Ohio Archaeology

In December of 2002, the author had an opportunity to document the Robert Davisson Sr. artifact collection (herein referred to as the R.D. Collection) prior to its auction by Garth Auctions, Inc., Delaware, Ohio, in 2003. This assemblage was the personal artifact collection of the late Mr. Robert Davisson Sr. of Hanging Rock, Lawrence County, Ohio. The assemblage represents artifacts procured exclusively from the Davisson property and resulted from 60 to 75 years of unsystematic collecting by Mr. Davisson. The main purpose of this document is to provide a descriptive summary and photo-documentation of the collection and to make it available to researchers and other interested parties.

This report describes the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) Archaeology Department excavations at the White Fort site (33Ln2) in Lorain County, Ohio from 1995 through 1998 and finally in 2002. White Fort is series of late Precontact village components dating between AD 1200 and 1550. All field work was carried out in conjunction with the Archaeology Department's Field Experience and summer Field School programs in cooperation with the Lorain County Metro Parks. The project was directed by the author with the assistance of the late Barbara Barrish and Mark Kollecker.

This paper documents a concentration  of Early Archaic period archaeological sites along drainage divides in western Washington County, Pennsylvania. The author is interested in hearing from other researchers who have note a similar pattern elsewhere.

Periods and typologies are artificial boxes that archaeologists use to classify cultures and the artifacts that they used. Consequently, there is a need to re-evaluate old paradigms as new data become available, particularly when these paradigms are internally inconsistent. This thesis focuses on the Transitional period in western Pennsylvania and analyzes both the semantic division of cultural periods between 2900-900 BC and the types of projectile points used to define this period. Current descriptions of the Transitional period adequately describe eastern Pennsylvania but fail to adequately describe the material culture and point typologies of western Pennsylvania. Data from existing excavations and site reports are synthesized to compile a database of radiocarbon dates associated with diagnostic projectile points in order to establish an accurate seriation of point types. These data are visually represented as series of maps to show spatial, typological, and chronological variation. The thesis’ ultimate purpose is to create a consistent projectile point chronology that can be used as a framework to accurately date sites within this region on the basis of typology.

Leimbach pottery, named after the type site on the Vermillion River in Lorain County, Ohio, is believed to likely be the earliest manifestation of ceramics in northern Ohio. This pottery type is found primarily in the southern drainage of Lake Erie between Sandusky Bay and the Vermillion River, although there have been some isolated finds in northeastern Ohio, as well as to the west of Sandusky. Recent dating of Leimbach pottery has pushed its origins back to as early as 1000 B.C. at some sites – a date that represents the Transitional Period between the Archaic and Early Woodland Periods – leading to some ambiguity in the traditionally-defined separation of the Archaic and Early Woodland time periods, since the use of ceramics has typically been a hallmark of the beginning Early Woodland Period. Leimbach pottery, characterized by large, lug-handled, thick-walled (and usually cordmarked) vessels, is found at some Transitional/Early Woodland sites but not at other contemporary, or even later sites in the region, potentially suggesting that the utility and adoption of ceramics may have varied among populations – and possibly that the spread of ceramics technology may not have been universal or rapid among all peoples in northern Ohio. While the relation of Leimbach pottery to other early ceramics in the larger Great Lakes region vs. the Greater Ohio region has also been disputed, the fact that the first ceramics in northern Ohio consisted of these extremely large, thick, heavy vessels is interesting in itself, since it might be expected that the early evolution of ceramics technology would have started with smaller, simpler pieces. Instead, it appears to have begun with thick vessels having a potentially complex manufacturing process, possibly suggesting outside influence and/or a specialized function. The objective of this paper is to: 1) Synthesize current information and perspectives on Leimbach pottery 2) Collect documentation and data on Leimbach vessels for later study 3) Document the recreation of a Leimbach vessel using Transitional-era materials and technologies In doing this, the hope is to more fully understand the potential innovation that these early ceramics may have represented in the context of their early appearance in northern Ohio, and to provide support for future research regarding the origins and use of Leimbach pottery as the likely predecessor of later ceramics in northern Ohio.

This paper presents an inventory of prehistoric rockshelter archaeological sites in western Pennsylvania as recorded in the Pennsylvania Archaeological Site Survey (PASS) files as of March 14, 2003. A total of 611 rockshelter sites were recorded in the 24 county study area. Patterns of usage and documentation are discussed, based upon information in the PASS files.

The Western Basin of Lake Erie, and in particular the south shore, from Lorain to Toledo - including Sandusky Bay and Lake Erie Islands - has been significantly utilized by native peoples since at least 9500 BC. This area surrounds what was formerly the great Black Swamp, a formidable natural barrier to early European settlement of the area, and likely prehistoric peoples as well. The entire southwestern littoral region of Lake Erie is drained by numerous small and large river systems, including the Maumee, Portage, Sandusky, Huron, Vermillion, and Black
Rivers. This area is characterized by the flat terrain of the post-glacial lake bed, and moderately long and deep river valleys. While the potential origins, identity, and migrations of the people that lived here prior to European contact has been the source of much research and discussion over the years, it is clear from new discoveries being made, that the lifeways of the inhabitants of this area, as well as their mortuary practices, varied over time, as did other aspects of their societies.

This report presents the results of a large-area magnetic gradient survey at Hopewell Mound Group, a unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Ross County, Ohio. The survey was conducted by Ohio Valley Archaeology, Inc., under contract with the Midwest Archeological Center, National Park Service, during 18 days of work spread across the period from October 18, 2012 through March 27, 2013.  Along with an additional 3.1 acres of data collected in September and October of 2011, the results presented here cover 73.4 acres of the eastern half of the site on the lower terrace (the landform containing the bulk of the earthworks).
Hundreds of magnetic anomalies of potential archaeological interest were detected during the magnetic surveys, including known features from nineteenth century maps that have since disappeared from the ground surface (e.g., the square) and many other new features of interest. Chief among these new features are a post circle and central pit cluster within the medium-sized circle, a cluster of pits located outside the small circle detected in 2001, a complex of features associated with Mound 4, at least four possible burned structures just north of the square, and one or perhaps two possible prepared/burned surfaces or floors located near the main enclosure wall to the south of Mound 1.
Many other anomalies detected during the survey are associated with possible cultural or landform features that are not fully understood. Two long linear features could be natural linear depressions or soil borrow features intermittently filled with refuse.  Numerous large-area positive anomalies appear to be arranged in an oval pattern to the north of the square. The source of these large anomalies is uncertain.
In addition to providing numerous maps of the results and an appendix containing information about anomalies of interest, several recommendations for additional kinds of geophysical survey and ground-truthing work also are presented.

Prehistoric architecture in the Eastern United States has been investigated since in the early 1940s when William S. Webb excavated several Woodland structures in Kentucky. For the past 70 years archaeologists have debated the configuration and function of these structures and produced several renderings and reconstructions of their forms based on historic Native American examples, modern Bedouin settlements, and from “archaeological imagination”. The premise of this thesis is to offer a comprehensive interpretation for the form and function of the McCammon Circle structure through comparative data on Woodland prehistoric structures in the Eastern United States. The McCammon Circle represents the subsurface remains of a large circular structure, which was excavated by Weller & Associates, Inc. in 2005, that dates to the Middle Woodland period. These remains include various post holes, features (pits/basins), and a somewhat sparse artifact assemblage, including various lithic and ceramic artifacts from the site.

The first part of this study will involve a comparison of the structural attributes of floor area, average posthole diameter, and average posthole depth for each of the 36 analogous structures within the regional study to the McCammon Circle. The McCammon Circle will be placed contextually with the interpretations for form and function of the other structures in the comparison. The form of the McCammon Circle will be compared to five building forms in the region. The function of the McCammon Circle will then be compared to other researcher’s interpretations for the similar structures within the aforementioned comparison. These comparisons will allow for a comprehensive interpretation for the McCammon Circle in regards to the most widely accepted viewpoints in the regional archaeological community. These comparisons indicated that the McCammon Circle was most similar to structures that have been interpreted as unroofed in form and ceremonial in function. I hypothesize that based on the overbuilt, immense nature of the structure, the presence of mica and red ochre, the absence of a midden and cooking hearths, and the lack of an identifiable roof support posthole pattern, as well as the similarity to other ceremonial structures in the region, the original interpretation of the building as a roofed domestic “house” is faulty. A hypaethral “woodhenge” non-mound mortuary facility, serving as a territorial marker in the region as well, is a more plausible reconstruction for the function of the McCammon Circle.

The second part of the study will be to test the ability of an engineering analysis utilizing Euler’s formula in determining the possible form of the McCammon Circle. Euler’s formula will be used to determine whether or not the structure could have supported a roof by testing the load bearing capabilities of the structural posts. Euler’s formula will be used to see whether or not it is applicable to aiding in the interpretation of prehistoric structures in general. This will hopefully allow future researchers to decide whether or not Euler’s formula should be included within their own engineering analysis of prehistoric architecture based upon its merits and shortcomings. Euler’s formula proved to be unreliable in ascertaining the form of the McCammon Circle because it failed to take into account several other variables, such as horizontal loads and soil dynamics, which are integral to determining possible building form. However, Euler’s formula may prove complementary to interpreting prehistoric structural form when combined with other engineering analyses.

The structural engineering analysis of the McCammon Circle may have proved unreliable, however it represents a heuristic endeavor that will hopefully prompt other researchers to look towards engineering principles and analyses for future reconstructions of prehistoric architecture. The significance of this research also lies in the insistence that all conclusions must be grounded in relevant archaeological and ethnographic analogy. Any and all avenues for research that lead to a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of prehistory should be investigated and employed.

Berlin Lake is a U. S. Army Corps of Engineers multipurpose reservoir constructed in
1943 and located in the tri-county area of Mahoning, Portage, and Stark counties, Ohio.
Federally owned land around the lake—6,885 acres—is leased to the Ohio Department of
Natural Resources. In June 2016, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers invited Kent State
University (KSU) archaeologists to visit Berlin Lake in order to begin a partnership involving
archaeological research in the area. At that time there was a concern that cultural materials,
specifically those along the coast, were being lost due to natural and/or anthropogenic processes
causing erosion along the reservoir’s coast.

To evaluate a model of the travel-route selection process for upper Ohio Valley Paleoindian foragers (13,500–11,400 cal BP),
this study investigates archaeological data through the theoretical framework of landscape learning and risk-sensitive analysis.
Following initial trail placement adjacent to a highly visible escarpment landform, Paleoindians adopted a risk-averse strategy
to minimize travel outcome variability when wayfaring between Sandy Springs, a significant Ohio River Paleoindian site, and
Upper Mercer–Vanport chert quarries of east-central Ohio. Although a least-cost analysis indicates an optimal route through
the lower Scioto Valley, archaeological evidence for this path is lacking. Geomorphic and archaeological data further suggest
that site absence in the lower Scioto Valley is not entirely due to sampling bias. Instead, evidence indicates that Paleoindians
preferred travel within the Ohio Brush Creek–Baker’s Fork valley despite its longer path distance through more rugged, constricted
terrain. Potential travel through the lower Scioto Valley hypothesizes high outcome variability due to the stochastic
nature of the late Pleistocene hydroregime. In this case, perceived outcome variability appears more influential in determining
travel-route decisions among Paleoindians than direct efforts to reduce energy and time allocation.

An attempt to determine the meaning of the Serpent Mound through comparative depictions of Serpents by various cultures. This is a re-write that provides a more detailed translation of the Mayan glyph demonstrating an extended background to the Egg-Serpent relationship.

Within the United States, prehistoric archaeology in urban or residential settings has been, to date, understudied. Residential settings are located on small parcels of land, usually less than two acres in size, and have an extant residence or dwelling on them. The assumption of many archaeologists is that urban contexts are disturbed, and therefore lack
significant archaeological context and integrity. However, it is unclear if this assumption is based on the reality of the archaeological record, or a self-fulfilling prophecy of professional archaeologists quick to write off sites due to their presumed low archaeological potential. The issue of integrity within urban and residential sites is not dissimilar to recent
debates on the utility of the plow zone at sites documented in agricultural settings. In both cases, the issue centers on the archaeological prospection for sub-surface features almost to the exclusion of other archaeological contexts. Only through systematic survey of urban sites can we begin to understand the integrity and context of prehistoric sites in
these settings. This paper presents the realities of the urban and residential archaeological record, through a sample of 41 sites discovered in Northeast Ohio in and around the cities of Akron and Cleveland. The sample was compiled using government archaeological databases such as the Ohio Archaeological Inventory. The results of this sample, though
limited in geographic scope, provide an interesting template for urban prehistoric archaeology throughout North America. Residential sites have the potential to yield useful information on the prehistory of modern urban centers that would otherwise be evaluated as insignificant when considered individually.

In the fall of 2016, an inventory was conducted of the University of Akron's (UA) previous archaeological field work and research. The goal of this inventory project was to identify and submit previously unreported archaeological survey reports and archaeological sites to the Ohio Archaeological Inventory (OAI) and the National Archaeology Database (NADB). The OAI form is a ten page form containing a plethora of information about a specific archaeological site beginning with UTM coordinate location to narrative descriptions of artifact patterning. Two sections of the OAI, I.1 and I.2, describe the site in a narrative form and the relationship of the site to other archaeological sites in the region. During the process of completing the sections I.1 and I.2, I conducted basic background research of the known archaeological sites within approximately one mile to each site. While conducting background research, I observed other archaeological sites not yet reported in the OAI including, in part, the OAI forms I was completing for past University of Akron (UA) projects. Many of the backlogged UA sites were a mix of surveys never formally published or submitted to the OHPO, dating as early as the late 1970s up to the present.

In 1883 or 1884, Joseph Westenhaver conducted partial excavation of an Adena mound on his property in Pickaway County, Ohio.  Among the material excavated by Westenhaver was a large fossil shark tooth (Figures 1 and 2).  In addition to the other interesting and rare objects, the mound yielded an usually large amount of woven fabric, ideal for radiocarbon dating.  Fabric from the mound is housed in both public and private collections.  Despite this, an absolute date has not been obtained for the mound. The purpose of this article is to document the presence of a shark tooth from an Adena mound in Ohio and to request from those with access to the fabric, the opportunity to obtain a sample for radiocarbon dating.

This document is a list of all the radiocarbon dates used to produce my Master's Thesis. To use this Database Type "true" into the rows you wish to generate calibrated radiocarbon dates for. The percent likelihood for the radiocarbon dates (during a 5 year window) should appear at the top of the chart. The "chart tab" generates a graph of a radiocarbon date's probability over time. Multiple radiocarbon dates can be added together using this model.

In 2019 an interesting trend was observed within the author's master's thesis. When radiocarbon dates affiliated with the Riverton Culture were ordered chronologically, the dates appear to get younger as they got further east, possibly representing an ancient migration or the dissemination of technology (Thompson 2019). This project was designed to examine this trend with a larger dataset in the context of other contemporaneous groups and examine whether it is an artifact of the data or a broader trend in prehistoric settlement patterns.

Purpose This study was designed to assess the mechanical properties of two calcium carbonate tempers , limestone and burnt shell. These tempers have been previously compared, in separate studies, to silicate-based grit or sand temper and, relative to the latter, are assumed to possess similar mechanical properties. However, their simultaneous use at the Morrison Village site begs the question: do these two calcium carbonate tempers indeed possess similar mechanical properties? In order to assess their performance characteristics, a side-by-side controlled experimental test was conducted to determine the degree of similarity in providing increased vessel strength and toughness. Methods Standardized ceramic test samples were systematically prepared via a set, explicit protocol. An Instron Series IX universal testing machine configured with a four-point flexural test jig was used to perform a flexural strength test of the test samples. The Instron load and deflection data were used to calculate three values related to mechanical performance: peak load, modulus of rupture, and modulus of elasticity. Results All four comparative tests clearly show substantial differences in peak load, modulus of rupture , and modulus of elasticity. These differences are statistically significant for each performance attribute in every iteration of the experiment and as indicated by Mann-Whitney U Tests. Conclusions These results do not support the hypothesis that limestone and burnt shell offer the same performance characteristics. These results have implications for our understanding of

The following study compares the frequency distributions of projectile points from COADS (Olson et al. 2021), Seeman et al. (2020) and 1282 points data mined from various online digitized sources. All three of these datasets represent projectile points from private collections. However, the distinctions between the datasets are how the data were captured. The dataset compiled for this study was mined from online digitized archives (Ohio Memory, Ohio State University’s Knowledge Bank), auction websites (eBay, Rowlands Relics, Estatesales.net
and .com), and a limited number of private collections photographed by the author. The compilation of data was a multi-year process, with the general aim of adding data to datasets such as COADS or complimenting other projectile point datasets. What began as data mining slowly turned into a study of collector and market preferences, and the biases of private collecting in Ohio projectile point type distributions.

Archaeological investigations at the Misery Acres Site (33Ot263), located on Middle Bass Island, Lake Erie, Ohio, have identified a small, short-term fishing camp occupied during the Riviere au Vase Phase (ca. A.D. 750-1000) of the Western Basin Tradition.  An undisturbed (i.e., unplowed) setting, coupled with a significant intrasite spatial patterning, provided researchers with a unique opportunity to examine various levels of site dynamics including structure, function, and duration.  This paper presents the results of archaeological research at Misery Acres and compares the site with existing cultural models for the western Lake Erie region.