| Popis: |
In this dissertation I present newly acquired data concerning the prehistoric occupation of the O.C. Voss site in Franklin County, Ohio, and provide a contemporary analysis of the results of archaeological investigation conducted at the site more than forty years ago by the Ohio Historical Society. Results of the research suggest Fort Ancient occupation of the central Scioto River drainage and its tributaries was not confined to the early period ca. A.D. 1000-1200 nor is a depopulation of the sub-region ca. A.D. 1350 supported. After excavation of the Voss Mound in 1963, the original investigators placed the Voss site within the Late Woodland Cole Complex, a newly defined taxonomic unit. Within a few years of discovery of the village site associated with the mound, other archaeologists began to question the classification of the Voss site as Late Woodland and suggested attributes of the artifact assemblage indicated a Late Prehistoric Fort Ancient affiliation. The Voss site has retained an incipient Late Prehistoric status in the minds of many researchers in the forty-plus years since discovery of the site. Recent investigation of the site utilized geophysical survey in the form of magnetic survey as the paramount method of data recovery. Additional data recovery techniques included magnetic anomaly testing through removal of the plowzone, anomaly coring, limited feature excavation, and shovel testing to determine patterns of artifact density within the village site. An analysis of ceramic and lithic attributes on previously and recently excavated materials is presented and discussed in relation to established temporal indicators. A review and analysis of excavated and reasonably well-documented Fort Ancient mounds was undertaken to assess characteristics of the Voss Mound. It is argued the Voss site does not represent an incipient stage of the Fort Ancient Tradition of the Late Prehistoric period but rather a site utilized by Fort Ancient populations into the early 15th century. |
