55 Geology and Human History II: Geoarchaeology and Site Formation Studies

Friday, 5 April 2002
1:20 PM - 5:00 PM

PRELIMINARY MINERALOGICAL STUDY OF PRE-MADISONVILLE AND MADISONVILLE HORIZON FORT ANCIENT CERAMICS

Paper number: 55-5
Program: THEME SESSIONS
Time: 2:40 PM – 3:00 PM

Authors

Abstract

Analyses were conducted to identify pre-Madisonville (A.D. 1000-1400) and Madisonville (A.D. 1400-1750) Horizon Fort Ancient clay sources in the middle Ohio River Valley. This temporal boundary is important because of significant changes that occur in Fort Ancient settlement plan, village size, ceramic style, and the amounts of non-local trade goods. X-ray Diffraction and X-ray Fluorescence analyses were conducted on potsherds from three multi-component Fort Ancient sites located in northern Kentucky. Powder X-ray Diffraction analysis was carried out using a 2q range of 2°- 50°, with a step of @ 0.05°. The count time at each step was one second. X-ray Fluorescence (pressed pellet) intensity data were converted to concentrations using multiple regression on a set of USGS rock standards analyzed under the same conditions.

Initial results indicate that within each site, pre-Madisonville and Madisonville Horizon ceramics were manufactured from the same clay sources. However, trace element analysis seems to indicate that clay sources differ from site to site. These results suggest that the potters in each village used clay from preferred sources, as opposed to a single regional source. The results also appear to corroborate other studies that have shown that Fort Ancient culture developed out of the local Late Woodland culture, as opposed to the migration of people into the middle Ohio River Valley from outside the region.