Cactus Hill, Rubis-Pearsall and Blueberry Hill : one is an accident; two is a coincidence; three is a pattern : predicting ~old dirt~ in the Nottoway river valley of Southeastern Virginia, USA
This thesis covers more than thirty years of the author's research into the Paleoamerican period of the Middle Atlantic Region of North America, including the last 19+ years of focused work on the Cactus Hill site (44SX202) and replication of the Paleoamerican occupation discovered there. Using a landform and geology based predictive model derived from the Paleoamerican occupation at Cactus Hill, the author directed preliminary archaeological testing in three other areas of the same Nottoway River Valley, where Cactus Hill is located. These areas were the Barr site, located 11 miles (18 km.) downriver from Cactus Hill; the Chub Sandhill Natural Resource Conservation Area, located 19 miles (30 km.) downriver from Cactus Hill; and the Blueberry Hill site (44SX327), located approximately 1,000 feet (300 meters) east of Cactus Hill. The latter two produced OSL dated, pre-Younger-Dryas landforms, as predicted. The Rubis-Pearsall site (44SX360), located in the Chub Sandhill preserve also produced a buried Paleoamerican, Clovis age cultural level confirming the model. In addition to the OSL dates, Blueberry Hill also produced a distinct and apparently discrete activity surface with a possible pre-Clovis age Cactus
Johnson, Michael Farley
Pre-Clovis ; Clovis ; Cactus Hill ; Rubis-Pearsall ; Blueberry Hill site ; predictive model ; Paleoamerican ; OSL disturbances ; Younger-Dryas scouring ; Chesapeake Bay creation ; macro-band communication ; water gap funnels ; DNA funnels ; Nottoway River prehistory ; Middle Atlantic prehistory
Cactus Hill, Rubis-Pearsall and Blueberry Hill : one is an accident; two is a coincidence; three is a pattern : predicting ~old dirt~ in the Nottoway river valley of Southeastern Virginia, USA. This thesis covers more than thirty years of the author's research into the Paleoamerican period of the Middle Atlantic Region of North America, including the last 19+ years of focused work on the Cactus Hill site (44SX202) and replication of the Paleoamerican occupation discovered there. Using a landform and geology based predictive model derived from the Paleoamerican occupation at Cactus Hill, the author directed preliminary archaeological testing in three other areas of the same Nottoway River Valley, where Cactus Hill is located. These areas were the Barr site, located 11 miles (18 km.) downriver from Cactus Hill; the Chub Sandhill Natural Resource Conservation Area, located 19 miles (30 km.) downriver from Cactus Hill; and the Blueberry Hill site (44SX327), located approximately 1,000 feet (300 meters) east of Cactus Hill. The latter two produced OSL dated, pre-Younger-Dryas landforms, as predicted. The Rubis-Pearsall site (44SX360), located in the Chub Sandhill preserve also produced a buried Paleoamerican, Clovis age cultural level confirming the model. In addition to the OSL dates, Blueberry Hill also produced a distinct and apparently discrete activity surface with a possible pre-Clovis age Cactus
hill hill accident coincidence pattern predicting old river_valley southeastern usa cover author period middle atlantic region north_america include last year focus work hill site replication occupation discover there using geology base predictive_model derive occupation hill author direct preliminary archaeological test three_area river_valley hill locate area site_locate hill natural resource conservation area locate hill hill site_locate approximately east hill latter produce date pre younger landforms predict site_locate preserve also produce buried age cultural level confirm model addition date hill also produce distinct apparently discrete activity surface possible pre age