Anthropology Insider - Spring 2007
Features

Erica Chambers, Editor | Dr. Jeff McKee, Faculty Advisor

A Surprising Find in Pickaway County, OH

Kevin C. Nolan, MA, Ph.D. Student

Figure 1: View of the site area from the south. The tree line is on the terrace edge leading to the Scioto River about 100 m west of the site. Notice a slightly darker soil towards the center of the plowed area.

This spring break I started field research on a Late Prehistoric period (AD 1000- ~1650) site south of Columbus (Figure 1). The Reinhart site has been known for many years by local collectors. The property is owned by the City of Columbus Division of Water and farmed by brothers Keith and Don Peters. It is only due to the kindness of these people – especially the Peters brothers – that work has been able to proceed on this property.

Figure 2: Kevin Nolan GPS mapping the Reinhart site in 25° F in early April.

The Reinhart site (33PI880) was initially investigated in 1988 by avocational archaeologists James Morton and Mike Ohlinger. According to Jim and Mike the site is a typical donut-shaped Fort Ancient village with an open plaza in the center. A small subsurface test unit revealed intact feature deposits and good preservation. However, after this no work was conducted on the site until this spring (Figure 2).

Figure 3: Collared rimsherd with strange punctuates found by Sean Nolan on Easter Sunday, 2007. Glove finger tips shown for scale.

Keith agreed to plow a small portion of the site to facilitate a fresh surface collection. Surface collection began March 15th and ended March 25th. Weather conditions were less than ideal and several people deserve my gratitude for toughing out the cold and rain to assist in the surface collection: Jules Angel, Mike Masters, Melissa McNeal (OSU undergraduate) and especially Steve Howard and Sean Nolan (my brother). With their help we were able to intensively collect over 70% of the plowed area in just four days.

The distribution of artifacts from this collection have not been analyzed yet, but we definitely were able to recognize a band of features coming in on a southeast/northwest angle in the northern portion of the plowed area. This area also yielded several triangular projectile points and other diagnostics associated with the Fort Ancient time period. In this band of features we also recovered several fragments of bone (some burnt), shell, and a few pieces of pottery. One particularly odd rim sherd was discovered within this band on Easter morning by Sean Nolan (yes, I dragged my family out to my site on Easter for a tour; Figure 3).

Figure 4: Jarrod Burks conducting magnetometry survey at the Reinhart site, 3/29/07. Picture facing east.

Unfortunately the surface collection had failed to pin down the exact location and shape of the village. In the hopes of confirming the shape, I enlisted the help of Jarrod Burks (OSU PhD grad). Jarrod works for Ohio Valley Archeological Consultants, Inc. He agreed to volunteer his time to conduct a magnetometry (Geoscan fluxgate gradiometer) survey of the site (Figure 4). We started the magnetometery survey on March 29th. After the end of the first day we had located dozens of possible features, but still not pinned down the exact shape of the village.

We did however, have an increase in features (big black dots) in nearly the same spot as that determined by the surface collection. There was a surprise in the data. Just at the edge of our last two (20 m x 20 m) blocks, Jarrod detected a very magnetic linear anomaly (Figure 5). This is what appears to be a (probable) Woodland period earthwork ditch.

Figure 5: Magnetometry data from March 29th, 2007. Notice the quiet southern (left) portion of the area and an increase in anomalies around the 100 m tick. The plowed area extends from about the 40 m tick to ~130 m. The earthwork is at the northern most end (right).

We were eager to test the anomaly, so Jarrod took a soil core sample. The anomaly extends at least 80 cm below the surface. Of course, you always find the best stuff at the end of the day! We packed up and scheduled to come back April 1st. Upon our return, Jarrod traced the anomaly with the Geoscan to figure out just how big it was. It turned out to be just under 40 m across, so we set out 2 more blocks north of the first day's survey.

After tracing the anomaly we went back to surveying the Fort Ancient village. After processing the data the village had, again, failed to clearly make itself visible; still leaving us guessing as to its shape and boundaries. The southern quiet area was still present, but there was a now ~56 m wide swath of pit features with no end in site. This is too large to be typical ring of features around the plaza of a Fort Ancient village.

Figure 6: Second day's magnetometry data.

However, looking to the north again, sure enough we had a square enclosure! The ~40 m x ~30 m ditch (Figure 6) is not visible on the surface, and in fact has never been documented before. Jarrod and I had stumbled onto a completely new earthwork, with no documented Woodland period earthworks in the area. Recently, geophysical prospecting (mostly done by Jarrod) has located new components of already known earthwork complexes (e.g. Hopewell, Fort Ancient [both Middle Woodland, Hopewell, constructions]), but not any at sites without previously documented earthworks or mounds.

We returned one final time to see if we could locate any additional features associated with the enclosure (Keith Peters Square, 33PI917). We filled in the eastern and western edges to flush out the rest of the square to pin down the size, shape and location of the Reinhart village. The village area now appears to show up, but it does not show any evidence of the presence of a plaza (typical of Late Prehistoric villages in southern Ohio). We also managed to find the corners of the square and confirm that it is alone (at least in its immediate vicinity). However, we received yet another surprise in the southeastern portion of the survey area.

Figure 7: Final 2007 magnetometry data over a Google Earth image of the site. Notice the circular cluster of anomalies (indicated by the green dashed line), and the possible arc ditch (indicated by red arrow). The latter is another possible earthwork at the site.

Figure 7 shows the final data for this spring's magnetometry survey over a Google earth image of the field. You can see along the terrace edge there is a dense circular cluster of anomalies representing the Reinhart village. The final surprise is an arc shaped anomaly southeast of the village. This is another possible earthwork; however, we have not as yet probed this anomaly to confirm it.

Fieldwork at the Reinhart site will be continuing for the rest of the quarter, and lab work will be ongoing throughout the summer (at least). We are in the process of trying to uncover the internal village structure by sampling the plowzone (Figures 8 and 9). Additionally, Dr. William S. Dancey and the members of his Field Methods class (602.01) are conducting surface survey of the remainder of the farm to ascertain the nature of the prehistoric use of this plot of fertile, well drained land. All indications are that this area was utilized extensively for much of the regions prehistory. In the end that may be what is complicating our attempts to decipher the Fort Ancient village structure.

Figure 8: Students in Dr. Dancey’s 602.01 conducting shovel tests at the Reinhart site. From left to right: Emily Coate, Pete Rogers, Maryann Messaros, Peggy Chamberlain, Mike Eberst, and Ryan Oser.

Figure 9: One of the Reinhart 8 liter shovel test pits.

This project has just begun, but we have already increased the number of known earthwork localities in the state of Ohio and pinned down the precise location of a little known Fort Ancient village. Future research will focus on teasing out village structure, establishing the time period(s) of village occupation, characterizing the prehistoric use of surrounding fields, attempting to locate non-village Fort Ancient activity areas, and much more. There are potential opportunities for volunteers to get lab experience processing the material recovered.