Forest Opening, Habitat Use, and Food Production on the Cumberland Plateau, Kentucky: Adaptive Flexibility in Marginal Settings

Abstract

In the rugged uplands of eastern Kentucky, archaeological evidence of pre-maize plant cultivation is largely absent from stream bottom locations, being concentrated instead within upland rockshelters. Some researchers have hypothesized that the apparent failure of early food producers to exploit rich bottomland soils was an economically sound response to the shortcomings of local stream valley habitats. Instead, seed crop farmers favored hillsides and ridgetops, which were less costly to clear and maintain under cultivation than narrow and densely vegetated stream bottoms. We analyze the goodness of fit between hypothetical upland and lowland cultivation systems and new evidence for human interaction with plant communities and the agricultural potential of soils. Seed and wood assemblages indicate a temporal association between increased human interaction with lowland plant communities, higher levels of habitat disturbance, and greater reliance on cultivated plants. However, there is no convincing evidence that plant cultivation caused disturbance and exploitation of lowlands. Expansion of mesic and hydric habitats was in part a response to increased precipitation and frequency and severity of flooding. Floodplains became largely unsuitable for human habitation, contributing to more intensive exploitation of uplands. While ridgetops and steep slopes were both poor locations for cultivated plots, other upland soils on limestone benches also had good agricultural potential, as did the soils on lower colluvial slopes.

Defining the spatial patterns of historical land use associated with the indigenous societies of eastern North America

“…ad 800 (Simon, ; Smith & Cowan, ; Smith & Yarnell, ; Gremillion, ). The ethnobotanical assemblages of these areas attest to the cultivation of indigenous seed crops in both floodplain and upland contexts during the Archaic and Woodland periods, but floodplains had become the focal point of food production by the Late Prehistoric period (Fritz, ; Gremillion et al ., ; Smith, ). At local scales, palaeoecological records from small upland ponds at Fort Ancient in south‐western Ohio (McLauchlan, ) and Cliff Palace Pond (Delcourt et al ., ) document the establishment of small clearings and horticultural activity during the Late Archaic and Woodland periods, with greatly diminished human impact in upland settings by the Late Prehistoric period.…”

“…In contrast to the Northeast, agricultural land use began earlier in the lower Midwest, Midsouth and Southeast, with the domestication of indigenous seed crops beginning during the Late Archaic, followed by the intensification of food production during the Woodland period, and the emergence of large permanent settlements and the widespread cultivation of maize beginning after c. ad 800 (Simon, 2000;Smith & Cowan, 2003;Smith & Yarnell, 2009;Gremillion, 2011). The ethnobotanical assemblages of these areas attest to the cultivation of indigenous seed crops in both floodplain and upland contexts during the Archaic and Woodland periods, but floodplains had become the focal point of food production by the Late Prehistoric period (Fritz, 1990;Gremillion et al, 2008;Smith, 2009). At local scales, palaeoecological records from small upland ponds at Fort Ancient in south-western Ohio (McLauchlan, 2003) and Cliff Palace Pond document the establishment of small clearings and horticultural activity during the Late Archaic and Woodland periods, with greatly diminished human impact in upland settings by the Late Prehistoric period.…”

Soil fertility and slope processes in the Western Cumberland Escarpment of Kentucky: influences on the development of horticulture in the Eastern Woodlands

“…Artifact assemblages from the main excavation area indicate activity during the Late Woodland and Late Prehistoric Periods (1600e210 BP), but most of the radiocarbon dates obtained date to the Late Woodland (between 1600 and 1000 BP). A buried Late Archaic deposit was also identified, dating to 3100 BP (Gremillion et al, 2007). Each pedon was chosen in an area that represented a high degree of expression of the landform type.…”

“…Colluvial materials extended to a depth of 107 cmbs at which point a lithological discontinuity exists between silt loam colluvium and sandy loam alluvium of the Red River. Additional dates taken from the test excavations at the Martin Site (15Po42) located in the floodplain to the north of the current channel of the Red River, revealed a date of 3159 AE 34 BP at a depth of 2 m (AA46158; Gremillion et al, 2007). These dates suggest lateral migration of the channel to the south with steady vertical accretion of silty alluvium throughout the last 3500 years.…”

Sampled to Death? The Rise and Fall of Probability Sampling in Archaeology

“…Justifiably, purposive sampling dominates best practice in radiocarbon dating (Calabrisotto et al 2017), whereas sampling for micromorphology, pollen, and plant macroremains tends to be systematic within vertical columns, and selection of column locations is purposive, if described at all (e.g., Pop et al 2015). Alternatively, sampling protocols for plant remains may involve a type of cluster sample with a single, standardized sediment volume (e.g., 10 L) from every stratigraphic context or feature in an excavation (e.g., Gremillion et al 2008). At least one case involves flotation of all contexts in their entirety (Mrozowski et al 2008), not a sample at all.…”