BURIED SITE POTENTIAL, EARLY HOLOCENE LANDFORMS, AND CHANNEL DYNAMICS IN THE LOWER OHIO RIVER VALLEY

Recent geoarchaeological investigations from Knob Creek to Rosewood Bottom below the Falls of the Ohio have provided new insights into the age of previously under-sampled landforms as well as Ohio river channel dynamics during the early to middle Holocene. Coring and extensive trenching of colluvial slopes, alluvial fans, and an early Holocene terrace indicates that: 1) most colluvial material and small-scale alluvial fans are high energy deposits and post-settlement in age, which prograde early Holocene alluvium commonly containing well preserved Early Archaic occupations; and 2) large alluvial fans are likely early to middle Holocene in age with variable buried site potential. A separate study in Rosewood Bottom suggests that late Wisconsin outwash gravel bars play a significant role in early to middle Holocene channel migration and floodplain evolution.