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A geoarchaeological reconstruction of cowpen slough, a late archaic site in east central louisiana
Author(s) -
Debusschere K.,
Miller B. J.,
Ramenofsky A. F.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
geoarchaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1520-6548
pISSN - 0883-6353
DOI - 10.1002/gea.3340040304
Subject(s) - radiocarbon dating , geology , sedimentary depositional environment , archaeology , chronology , context (archaeology) , geoarchaeology , sediment , holocene , paleontology , geography , structural basin
We reconstruct the depositional history of a late Holocene archaeological site, Cowpen Slough (16 CT 147) in the Catahoula Lowlands of east Central Louisiana, and we place that history in regional context. Procedures including grain‐size analysis, field descriptions of soil horizons, x‐ray diffraction of clay minerals, and total element analysis are employed to build a description of depositional units and parent material present in onsite sediment samples and off‐site subsurface core samples. to infer source, results of tests are integrated with radiocarbon dates and Saucier's chronology for this section in the Lower Mississippi Valley. We suggest that between 6000 and 4790 B.P. the Arkansas was the source of sediment present in the archaeological deposit. After 4790 B.P., sediments were deposited by the Mississippi river system.