Archaeological Geology

A wide variety of earth-science applications to archaeological problems is evident in ongoing research. The Centennial celebration of the Geological Society of America fostered two symposiums that highlighted archaeological geology. In "History of the Establishment of a Geological Framework for Human Evolution," sponsored by the History of Geology Division, Don Grayson (University of Washington) reviewed the establishment of a time scale for archaeological records and the effect of those efforts on the development of Old World archaeology. William Farrand (University of Michigan) discussed the changing position of human records in the Cenozoic time scale. Michael Woodburne (University of California, Berkeley) evaluated radioisotopic dating of early hominid remains in East Africa. R.L. Hay (University of Illinois) summarized the reconstruction of paleoenvironments at Olduvai Gorge, and how those interpretations improve our understanding of long-and short-term variations in the archaeological record of theat famous area. Vance Haynes (University of Arizona) paid tribute to Kirk Bryan, Ernst Antevs, E.H. Sellards and others, in his paper on Paleo-Indian geochronology. The papers of this symposium, organized by Leo laporte, document that emergence and growth of archaeological geology and the importance of geology in the study of human evolution.

The symposium on "New World Geoarchaeology," chaired by Fekri Hassan (Washington State University) and Reid Ferring (University of North Texas), included recent research and syntheses of long-term investigations. In him summary of Holocene geology and paleontology of northwest New Mexico, Stephen A. Hall (University of Texas, Austin) concluded that geological evidence associated with archaeological data reveals long-term responses to climate change, landscape evolution, and shifts related to agricultural practices. Michael Waters (Texas A&M University) also discussed human responses to landscape change in the Southwest. Waters has completed investigations along the Santa Cruz River in Arizona.

Geological records relevant to Paleo-Indian archaeology were the subject of several papers. Wakefield Dort Jr. (University of Kansas) reviewed recent finds from the late Pleistocene and early Holocene in Kansas that bear on possible associations between artifacts and extinct megafauna. In his review of Paleo-Indian through late Holocene data in the Northwestern Plains, John Albanese stressed the importance of geological controls on site preservation. Regional variations in the timing of post-glacial environmental change, as well as long-term processes responsible for site destruction, are the predominant controls o f Paleo-Indian site distributions.

Jim Mead and Larry Agenbroad (Northern Arizona University) described Pleistocene megafaunal occurrences and detailed Holocene paleontologic/archaeologic data from cave and alluvial deposits in Utah. Faunal, floral and dung remains provide new evidence of late Pleistocene paleoenvironments. Sedimentary environments and patterns of environmental change correlate with records of occupation. Robert Thorson (University of Connecticut) evaluated the effects of sryoturbation in Alaska on site preservation and within-site stratigraphy. We need to analyze in detail the post-depositional alteration of sites in this area, as well as to study the long-term processes of site destruction. As yet, investigators in his region have found no well-preserved archaeological sites older than 11,000 to 12,000 years.

During the GSA meeting’s archaeological geology session, researchers reported recent progress in geophysical studies. Robert Darwin and Brooks Ellwood(University of Texas, Arlington) used electrical-resistivity profiling to define the stratigraphy and subsurface geomorphic features of Quaternary deposits in the Sulfur River Basin in Texas. These data were used to predict potential site locations. Guy Cross, William Slawson and E. Hector Williams (University of British Columbia) used shallow high resolution seismic reliction to focus on similar problems.

R. McClean and W.F. Kean (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) reported on magnetic susceptibility and other magnetic properties of wood ash and their archaeological applications. R.J. Bellomo and W.F. Kean (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) compared the magnetic properties of hearths from Illinois with burned areas at the 1.5-million-year-old site of Koobi Fora, in Africa. Brooks Ellwood and Reid Ferring reported on applications of magnetic surveys of north Texas sites; these surveys were successful in defining buried hearths and midden areas in prehistoric sites and concealed features within historic homestead sites.

Two recent reports concerned work in archaeological geology in Africa. Gregory Retallack and Stefan Radosevich (University of Oregon) have just studied paleosols from the Hadar, Ethiopia, and their bearing on Pliocene paleoenvironments and Australopithecine paleontology. Barney Szabo (U.S. Geological Survey, Denver), Timonth Dalbey (Southern Methodist University), and John Vogel (National Physical Research Laboratory, Pretoria, South Africa) recently studied Acheulean and Middle Stone Ages sites in South Africa. Middle and late Pleistocene deposits there yield evidence of paleoenvironments and culture change.

Other Old World research includes studies of prehistoric water-control structures in Pakistan, by Louis Flam, M.D. Harvey, and S.A. Schumm (Colorado State University), and a study of submerged ruins along the European Gulf Coastal Plain of Greece, by Tina Niemi (Stanford University).

K.B. Tankersley (Glen A. Black Laboratory, Bloomington, Ind.) And N.R. Shafer and E.M. Ripley (Indiana University) reported on the use of oxygen isotopes and petrograhic data to define the provenance of Paleo-Indian quartzite artifacts in the central United States. Bonnie Blackwell (Université Québec, Montreal), Bill Last (University of Manitoba), and Nat Rutter (University of Alberta) are examining rates of bone digenesis in different lacustrine settings, with implications for dating amino-acid racemization.

Stratigraphic and geomorphic studies in the mid-continent are improving our understanding of archaeological-site distributions. William Johnson (University of Kansas) has defined geomorphic-soils relationships that bear on the problem of mid-Holocene aridity and Archaic occupations. Rolfe Mandel (University of Kansas) has documented patterns of mid-Holocene erosion along smaller tributaries and synchronous alluvial-fan deposition in larger valleys; this pattern of landscape response to climate change has important implications for site preservation and perceived patterns of human occupation in Kansas.

In northern Peru, Lisa Wells and Jay Noller (National Center for Atmospheric Research) are continuing their geoarchaeological studies. Of particular note is their discovery of early Holocene middens associated with marine and fluvial sediments.

Archaeological geology came into focus in Phoenix at the Society for American Archaeology’s annual meeting, which included the first Fryxell Symposium, "Soils, Landscape Evolution and Human Occupation." Organized by Vance Holliday (University of Wisconsin, Madison), the symposium illustrated clearly important relationships between pedology and archaeological research. Reid Ferring discussed alluvial soils and their bearing on site-formation studies. Vance Holliday described the chronostratigraphic and archaeological implications of soil formation; his well-documented localities from the Southern Plains show clearly the necessity of soils studies at archaeological sites.

Arthur Bettis III (Iowa Geological Survey) described a chronosequence of Holocene soils in the Midwest; the morphologic properties of the soils enable investigators in the field to determine the relative ages of alluvial deposits and greatly refine the predictability of archaeological occurrences. Rolfe Mandel stressed the integration of soils studies with geomorphic-sedimentary analysis of Holocene landscape change in Kansas. Bruce Gladfelter (University of Illinois) presented a paper on late Pleistocene soil genesis and associated Paleolithic sites in the Sinai. Paul Goldberg (Hebrew University) described applications of micromorphology to soils in archaeological deposits; thin sections provide unique insights into soil formation and archaeological histories in open-air and cave settings.

Joseph Schuldenrein (Gilbert Commonwealth University) has investigated clay lamellae - problematic pedogenic features - in alluvial deposits, and assessed their archaeological significance. Organic matter in soils often provides critical information on landscape evolution and archaeological site formation, as illustrated by Julie Stein (University of Washington) compared soils on prehistoric farm terraces in Peru and New Mexico. Providing relict evidence of different land-management practices, these soil document that Peruvian farmers have maintained productive terrace fields for more than 1,5000 years.

The past year has clearly been one of productive applications of archaeological geology in the Old World and the New. The wide variety of contributions to archaeology from the earth sciences, from geochronology to environmental reconstruction and detailed records of human interaction with past landscapes, shows that geology continues to make investigating the human past a more rewarding endeavor.

C. Reid Ferring

University of North Texas, Denton, 76203-3078