An Investigation of the Distribution of Open Archaeological Sites in the Upper Kickapoo Valley Archaeological District, Vernon County, Wisconsin
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An Investigation of the Distribution of Open Archaeological Sites in the Upper Kickapoo Valley Archaeological District, Vernon County, Wisconsin. Ben Johnston Department of Resource Analysis, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, Winona, MN 55987 Keywords: Archaeology, Site Selection, Upper Kickapoo River Valley Archaeology District, Kickapoo River, Wisconsin Archaeology, Spatial Statistics Abstract The Upper Kickapoo River Archaeological District contains over 500 archaeological sites. Spatial statistics and site selection factors were explored for 405 open archaeological sites. Nearest Neighbor Index and Ripley’s K-Function analyses show that the sites have a clustering pattern. Hot spot analyses reveal concentrations near a few stream confluences. Topographic variables of the site locations show a preference for lower elevations and low slopes. Furthermore, comparisons of cultural affiliated sites indicate the Paleo-Indian sites were farther from water resources when compared to Archaic and Woodland affiliated sites. Introduction The ACOE purchased over 8500 acres from local residents for the proposed The Upper Kickapoo Valley Archaeology reservoir and additional adjacent District (UKVAD) is located in Vernon recreation areas. County, Wisconsin, between the villages Most of the archaeological surveys of La Farge and Ontario. With over 500 in the 1960’s and 1970’s were focused on archaeological sites identified throughout the areas within the proposed reservoir the district, the UKVAD was recognized pool level (Holtz and Boszhardt, 1998). by the National Registry of Historical Yet, some surveys covered the adjacent Places in 1999 (www.nps.gov/history/nr/). recreational areas surrounding the lake. The archaeological significance of Later surveys in the 1980’s and 1990 the UKVAD was relatively unknown prior targeted areas for road construction and to 1960, with only a handful of sites highway realignment within the valley reported for the area (Holtz and Boszhardt, (Holtz and Boszhardt, 1998). 1998). However, during the late 1960’s Due to many circumstances, the through the 1970’s, extensive Lake La Farge project was not completed. archaeological surveys were conducted in In 1996, the project was officially anticipation of an Army Corps of decommissioned by the United States Engineers (ACOE) flood control project, Congress. The ACOE acquired land was known as the Lake La Farge Project. The transferred to the State of Wisconsin and project proposed the creation of a 1,780 the Ho-Chunk Nation in 2000, creating the acre lake to help mitigate flooding Kickapoo Valley Reserve. problems in the Kickapoo River Valley. In preparation of the land transfer, Johnston, Ben. 2010. An Investigation of the Distribution of Open Archaeological Sites in the Upper Kickapoo Valley Archaeological District, Vernon County, Wisconsin. Volume 12, Papers in Resource Analysis. 18 pp. Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota Central Services Press. Winona, MN. Retrieved (date) from http://www.gis.smumn.edu the Mississippi Valley Archaeological rock flakes or chips associated with the Center conducted a final archaeological shaping of stone for tool production. The survey in 1998 of approximately 3,500 presence of these flakes suggests a tool acres that were not covered in earlier making location and/or short term camp surveys (Holtz and Boszhardt, 1998). (Holtz and Boszhardt, 1998). These areas were mostly upland benches “Isolated finds” are sites where and terraces within the Kickapoo Valley only a few artifacts were identified, but Reserve. not substantial enough to make any definitive conclusions of the site use. Archaeological Cultural Periods in the These could be lost stone tools, short UKVAD stopovers or discarded items (Holtz and Boszhardt, 1998). Diagnostic artifacts such as stone tools of Rock shelters are another type of particular shapes and/or design, the archaeological site found within the presence/absence of pottery, and evidence UKVAD. These are rock overhangs or of wooden tools are used to determine recess caves produced by differential cultural periods, or time intervals when a erosion between sandstone layers. site was occupied (Theler and Boszhardt, Archaeological surveys at several rock 2003). Other cultural specific indicators shelters have yielded evidence indicating include burial practices and evidence of occupancy by prehistoric people, most agriculture. likely during winter (Theler and Many cultural artifacts have been Boszhardt, 2003). A total of 91 rock found in the UKVAD. Three cultural shelters have been identified in the periods represented include the Paleo- UKVAD. Indian Period between 12,000-9,000 B.P (before present), the Archaic Period, Distribution of Archaeology Sites 9,000-2,500 B.P., and the Woodland Period 2,500-1000 B.P (Holtz and A distribution study of archaeological sites Boszhardt, 1998; Theler and Boszhardt, is dependent upon three factors (Guccione, 2003). Cultural periods can be further 2008). The first is whether or not a site is divided into early, middle, or late sub- preserved over time. Natural process such cultures (i.e. Middle Archaic). as sedimentation during a flood can bury a site. Yet stream migration can later expose Archaeological Sites in UKVAD or destroy a site (Guccione, 2008). A second variable in site Archaeological sites are categorized distribution is based on the site selection according to the function of the site and/or process by prehistoric people. Proximity to features found at a given location. Some of available resources such as water (Zhang, the sites include camps, villages, lithic Zhao, and Lui, 2007), hunting/foraging scatter, and isolated finds. Collectively, areas (Carlisle and Friedel, 2009), natural these sites are referred to as “open sites”. shelters, and sources for stone tools The term “village” used in the (Theler and Boszhardt, 1998) are key UKVAD describes larger camp areas of selection factors. Physical environment extensive use over time (Holtz and variables such as topography (elevation, Boszhardt, 1998). Lithic scatter sites are slope, aspect) can influence site selection. characterized by the presence of numerous Political, spiritual, and social factors may 2 also affect the site selection process; UKVAD within the Kickapoo Valley although the role of these factors is not Reserve. In addition, a 500 m buffer was easily determined from the archaeological created surrounding the Kickapoo Valley record (Ebert, 2004). Reserve to incorporate an additional 16 A third factor in site distribution is open sites. This particular study area was the available archaeological information. delineated due to the available The archaeology record is never complete archaeological data. Forty additional sites since sites may not be located and/or beyond the 500 m buffer were excluded significant artifacts may not be found from this study since detailed during a survey (Guiccone, 2008). archaeological information was not Furthermore, sites with more extensive use available. are more likely to be identified during an archaeological survey versus a site used Physical Setting only for a short time. The geology of the UKVAD consists of Purpose of This Study Cambrian sandstone layers at the valley bottoms and along hillsides. These layers This study investigated the distribution of are capped by Ordovician carbonate layers archaeological sites within a portion of the occurring near the ridge top elevations. Upper Kickapoo Valley Archaeological Variations in relative hardness of the District (UKVAD). Spatial statistic tools sedimentary layers have resulted in from ArcGIS 9.3 were used to evaluate differential erosion, producing a dramatic spatial patterns. Four different data sets landscape. were used for the analysis; the entire The Kickapoo River is the largest population of open archaeology sites, and stream within the study area. The total sites affiliated with each of the three length within the study area is 26.6 cultural periods: Paleo-Indian, Archaic and kilometers. The Kickapoo Valley Woodland. watershed is characterized as dendritic Furthermore, the study explored with deeply incised stream channels (Holtz relationships among topographic variables and Boszhardt, 1998). and distances to resources with the open Seven major tributaries join the site locations. Topographic variables Kickapoo River within the study area. In included aspect, slope and elevation. addition, many smaller streams (i.e. Resources considered for this study were unnamed creeks and/or intermittent rock shelters, water, cliffs/steep areas, and streams) are also present. Evidence for stream confluences. Proximity to stream meandering is present along particular stream sizes was also evaluated. portions of the Kickapoo River and some A third part of the study compared of the major tributaries. the cultural affiliated site based on The total relief for the study area locations. Five variables were selected to varies between 90 m (meters) to 152 m. investigate possible differences among the The valley elevation values are between cultural periods. 253 m at the upstream most point to 240 m at the downstream most point of the The Study Area Kickapoo River. The major tributaries have slightly higher elevations of This study focused on the areas of the approximately 270 m. 3 Ridge elevations within the study locations of archaeological surveys area are between 367 m to 375 m. Just conducted prior to 1997. According to the below the ridge line is an occurrence of metadata, the point features were digitized cliff