A Soil-Based Methodology for Locating Buried Early Prehistoric Cultural Deposits in Draws on the High Plains of Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas

Abstract

Based on the results of recent geomorphological and geoarchaeological investigations at the Kanorado locality in northwestern Kansas, it may be possible to target landforms with potential for buried Paleoindian cultural deposits using soil series that have been mapped by the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service. Paleoindian artifacts were recovered from the buried cumulic A horizon of the Kanorado paleosol at the three sites that comprise the Kanorado locality. At Kanorado, the Goshen soil series is mapped as the surface soil over the majority of the locality. The co-occurrence of buried Paleoindian cultural deposits and the Goshen soil series at Kanorado suggests that similar co-occurrences may exist elsewhere in the Middle Beaver Creek Valley. Therefore, this study focused on alluvial landforms mapped with the Goshen surface soil in the Middle Beaver Creek Valley. Radiocarbon ages determined on soil organic matter (SOM) from study sites in the Middle Beaver Creek Valley provide a minimum age of landscape stability and concomitant soil formation. Using the radiocarbon ages determined on SOM, the potential for each study site to yield buried early prehistoric cultural components was determined. Results of the study were positive, with 71 percent of the landforms examined having high potential to yield buried Paleoindian cultural deposits. The results suggest that the co-occurrence of the Goshen series and potential for Paleoindian cultural deposits is not a coincidence in the Middle Beaver Creek Valley. Therefore, investigations targeting the Goshen soil series have the potential to focus future research on areas with the greatest potential to yield Paleoindian cultural deposits. In addition, five of the seven alluvial landforms mapped with the Goshen soil series have potential to yield Archaic cultural components. Based on these results, alluvial landforms mapped with the Goshen soil series have potential to focus investigations on cultural deposits from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition through the middle Holocene. Within the Middle Beaver Creek Basin, archaeological investigations targeting the Goshen soil series can reduce survey size by as much as 96 percent, thus reducing field time and cost required to complete the archaeological surveys.