Footprints In the Footprints of Squier and Davis: Archeological Fieldwork in Ross County, Ohio Lynott FOOTPRINTS IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF SQUIER AND DAVIS: ARCHEOLOGICAL FIELDWORK IN ROSS COUNTY, OHIO Lynott Midwest Archeological Center Special Report No. 5 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Midwest Archeological Center United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Midwest Archeological Center Lincoln, Nebraska 2009 This report has been reviewed against the criteria contained in 43CFR Part 7, Subpart A, Section 7.18 (a) (1) and, upon recommendation of the Midwest Regional Office and the Midwest Archeological Center, has been classified as Available Making the report available meets the criteria of 43CFR Part 7, Subpart A, Section 7.18 (a) (1). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The papers in this volume were originally prepared for presentation at a symposium titled “In the Footprints of Squier and Davis: Hopewell Archaeology in Ross County, Ohio” at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Milwaukee, WI (April 11, 2003). We regret the long delay in making these papers available to a wider audience, but hope that the data and ideas in this volume will be a useful contribution to Ohio Hopewell archeology. Much of the research presented in this volume has benefitted from the support and encouragement of the staff at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. Superintendents John Neal and Dean Alexander provided much support and encouragement for the research and papers presented here. Park Archeologists Dr. Bret Ruby and Dr. Jennifer Pederson Weinberger helped coordinate and organize many of the projects in this volume, and any success we may have achieved is also due to the interest and assistance provided by Dr. Jarrod Burks and Dr. Kathy Brady. We also appreciate the cheerful assistance of Jon Casson, Phil Egan, William Jones, Laura Long, Bonnie Murray, Rick Perkins and Rebecca Jones. We appreciate the efforts of the staff of the Chillicothe Veterans Administration Medical Center to provide housing for various field teams working on projects at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. The VA staff made the archeology teams feel welcome and showed interest in their research. We truly appreciate the support of Directors Mike Walton and Douglas Moorman, Associate Director Keith Sullivan, and Jay Wilkins, Engineer. Their cooperation in providing housing for the field teams made the research more convenient and effective. The staff of the Midwest Archeological Center provided important assistance during all aspects of this project. Carrol Moxham, John Andresen, Jeff Larson, Anna Loach and Cynthia Wiley all helped prepare various parts of the manuscript for publication. Erin Dempsey provided a much needed dose of energy and enthusiasm during the final preparation of this volume. Allan Weber used his skill and creativity to put the papers into a pleasant format and worked with the authors in getting papers into final form. On behalf of all the contributors to this volume, we want to thank our colleagues, friends and families for encouraging and supporting our study of the archeological record relating to the ancient society we call Ohio Hopewell. Those of us who have had the privilege of conducting archeological research in Ross County, Ohio truly appreciate the pioneering efforts of Ephraim G. Squier and Edwin H. Davis. More than a century and a half later, their work on the great earthen monuments in this area continues to inspire and encourage our fascination with Ohio Hopewell archeology. While the technological, methodological and theoretical advances presented in this volume offer great promise for future investigations, more fieldwork is urgently needed. Squier and Davis commented on the degradation of the mounds and earthworks in the mid- nineteenth century, and the situation only becomes more urgent with time. i ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... i List of Tables .................................................................................................................................vii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ix Contributors .................................................................................................................................xiii Chapter 1 In the Footprints of Squier and Davis : Archeological Fieldwork in Ross County, Ohio Mark J. Lynott ............................................................................................................1 Previous Studies in Ohio .......................................................................................1 Hopewell Studies Today .......................................................................................4 Recent Field Research ...........................................................................................6 Goal of this Volume ............................................................................................12 Chapter 2 In Non-mound Space at the Hopewell Mound Group Jennifer Pederson Weinberger ................................................................................13 Geophysical Survey .............................................................................................15 Western Village Area...........................................................................................16 Near the East Village ...........................................................................................18 Central Area .......................................................................................................19 Discussion ...........................................................................................................19 Chapter 3 Field Studies of the Octagon and Great Circle, High Bank Earthworks Ross County, Ohio N’omi B. Greber and Orrin C. Shane III ....................................................................23 Excavations at the Octagon .................................................................................25 Geophysics at the Great Circle ............................................................................30 Excavations at the Great Circle ............................................................................33 Radiocarbon Assays ............................................................................................41 Comments ..........................................................................................................44 Addendum .........................................................................................................46 Chapter 4 Spruce Hill Earthworks: The 1995-1996 National Park Service Investigations Bret J. Ruby ...............................................................................................................49 Background ........................................................................................................49 The Spruce Hill Earthworks ..................................................................................49 Spruce Hill Revisited ............................................................................................53 The 1995-1996 National Park Service Investigations ............................................53 Discussion and Conclusions .................................................................................61 iii FOOTPRINTS Chapter 5 Falling Through a Crack in the Core: The Surprise and Demise of Anderson Earthwork William H. Pickard and Jeffrey W. Weinberger ................................................. 67 History and Setting .............................................................................................68 1993 Excavations ................................................................................................70 Discussion ...........................................................................................................72 Conclusion ..........................................................................................................74 Chapter 6 Middle Woodland and Other Settlement Remains in the Overly Tract Near The Hopeton Earthwork, Ross County, Ohio William S. Dancey .....................................................................................................77 Research Design..................................................................................................77 Artifact Categories and their Distributions...........................................................80 Discussion...........................................................................................................92 Chapter 7 Hopewell Occupation at the Hopeton Earthworks: Large Scale Surface Survey Using GPS Technology Jarrod Burks and Dawn Walter Gagliano................................................................97 The Survey Area ..................................................................................................98 Survey Methodology ...........................................................................................99 Survey Results .....................................................................................................99 The Surface Data: A Siteless Approach ...............................................................103 Discussion and Conclusion .................................................................................106