Guidelines for Identifying and Evaluating Buried Archaeological Sites
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
A Geoarchaeological Overview of South Dakota and Preliminary Guidelines for Identifying and Evaluating Buried Archaeological Sites Final Report by Joe Alan Artz Joe Alan Artz Principal Investigator Contract Completion Report 1868 Office of the State Archaeologist The University of Iowa Iowa City 2011 The activity that is the subject of this Allocations Guide has been financed in part with the Federal funds from the National Park Service, U. S. Department of the Interior. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the American With Disabilities Act of 1990, and South Dakota law SDCL 20-13, the State of South Dakota and U. S. Department of the Interior prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, sex, disability, ancestry or national origin. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility as described above, or if you desire further information, please write to: South Dakota Division of Human Rights, State Capital, Pierre, SD 57501, or the Office of Equal Opportunity, National Park Service, 201 I Street NW, Washington, D. C. 20240. ii Table of Contents Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................................ iv List of Tables ......................................................................................................................................................... iv PART I: Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1 Background ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Objectives ........................................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgments............................................................................................................................................... 5 Information Sources ................................................................................................................................................ 5 GIS Datasets ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Bibliographic Sources ......................................................................................................................................... 6 PART II. GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL OVERVIEW ............................................................................................ 10 Statewide Geological Overview ............................................................................................................................ 10 Geology, Geomorphology, and Archaeological Regions .................................................................................. 10 Interregional Patterns ........................................................................................................................................ 11 Holocene Geology and Geoarchaeology ........................................................................................................... 17 Geological Processes ........................................................................................................................................ 18 Regional Overviews .............................................................................................................................................. 27 West River ........................................................................................................................................................ 27 Missouri Trench ................................................................................................................................................ 30 East River .......................................................................................................................................................... 31 PART III. Developing Guidelines ........................................................................................................................ 34 National Survey of Buried Site Guidelines ........................................................................................................... 34 State Guidelines ................................................................................................................................................ 34 Detailed State Guidelines .................................................................................................................................. 39 Concepts and Considerations ................................................................................................................................ 43 Buried Site Potential ......................................................................................................................................... 43 Subsurface Testing Methods ............................................................................................................................. 43 Other Subsurface Data Sources ......................................................................................................................... 49 Projects For Deep Testing ................................................................................................................................. 58 Qualifications .................................................................................................................................................... 59 PART IV: PRELIMINARY GUIDELINES FOR IDENTIFYING AND EVALUATING BURIED ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN SOUTH DAKOTA ......................................................................................... 61 Premises ................................................................................................................................................................ 61 Geologic Processes ........................................................................................................................................... 61 Evidence for Geologic Processes ...................................................................................................................... 61 Site, Artifact, and Feature Density .................................................................................................................... 62 Buried Site Potential ......................................................................................................................................... 62 Sedimentary Environments and Landforms ...................................................................................................... 64 Qualifications .................................................................................................................................................... 65 Identifying and Evaluating Buried Site Potential and Buried Sites ...................................................................... 65 Desktop Assessment ......................................................................................................................................... 65 Geoarchaeological Assessment ......................................................................................................................... 66 Archaeological Assessment .............................................................................................................................. 67 Subsurface Site Evaluation ............................................................................................................................... 67 Evaluation and Mitigation ................................................................................................................................. 68 Report Documentation ...................................................................................................................................... 68 iii PART V: CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................................. 69 Summary ............................................................................................................................................................... 69 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................................... 70 When to apply the guidelines ............................................................................................................................ 71 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................................. 72 REFERENCES CITED ......................................................................................................................................... 74 Appendix A: Using the Web Soil Survey ............................................................................................................. 86 Appendix B: Using GIS to Estimate Archaeological Site Density