Geoarchaeology of Paleoindian and Early Archaic site distributions in the White River Valley, Indiana

This dissertation uses geoarchaeological methods to decipher geomorphological changes that have influenced modern Paleoindian and Early Archaic site visibility in southern Indiana's White River Valley. The valley contains two forks with similar environments and depositional histories, but significantly different archaeological site distributions, making it an excellent study area for geoarchaeological investigations. This research uses subsurface coring in the valley to provide stratigraphic data relevant to the depositional histories and landform change since the Last Glacial Maximum. Coring transects placed across the valley at eighteen locales provide data that augment our understanding of the local Paleoindian and Early Archaic periods in a number of ways. First, this research indicates that lowland archaeological sites in bedrock-controlled river segments tend to be preserved. This discovery can enhance site predictive modeling methodologies not only in the Midwest, but in other regions where bedrock-controlled rivers exist. Second, while site distribution data indicate that early hunter-gatherers in the valley targeted ecotonal environments and lowland resources such as wetlands, geomorphological data imply that archaeological sites in lowland settings are less likely to remain visible in meandering river segments. This finding should influence population estimates based on site numbers in the region, and call into question some settlement models that suggest an upland subsistence strategy during the Paleoindian or Early Archaic periods. Third, the research indicates that subsurface coring methods should be included in archaeological site predictive modeling and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Applied to the White River Valley, these methods identified buried paleosols of appropriate age that included well-preserved paleoenvironmental data.