TEORIA OBJETIVA DE LA CAUSA

OVERALL AREA OF EROSION OVER A 34 MONTH PERIOD NOVEMBER 1986 TO AUGUST 1989 O AREA OF EROSION A 1986 AUGER TEST LOCATIONS aFJLiPRPA • \ Sh*l SutiM 10 meitrs 15 20 F i g u r e 4 . 7 P i n e y i s l a n d a f t e r 3 4 m o n t h s ( f r o m D e n s o n a n d o n n b a r , 1 9 9 2 )

Funds were needed, so in 1991 I applied through the Florida Museum of Natural History for a Historic Preservation Grant Award to perform a survey along the eroding margins of the Oklawaha. This proposal was driven by the lack of professional knowledge about erosion and the cultural resources associated with the river in that area and by strong support from amateur archaeologists familiar with the river and sites along it.

The project was financed in part with historic preservation grant assistance provided by the Bureau of Historic Preservation, Florida Department of State, assisted by the Historic Preservation Advisory Council; but, it could not have been accomplished without the

assistance of numerous supporters*. All work presented on the

*I am especialy grateful to concerned avocational

archaeologists — in particular, Michael Stallings and Ben

Waller, and to Dr. William H. Marquardt of the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Oklawaha.River Survey was authorized under a lA-32 Research Permit from the Division of Historical Resources, Bureau of Archaeological Research.

For the purpose of receiving grant funds, the survey's primary objective was to locate, identify, and record sites in the defined region for inclusion in the Florida Master Site File. Due to budget constraints, the survey area was reduced to one-half its original length, allowing for nine miles of river to be investigated, from Silver River confluence to Gore's Landing. The secondary objective involved exploring a methodological approach to geoarchaeological research in river environments. The Florida research therefore served as a testing area for developing the methodology introduced in this thesis. As described in Chapters 1 through 3, a multi-disciplinary approach was necessary — with soil analysis, geomorphic and palaeontological studies integrated

with archaeological research. Only then could a better

understanding of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene environments experienced by the early inhabitants of the Oklawaha River valley be attained.

After defining the natural processes at work in the river system, I had hoped that understanding the associated archaeological record and its "stray find" reputation would be less difficult. Then models that characterize the effects of fluvial processes on archaeological sites could be constructed so that effective management of sites located along river margins and their floodplains could be developed. The ultimate goal was to gain a better understanding of the natural environment and the geomorphological processes going on within it in order to better understand past cultural interaction.

The Oklawaha River Survey Database (Appendix 3)

The Oklawaha River study area comprises 19 miles (30 kilometres) beginning at the confluence of the Silver River flowing downstream

(north) to Eureka dam and bridge constructed as part of the Cross Florida Barge Canal Project. It is an environmentally contiguous parcel of land now under the protection of various state agencies responsible for preservation and maintenance of Florida's natural resources. Sites located within a two mile radius of the river including those associated with its tributaries or creeks were entered into a relational database. Nearly all 54 sites were within one mile of the present channel, its floodplain not extending more than one mile in either direction.

Since the Oklawaha River study area is included in Canal lands, the Oklawaha River study area database (54 records) shown in Appendix 3 was taken from the larger data set constructed for the Canal Lands Assessment Project (See Denson and Ellis, 1991) and includes the 11 sites identified by the Oklawaha River Survey. It is therefore pertinent to discuss the data collected during the Canal lands project and assess its quality since this project offers a larger sample of the Master Site File's (MSF) records to review. The original database was a monstrous 342 records of sites located within the Canal lands and was prepared for the University of Florida as part of a management plan for the Canal Authority and the Department of Natural Resources of the State of Florida. An easy-to-use recording form was designed which incorporated key elements from each of the MSF records. The structure of that database and form is presented in Appendix 1.

The Canal Lands Assessment Project database addressed site name, number, type/function, and cultural affiliation, locational information, site investigation type, size and integrity, and

information on cultural materials and features present at each site. These data were obtained directly from MSF records. The Cross Florida Barge Canal archaeological site form in Appendix 1 also allowed for the principal investigators to make recommendations for site significance and management when the strength and quality of the information was sufficient.

Careful review of the MSF's quadrangle maps revealed a few inconsistencies such as duplicate site numbers, non-documented sites and non-existent sites. Review of the individual site inventory records led to some further discoveries. The majority of sites recorded on cards prior to 1970 did not contain very specific locational and cultural information. A large number of the earliest investigated sites by Wyman (1875) and Moore (1895) were later relocated and surveyed by Bullen and Fairbanks during

the mid-1960 ' s when the first archaeological survey of the proposed canal lands took place.

A number of the post mid-1960's sites were recorded by professional archaeologists working on Ocala National Forest lands located along the entire eastern margin of the study area. Basically, they were operating as archaeological impact assessors trying to stay one step ahead of the pipe lines. This is a reflection of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Division of Forest Services’ committment to locate, identify, and evaluate sites on federal lands in compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470, et seq.) and Executive Order 11953 (1971). Unfortunately this impact-related survey has taken place to the exclusion of any other archaelogical research even when Division of Forestry archaeologists knew of important sites being destroyed by looters (Willis, pers. comm. 1990). There were too many pipelines, too many looters and not enough archaeologists to go around.

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The products of pre- and post- 1970 archaeological survey can be gleaned from the MSF record by looking at the kinds of sites which were recorded. The pre-1970 surveys emphasize prehistoric sites, particularly middens, shell middens, mounds, and lithic scatters. The post-1970 pattern continues the trend toward the recording of prehistoric shell middens, mounds, and lithic scatters but clearly shifts its emphasis toward historic refuse and artifact scatter sites as well as industrial and special purpose sites such as moonshine stills and turpentine stations. This may be, in part, attributed to the developing impact-oriented nature of government policy on archaeological survey described above.

Geo-physical and natural contextual information for each site was obtained -first from locational information provided by the MSF and then verified by other professional sources when available. Soil series data was taken directly from the soils survey books published by the Soil Conservation Service (SOS, 1979; n.d.). Topographic and landform data were presented on the site forms but with little or no consistency between surveyors. Their comments were verified and standarized through soil surveys, quadrangle position and the evaluation of the related physiographic data. The physiographic data for each site were taken from Soil and Water Conservation Society (1989).

The codes for the "Sitetypes" and "Cultures" fields excluding the "Cultures" field described below were given directly by the MSF records. While the codes were designed to permit discrete distinctions between artifact assemblages it seems that this was not always the case at the time of form completion. To correct for this inconsistency, the Cultures field was reconfigured to assign gross cultural component data and to allow sorting by this characteristic- The symbols in the Cultures field and their corresponding number of sites within the Oklawaha River study area are identified as follows: P (N«36) prehistoric, PA (N=l)

prehistoric with a historic aboriginal component, H (N«5) historic Euroamerican, HA (N=0) historic Euroamerican with a historic

aboriginal component, M(N=1) multicomponent prehistoric and

non-aboriginal historic component and UN (N=ll) indeterminate. The majority of the indeterminate sites may fall within prehistory, but as with the majority of the prehistoric sites, a more refined appraisal is not possible within the analysis of field and technical reports relating to their discovery and investigation where they exist.

The majority of the known sites are prehistoric (N-36) and characterized within the MSF as lithic scatters (SCLI, N=12), artefact scatters {SCAR, N=6), middens (MIDD, N=2)), shell middens (MDSH, N=7), and mounds (MOUN, N=6). In addition, there were two sites identified as HABI (habitation) and one remaining site at Piney Island identified as BURP (Burial, prehistoric). The principal investigators believe that the large number of lithic

scatters might actually represent a more diverse group of site types. Given the multi-component temporal-cultural nature of these sites — that is, the sequential or repeated occupation of landforms by distinct and time-displaced cultures — it is probable that a number of the multicomponment sites are, in fact, different sites at the same location.

Pre-Survey Investigation

There were several sources of information concerning the potential

I

location for sites along the survey area. Information from amateur archaeologists was crucial to the planning stage. In particular, Michael Stallings and Ben Waller offered maps and information about

sites in the area and agreed to their associated collections being I

recorded. The available literature came from archaeological research associated with the Silver River, construction of the

Cross Florida Barge Canal and two sites within the survey area itself — Colby Landing (Cumbaa and Gouchnour, 1970) and Sunday Bluff (Bullen, 1969) . Historical references were associated with the steamboat era along the Oklawaha River (Mitchell, 1947; Mueller, 1988). The Master Site File offered information on 43 sites, only four of which were associated with the river margins. We re-visited these four areas and provided the appropriate updates to the Master Site File Office.

The final pre-survey action entailed obtaining an aerial view of the river valley (Figure 4.8). The evidence of channel switching was grossly apparent from this perspective. Would the ages of the sites along what were now creeks differ from those along the river's main channel? Known sites along the margins of Cedar and Turkey creeks are numerous. Survey in these areas was warranted but poor water conditions, time and financial constraints were too great. Therefore, the creeks within the study area were not included in this survey.

Survey Techniques

The judgmental sampling strategy required that the nine-mile stretch of river be broken into 18 one-half mile sectors. Two eroding margins and one straight-away within each sector would be visually inspected for cultural material. The purpose of checking the straight-away units was to account for our biased search for sites in the eroding margins. However, since this was the area where sites were being actively destroyed and information lost, this met the purpose defined by the survey's secondary objective. Over 30 units within the 18 sectors were visually inspected. In

ten sectors, all units were inspected. In two sectors no visual inspection occurred since channel modification through dredging was known to have occurred in the 1800s. The remaining six sectors