In one of the hottest, driest summers in recent memory in Ross County, Ohio, new archaeological discoveries were made that contribute to knowledge about Ohio Hopewell. From June 18 to July 21, a crew of 20 students enrolled in Anthropology 685 (Archaeological Field Expedition) under my direction investigated several localities on property .8 km northwest of the Hopeton Works in a bend of the Scioto River. The field school dig was a cooperative effort involving the Chillicothe Sand and Gravel Company, which owns the land on which the project took place, the Midwest Archaeological Center (MWAC) in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park staff, and the Ohio State University.

MWAC assigned Forest Frost and Karen Archey to handle the photography, mapping, recording, among many responsibilities. Bret Ruby, assisted by Bill Anderson, took charge of a testing project on the lower terrace. Superintendent John Neal and his staff laid the groundwork for the project, arranging for, among other things, residence in an unused wing of a Veteran's Administration hospital building and access to the gravel company land.

In the 4th week we were joined by Dr. James Brown of Northwestern University and a contingent of 6 students from his field school at the Zimmerman site in Illinois. Then, in the fifth (and last) week a group of 13 high school students and 3 teachers from the Hershey School in Pennsylvania were added to the crew. This group was led by Randy Farmer.

A preliminary survey of the 8 ha (c. 20 acres) field (the Overly Tract) was conducted in the spring with students in Anthropology 602.01 (The Strategy of Field Archaeology). Surface collection and test pitting by the student crews produced evidence of a series of artifact clusters (A-E) extending along the bluff overlooking the Scioto and a low ridge perpendicular to the river. This ridge marks the western margin of a linear depression that must have been a pond or marsh in prehistory. The survey and testing data suggested the presence of an early Late Woodland, Newtown-like, occupation on a village scale (Cluster A) along the bluff and this became the target of the summer work. Test pitting in 1x1 m squares during the first few weeks failed to confirm Cluster A as a Newtown nucleated village and revealed instead the presence of several smaller clusters, one of which might date to the Late Prehistoric and at least one other to the Middle Woodland.

In the third week of the field school, Mike Hamm of the Chillicothe Sand and Gravel stripped a 15x40 m area where Hopewellian artifacts (bladelets and sherds) were found and where artifact densities were high. This operation revealed about 40 soil discolorations of various sizes, 37 of which were tested. By the end of the project we had identified and excavated 22 cultural features most of which were basin shaped pits. Only a few of the features were post molds and thus no evidence of a structure was uncovered by the stripping.

As feature excavation progressed, it became clearer that the deposit included evidence of a Middle Woodland occupation. Bladelet fragments were found, along with small flecks of mica, and corner-notched projectile points. Several features contained large quantities of ceramic sherds. Although cleaning and analyzing the ceramic sample has not been completed, as an educated guess based on seeing the sherds coming out of the ground, I think the ceramic assemblage is quite close to the McGraw site ceramics. The Overly sample contains rocker stamping, incising, punctating, all attributes found on sherds at McGraw which is a late Middle Woodland settlement occupied somewhere between 200 and 400 A.D.

Because of the importance of knowing whether Middle Woodland communities cultivated and used maize, all of the fill from the pit features was removed and saved. About 25 percent was processed in the field by flotation; the remainder is being processed in a lab. If maize is present in this deposit, we want to find it.

The shrinking of Cluster A and the identification of a Middle Woodland settlement in the middle of it suggests an explanation of the archaeological record in the Overly Tract. The series of small, equal-sized clusters is similar to what was documented by Prufer in the McGraw site vicinity and by Paul Pacheco on the Murphy property in Licking County. The clusters apparently represent archaeological traces of households one or more of which were occupied at the same time over several generations by a growing biological unit. A goal for culture work at this locality is to obtain samples from all clusters to explore this hypothesis.

Samples for TL (thermoluminescence) dating were collected in the field, as were charcoal samples for radiocarbon dating. The abundance of decorated ceramics will be helpful in fixing the time of occupation. Ceramic samples will be subjected to mineralogical analysis to determine whether or not they were made of local clays.

Reconnaissance survey of the lower terrace (floodplain) in the spring disclosed several potential artifact deposits, one of them containing Fort Ancient tradition sherds. This locality became the focus of additional surface survey, auguring, and deep testing trenching. Evidence was found of stratified archaeological deposits as early as the Early Woodland. While not locating Middle Woodland deposits, the stratigraphic record clearly could include Hopewellian occupations. In the tested area, for example, it would not be surprising to find a Middle Woodland paleosol with evidence of Hopewellian use. If this bears out with continued testing, the floodplain deposits will contribute important data to the goal of chronology building for the local area.