Geoarchaeology of the Falls of the Ohio River: Quaternary landforms at the Falls

Abstract

At the narrowest point in the lower part of its valley, the Ohio channel falls through a length of rapids between Louisville, KY and New Albany IN, known as the Falls of the Ohio. Below and above the Falls area, a ridge and swale topography characterizes the late Pleistocene to Late Holocene alluvial landforms, recording the shifting pattern of the channel and dictating the location of age based cultural materials. This geoarchaeological study looks at four distinct landforms at the Falls of the Ohio, on both the northern and southern banks, in order to ascertain the development of Holocene alluvial landforms in this area. Investigations undertaken recently within the Falls of the Ohio region, at the Newcomb (12CL2), M. Kraft (12CL935), and Shippingport (15JF702) sites, as well as information gained from prior excavations at the Old Clarkesville Site (12CL1), have provided the necessary insight into the development of the individual bars that these four sites where found lying upon. Texture, elevation, and temporal comparisons of these four alluvial bars have allowed for a generalized sequence of bar development to be formulated at the Falls. Forming as a mid-channel bar, the Old Clarkesville is the oldest landform, dating to the early Holocene. This was followed by the middle Holocene M. Kraft Bar, forming a side channel bar to the north and the similarly aged Shippingport Bar on the southern bank of the channel. The Newcomb Bar formed last in the late Holocene, filling in the swale or channel between the Old Clarksville and M. Kraft bars and allowing the formation of a single floodplain surface. This study shows a general conformity to other geoarchaeological models and patterns in the region and, as such, it appears that the Falls of the Ohio has had little effect on the overall natural and cultural deposition in the region. The exploration of these landscapes helps to expand on the regional synthesis of the understanding of the prehistoric cultural period deposits they hold.