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Southeastern Section - 73rd Annual Meeting - 2024

Paper No. 28-2
Presentation Time: 1:30 PM-5:30 PM

GEOLOGIC CONTROLS OF UPLAND PREHISTORIC BEDROCK QUARRIES IN THE ASHE METAMORPHIC SUITE; SENIARD CREEK BURN, PISGAH NATIONAL FOREST


LAPORTA Jr., Philip, Department of Geochemistry, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Gary C. Comer Geochemistry Building, Room 127, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964; The Center for the Investigation of Native and Ancient Quarries, P.O. Box 2266, Middletown, NY 10940, BREWER-LAPORTA, Margaret, The Center for the Investigation of Native and Ancient Quarries, 37 Highland Avenue, Middletown, NY 10940; Chemistry and Physical Sciences, Pace University, 861 Bedford Road, Pleasantville, NY 10570, MINCHAK, Scott A., The Center for the Investigation of Native and Ancient Quarries, 37 Highland Avenue, Middletown, NY 10940, SHEFELTON, Kinsey, Dept. of Geology, William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187; Department of Geochemistry, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Gary C. Comer Geochemistry Building, Room 127, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964; The Center for the Investigation of Native and Ancient Quarries, P.O. Box 2266, Middletown, NY 10940 and ASHCRAFT, Scott, U.S. Forest Service, Mars Hill, NC 28754

Seniard Creek Burn is a 20-acre swath in the uplands of Pisgah National Forest, Henderson County, North Carolina. This research seeks to identify/evaluate prehistoric quarries at higher elevations and on steep slopes in this area.

As prehistoric bedrock quarries are a geological entity manipulated by human beings, the understanding of this resource starts with the base geology. Lithologic and deformation mapping, as well as stratigraphic analysis, identify where resources are on the landscape, and determine accessibility for quarrying and economic viability. Geologic understanding allows the prehistoric miner, and the modern-day archaeologist, to understand the technology required for the successful orchestration of a quarry and processing of the material into a utilizable product.

Contact mapping elucidated unnamed gneiss/schist and paragneiss/metagraywacke of the Paleozoic Ashe Metamorphic Suite. Five northeast/southwest trending fold axes were mapped; as well as three sets of joints, two sets trending northeast, one trending northwest. The intersection of foliation and joints leaves a polyhedral raw-material template for stone-tool design. Joint orientation data supports hypotheses about prehistoric quarry development; for example, what type of implements would prehistoric miners use to leverage material from the outcrop. Analysis of spacing between joints assists in understanding the template for stone tools designed from this material, i.e. stone tools cannot have dimensions larger than the raw material being flaked.

Two swaths of quartz occurrences were mapped at the Burn. Archaeological observations (flaked/ground objects) suggest that quartz is the primary ore target. Deformation modified the quartz into boudins, mullions, and rods. Folding, and possible faulting, distributed the quartz around the area in a curvi-planar manner.

The geologic map is a predictive model for locating prehistoric quarries at Seniard and beyond, and contains interrelated levels of data, which answer a range of archaeological questions when properly integrated.

Session No. 28--Booth# 16

D12. Geoarchaeology (Posters)
Monday, 15 April 2024: 1:30 PM-5:30 PM
Grand Ballroom (Renaissance Asheville)
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 56, No. 2
doi: 10.1130/abs/2024SE-398638
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