EMULATING THE EARTH: LANDSCAPE ELEMENTS PRESERVED IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES

Archaeological sites have intrinsic patterns that replicate orientations of distinctive geologic features in the surrounding landscape. This generalization is particularly well documented at Blood Run National Historic Landmark (NHL) in northwestern Iowa. But, it is also observed at Kimball Village NHL and several locations along the Little Sioux River in northwestern Iowa; at the Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site and Pipestone National Monument in southwestern Minnesota; at Good Earth State Park in southeastern South Dakota; and at a variety of less well known localities scattered throughout the tri-state area.

The distinctive geologic features range from large-scale, linear geomorphic elements such as stream segments, terrace edges, bluff lines, and hill crests down to small-scale elements including elongated outcrops, fractures, bedding attitudes, and even glacial striations. The replicating archaeological patterns are observed in mound and dwelling geometries; surface and excavated collections; boulder outlines, petroglyphs, and geoglyphs; and even the orientation of specific excavated features.

There may be an ethnographic implication for this generalization because it appears to be true for a variety of Native American cultures distributed through a long range of time.