacent to the moraine. Occupation on the moraine is associated with a Kirk serrated style point, known to date between 9700-8000 BP. On the floodplain, pre-5000 BP occupation is documented only in a small area immediately adjacent to the moraine toe. In this area there was a fire hearth and a few (non-temporally diagnostic) stone artifacts associated with a paleosol (A horizon) at approximately 80 cm below the present land surface. Another occupation with very limited artifacts dating to about 5000 BP rests about 25-30 cm above the fire hearth level and in close proximity to the moraine. Most artifacts unearthed from the floodplain cluster in age at 4000 BP and 1000 BP. The older artifacts were recovered closer to the moraine, while the younger artifacts occupy an area farther onto the floodplain and closer to the present location of Charlotte Creek. An historic dump from the early 20th century occupies the shallow subsurface (<0.5 m depth) in a small part of the floodplain. Based on historic artifacts, floodplain accretion since the arrival of Europeans is not likely to exceed 0.2 m on average in this area. The association of artifact age with distance from the moraine is suggestive of floodplain development via lateral accretion, a model which supports the idea that Native Americans preferred to occupy locations in close proximity to an active channel. We developed a test for this model of floodplain development via lateral accretion by characterizing sub- surface stratigraphy using ground penetrating radar (GPR). We pushed a 500 MHz GPR system back and forth across the floodplain collecting 1 meter-spaced profiles. We surveyed endpoints of each profile using global positioning system receivers and a total station electronic distance measurement tool. Thus, we could hang the profiles in a geospatial reference frame, and combine our data with other georeferenced data sets. The profiles extend to roughly 1.3 m depth, at which point the signal was strongly attenuated. A strongly reflective irregular surface, which we interpret as channel and bar structures, can be traced for considerable distance across the floodplain in the subsurface. The buried channels run approximately parallel to the modern channel. They are not obviously related to the shallow flood channels on the modern floodplain. Our results rule out a simple growth of the floodplain via a laterally sweeping channel. The presence of multiple channels and bars implies abrupt shifts of the main channel. Modern channel and floodplain features nearby exhibit similar channel and bar structures with floodplains etched by small flood channels, thus providing a direct analog for understanding the subsurface features at the Pine Lake floodplain.
Although the Cuzco Valley of Peru is renowned for being the heartland of the Incas, little is kno... more Although the Cuzco Valley of Peru is renowned for being the heartland of the Incas, little is known concerning its pre-Inca inhabitants. Until recently it was widely believed that the first inhabitants of the Cuzco Valley were farmers who lived in scattered villages along the valley floor (ca. 1000 BC) and that there were no Archaic Period remains in the region. This perspective was challenged during a systematic survey of the valley, when numerous preceramic sites were found. Additional information came from excavations at the site of Kasapata, the largest preceramic site identified during the survey. It is now clear that the Cuzco Valley was inhabited, like many other regions of the Andes, soon after the retreat of the Pleistocene glaciers and that it supported thriving cultures of hunters and foragers for hundreds of generations before the advent of permanent settlements. This edited volume provides the first overview of the Archaic Period (9000 - 2200 BC) in the Cuzco Valley. The chapters include a detailed discussion of the distribution of Archaic sites in the valley as well as the result of excavations at the site of Kasapata. Separate chapters are dedicated to examining the lithics, human burials, faunal remains, and obsidian recovered at this remarkably well-preserved site.
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