James Strawn Thesis (3.118 Mb )
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Template B v3.0 (beta): Created by J. Nail 06/2015 A geoarchaeological analysis of the 2017 excavations at the Hester site (22MO569) By TITLE PAGE James Lewis Strawn A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Mississippi State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Applied Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures Mississippi State, Mississippi August 2019 Copyright by COPYRIGHT PAGE James Lewis Strawn 2019 A geoarchaeological analysis of the 2017 excavations at the Hester site (22MO569) By APPROVAL PAGE James Lewis Strawn Approved: ____________________________________ Darcy Shane Miller (Major Professor) ____________________________________ James W. Hardin (Committee Member) ____________________________________ Evan Peacock (Committee Member) ____________________________________ David M. Hoffman (Graduate Coordinator) ____________________________________ Rick Travis Dean College of Arts & Sciences Name: James Lewis Strawn ABSTRACT Date of Degree: August 9, 2019 Institution: Mississippi State University Major Field: Applied Anthropology Major Professor: D. Shane Miller Title of Study: A geoarchaeological analysis of the 2017 excavations at the Hester site (22MO569) Pages in Study 99 Candidate for Degree of Master of Arts The small number and diffuse distribution of sites with intact Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene occupations in the Southeastern United States consequently makes examining Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene settlement patterning in the region difficult (Goodyear 1999). The Hester Site (22MO569), located in northeastern Mississippi, contains intact Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene deposits that can potentially afford archaeologists with a better understanding of late Pleistocene/early Holocene settlement in the region (Brookes 1979; Goodyear 1999:463-465). Investigations at Hester by Brookes (1979) revealed a stratified site containing artifacts that represented the late Paleoindian through Woodland periods in the Southeastern United States. Burris (2006) developed an alternative typology by re-analyzing the Hester biface assemblage, which demonstrated four discrete occupations at the Hester site. I use formation theory to evaluate the degree to which post-depositional processes have impacted the deposits at the Hester site. I have determined that the Hester site has not been significantly altered by post-depositional processes. DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to Mr. Tom Hester and the Higginbotham family, especially the late Mr. Rick Higginbotham. Their interest in both the Hester site and the proposed research was paramount to the possibility of being able to host the 2017 and 2018 Mississippi State University field schools at the site. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people are responsible for the successful completion of the research in this thesis. It all began as an undergraduate student when Dr. Shane Miller asked me to look into a little site in Monroe County named the Hester site. Since then, it has been an amazing journey at Mississippi State University, culminating with the completion of this thesis. I must also thank Dr. Evan Peacock, Dr. Jimmy Hardin, and Derek Anderson, who along with Dr. Miller, guided me back on track when I was asking all of the wrong questions. This research and my success would also not have been possible without my parents, Jim and Janice Strawn. They continuously encouraged me to continue doing what I love and supported me during the development of this thesis. Kara Larson has been my rock and kept me grounded during the writing process. I also thank Sam Brookes for providing numerous conversations regarding the previous work undertaken at the site and for continued interest in current and future research at Hester. This research would also have not been possible without all of the undergraduate students, graduate students, and volunteers of the 2017 and 2018 Mississippi State University field schools who came out and tirelessly excavated in the Mississippi heat. iii Thanks must also be given to Dr. Stephen Carmody at Troy University and Howard Cyr at the University of Tennessee’s Archaeological Research Laboratory. Many of the conclusions drawn in this thesis are directly a result of your help with the analyses. Lastly, thank you to the staff at the Cobb Institute of Archaeology and the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures at Mississippi State University where a majority of the analyses for this thesis were undertaken. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................1 Site Background ....................................................................................................3 MDAH Excavations ........................................................................................7 Soil Horizons .................................................................................................10 II. THEORETICAL APPROACH ...........................................................................13 Hypotheses ..........................................................................................................17 H0 - The archaeological deposits at Hester have been substantially altered by post-depositional processes. .............................................17 H1 – The deposits at Hester represent vertically discrete occupations in a primary context. ..........................................................................19 H2 –The deposits at Hester represent vertically discrete occupations in secondary context. .........................................................................21 H3 - The deposits at Hester are in primary context, but no vertical separation of occupations is present. .................................................24 III. DESCRIPTION OF METHODS, MATERIALS, AND ANALYSES ...............26 Field Methods ......................................................................................................26 Laboratory Methods ............................................................................................30 Particle-Size Analysis ....................................................................................31 Mass Analysis of the Debitage ......................................................................32 Inclination and Orientation ............................................................................33 Refit Analysis ................................................................................................34 IV. RESULTS ...........................................................................................................36 v V. DISCUSSION .....................................................................................................55 VI. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................59 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 61 APPENDIX A. ARTIFACT DATA .............................................................................................67 Non-feature Artifact Data ....................................................................................68 Feature Artifact Data ...........................................................................................94 Lithic Tools .........................................................................................................95 Refit Data .............................................................................................................98 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Radiocarbon dates obtained from the Hester Site by the MDAH ......................7 Table 4.2 Results of the Chi-square analysis for dip measurements. ..............................45 Table 4.3 Results of the Chi-square analysis for strike measurements. ...........................46 Table A.1 Data for All Non-feature Artifacts ...................................................................68 Table A.2 Data for All Feature Artifacts ..........................................................................94 Table A.3 Data for Flaked Stone Tool, Hammerstone, and Grinding Stone Artifacts................................................................................................95 Table A.4 Refit Data .........................................................................................................98 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Plan view of the 1974 and 1978 MDAH excavations at the Hester Site. ..........2 Figure 1.2 The physiographic regions of Mississippi. ........................................................4 Figure 1.3 A map of the Hester Site situated between the Tombigbee River and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (Google 2018). ...........................5 Figure 1.4 Illustration from Brookes (1979) showing plan view of the 1973 and 1974 excavations at the Hester site and the Beachum-Harrison dig area (22MO1011).