Quaternary geomorphology at cooper basin: A framework for archeological inquiry, delta and hopkins counties, Texas, C. Britt Bousman, Michael B. Collins, and Timothy K. Perttula, 1988, Prewitt and Associates, Inc., Austin, Reports of Investigations 55 (available from: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: CESWF-PL-RC, P.O. Box 17300, Ft. Worth, Texas, 76102-0300), xi + 151 pp., no charge (paperbound)
✍ Scribed by Rolfe D. Mandel
- Book ID
- 102225080
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1989
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 225 KB
- Volume
- 4
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0883-6353
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
0300), xi + 151 pp., no charge (paperbound). This report presents the results of a preliminary investigation to determine the geoarchaeological research potential in "Cooper Basin" of northeastern Texas. The study focuses on the area that will be affected by the creation of Cooper Lake, a 19,000acre reservoir planned for the South Sulfur River valley. Because of the paucity of early archaeological sites in eastern Texas, suspected terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene alluvial deposits that might contain buried cultural materials were "targeted" for study. The primary goal of the authors was to provide geologic and chronologic data that may be used for guiding future cultural resource management studies in the project area.
The report consists of eight chapters and three appendices. Chapter 1 presents the scope and purpose of the study. Chapter 2 provides very brief descriptions of the setting, bedrock geology, vegetation, and climate of northeastern Texas.
Chapter 3 summarizes previous geological and archaeological studies in the Sulfur River Basin. The review of archaeological literature is subdivided into eight categories:
(1) site type and function; (2) intrasite and intersite activity patterning; (3) lithic technology and artifact assemblages; (4) chronology; (5) subsistence change and faunal exploitation; (6) seasonality; (7) paleodemography and mortuary programs; and (8) environmental reconstruction. Taking the results of previous studies into consideration, the authors discuss how geological and archaeological information may best be integrated in order to understand the prehistoric cultural ecology of the study area. This chapter provides valuable background information, and the critical assessments of earlier investigations will be extremely useful to geomorphologists and archaeologists working in the region.
Chapter 4 outlines the specific objectives of the geological investigation. This is followed by descriptions of the field methods. Most of the soils and stratigraphic data were gleaned from 50 backhoe trenches scattered among 13 localities in Cooper Basin. Several streambank exposures and shovel-test pits also were examined during the course of the geological investigation.
Chapter 5 presents the soils and chronostratigraphic data recorded at the 13 geomorphic localities. Deposits are correlated within each locality and illustrated in accompanying figures. The narrative is supplemented with profile descriptions for every trench and exposure (Appendix A).
Chapter 6 provides brief descriptions of 15 archaeological sites that were encountered in the study area. Because the objectives of the investigation were geological rather than archaeological, little effort was given to documenting the cultural vestiges of the sites. A small number of diagnostic artifacts were collected in order to determine relative ages of geologic deposits. Descriptions and illustrations of artifacts are presented in Chapter 7.
Chapter 8 presents interpretations of the geological data. This final chapter brings soils and chronostratigraphic dcta to bear on the research objectives of the study. The