Hopewell
Archeology:
The Newsletter
of Hopewell Archeology in the Ohio River Valley
Volume 7, Number 2, June 2010
————————————————
5. Feature Finds from the Riverbank Site, 33RO1059
By Ann C Bauermeister
Located about 225 meters south and east of the Hopewell Site’s Square Enclosure by is the Riverbank Site, 33RO1059, which represents multiple occupations spanning the Archaic through historic periods, and includes a significant Middle Woodland component. Particularly noteworthy are two impressive pit features that were encountered in 2006 during a data recovery project undertaken by the Midwest Archeological Center. These pits, Features 7 and 8, would have been contemporaneous with Hopewell activities at the nearby earthwork complex, and the material culture recovered from them provides an intriguing glimpse of activities outside of the earthwork walls.
| Click image for 360°view |
|
 |
|
Figure 2. Partially reconstructed tetrapodal pot, with sherds recovered from both Features 7 and 8. |
|
Feature 7 is a circular pit partially outlined in rock and measuring 87 cm in diameter at the top, 60 cm at its flat base, and 32 cms deep (Figure 1). The feature fill includes dark, organic soil, burned earth, charcoal—particularly concentrated in the center and toward the bottom of the feature—and abundant artifacts. The assemblage includes over a thousand pieces of burned and/or calcined bone, including one bone tool fragment that is polished and striated, 314 pieces of lithic debitage, 194 fire-cracked rocks, 25 shell fragments, 16 mica fragments, 10 bladelets, and 1124 pottery sherds. A minimum of eight distinct pottery vessels are represented, including a tetrapodal pot, fragments of which were also recovered from nearby Feature 8. Figure 2 depicts this pot, partially reconstructed. Feature 7 yielded a radiocarbon date from a charcoal sample, calibrated at 2 sigma, of A.D. 20-220 (Beta-231668).
Feature 8 is a circular basin that measured 1.1 meters in diameter at its top. The feature fill was 30 cms deep and comprised of the same type of matrix as Feature 7, but with an even greater amount of cultural material (Figure 3). This features contains 785 pieces of debitage, 402 fire-cracked rocks, 118 mica fragments, 23 shell fragments, two bifaces and a core, and nine bladelets, all made from Flint Ridge flint, and a pitted stone. Nearly 5000 fragments (n=4728) of bone were recovered, most of which was burned. Several bone tools are present, including two burnishing tools, multiple pieces that are polished and striated, and two awls (Figure 4). The pottery assemblage includes 1077 sherds, representing a minimum of four distinct vessels, including the aforementioned tretrapodal pot, plus two additional partially complete tetrapodal vessels, which articulate from rim to base (Figures 5-6). These are identified as belonging to the Southeastern Series, Untyped Cordmarked. A charcoal sample from this feature, calibrated at 2 sigma, produced a radiocarbon date of A.D. 70-250 (Beta-231669). There seems to be no question that these two pit features were open and used at the same time.
These features, combined with additional archeological evidence from the site, demonstrate Hopewell use of the Riverbank site during the Middle Woodland period. Faunal and ethnobotanical remains indicate a short term occupation, or occupations, in summer through fall. Occupants engaged in food processing and cooking (with an emphasis on deer), stone tool manufacturing (based on the variety of lithic reduction stages represented), weaving, and other subsistence activities. Tetrapodal pots and mica are often associated with Hopewell ceremonial practices and their presence in Features 7 and 8 support the interpretation that ceremonial behavior, along with several other activities, occurred at site 33RO1059. The decision to study a section of the Riverbank Site that was threatened with imminent loss due to bank erosion has yielded important new information on Hopewellian activities associated with the Hopewell Site.
|
