South-central Ohio Research Articles

Tempered strength: A controlled experiment assessing opportunity costs of adding temper to clay

The addition of pottery additives (temper) provides both production-based benefits gained during the initial vessel formation phase, and performance-based benefits associated with post-firing vessel daily use. This paper presents the results of a controlled archaeological experiment designed to assess the opportunity costs associated with the addition of temper to clay during prehistoric pottery production sequences. Specifically, this study builds upon earlier research using material science methods to more broadly assess whether vessel strength is sacrificed by the addition of temper into the clay body. Standardized experimental ceramic test specimens, based directly upon petrographic analysis of archaeological samples from a regional context (South Central Ohio, USA) and produced using glacially-deposited illite-based clay, were subjected to mechanical strength tests using an Instron Series IX universal testing machine. The results demonstrate that there are indeed opportunity costs associated with temper addition: lost potential strength and reduced vessel use-life. Overall, untempered samples were significantly stronger than samples tempered with the most commonly used regional tempers—grit, limestone, and burnt shell—in terms of peak load and modulus of rupture. In other words, the results presented here suggest that prehistoric potters were losing the opportunity to create significantly stronger vessels in favor of the benefits that come with the addition of temper. Understanding of the existence, kind, and degree of opportunity costs that come with the addition of temper to clay emphasizes just how important the benefits of tempering must have been for the technology to be invented, experimented with, and ultimately so widely adopted.

Quarrying History and Use of the Buena Vista Freestone, South-Central Ohio: Understanding the 19th Century Industrial Development of a Geological Resource

The Buena Vista Member of the Mississippian Cuyahoga Formation is an economically valuable freestone that is homogeneous with almost no sedimentary structures. The Buena Vista was one of the earliest clastic rocks quarried in Ohio. Early quarries dating at least back to 1814 were located in the hills on the north bank of the Ohio River near the village of Buena Vista, south-central Ohio. By the 1830s, quarries had also opened up along the route of the Ohio & Erie Canal in the Portsmouth area to the east; followed by quarries that opened along a railway line that ran north up the Scioto River valley. Waterways transported the Buena Vista to many cities and towns, including Cincinnati, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, and Evansville, Indiana, on the Ohio River, New Orleans on the Mississippi River, and Dayton and Columbus on the Ohio canal system. Later railways transported this stone further afield to Illinois, Wisconsin, and Alberta. Census reports, industry magazines, and other historical accounts document the use of this stone across much of the eastern US and into Canada. Historically, it has been used for a variety of items, including entire buildings, canal structures, fence posts, and laundry tubs. Some 19th-century structures built with this stone remain in cities where it was once commonly used. Literature reviews, field observations, and lab analyses are here compiled as a useful reference to both the urban and field geologist in the identification of the Buena Vista Member, a historically important building stone, in buildings and outcrops, respectively.

Atlas of Ohio Aquatic Insects: Volume II, Plecoptera.

BackgroundWe provide volume II of a distributional atlas of aquatic insects for the eastern USA state of Ohio. This treatment of stoneflies (Plecoptera) is companion to Armitage et al. (2011) on caddisflies (Trichoptera). We build on a recent analysis of Ohio stonefly diversity patterns based on large drainages (DeWalt et al. 2012), but add 3717 new records to the data set. We base most analyses on the United States Geological Survey Hierarchical Unit Code eight (HUC8) drainage scale. In addition to distributional maps for each species, we provide analyses of species richness versus HUC8 drainage area and the number of unique locations in a HUC8 drainage, species richness versus Ohio counties, analyze adult presence phenology throughout the year, and demonstrate stream size range affiliation for each species.New informationThis work is based on a total of 7797 specimen records gathered from 21 regional museums, agency data, personal collections, and from the literature Table 1. To our knowledge this is the largest stonefly data set available for a similarly sized geopolitical area anywhere in the world. These data are made available as a Darwin Core Archive supported by the Pensoft Integrated Publishing Toolkit (DeWalt et al. 2016b). All known published papers reporting stoneflies from Ohio are detailed in Suppl. material 1. We recovered 102 species from Ohio, including all nine Nearctic families Table 2​. Two species were removed from the DeWalt et al. (2012) list and two new state records added. Perlidae (32 spp.) was most speciose, compared to the low diversity Pteronarcyidae (2 spp.) and Peltoperlidae (1 sp.). The richest HUC8 drainages occurred in northeastern, south-central, and southern regions of the state where drainages were heavily forested, had the highest slopes, and were contained within or adjacent to the unglaciated Allegheny and Appalachian Plateaus. Species poor drainages occurred mainly in the northwestern region where Wisconsinan aged lake plains climaxed to an expansive wooded wetland, the Black Swamp. The unglaciated Lower Scioto drainage (72 spp.) in south-central Ohio supported the greatest species richness. There was no relationship between species richness and HUC8 drainage size, but the number of unique locations in a drainage strongly related to species richness. All Ohio counties were represented in the data set with Hocking County (59 spp.) of the Lower Scioto drainage being the richest and most heavily sampled. Adult presence phenology was influenced by phylogenetic relationships such that the superfamily Nemouroidea (Capniidae, Leuctridae, Nemouridae, and Taeniopterygidae) generally emerged in winter and spring while the superfamilies Pteronarcyoidea (Pteronarcyidae, Peltoperlidae) and Perloidea (Chloroperlidae, Perlidae, Perlodidae) emerged later, some species continuing emergence through summer months. Species often occupied specific stream size ranges, while others were generalists. Two species once histrorically abundant in the western Lake Erie Bass Islands no longer reside there. Each of the 102 species is discussed in detail, including several that require additional collecting efforts to confirm their identities, presence, and distribution in Ohio.

Combining ER and GPR surveys for evidence of prehistoric landscape construction: case study at Mound City, Ohio, USA

Mound City, located at the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in south-central Ohio, USA, is a prehistoric earthwork (200 BC–500 AD) that consists of 24 mounds enclosed in a square embankment wall and is surrounded by eight pits. Recent excavation of two of these pits resulted in the discovery of a clay loam liner that appears to have been placed on the floor of the pits by a prehistoric society known as the Hopewell. The aim of this study was to determine the spatial pattern of this liner in one of the pits using non-invasive geophysical techniques, specifically electrical resistivity and ground-penetrating radar. Minimally invasive soil augers and a test trench yielded information that was used to corroborate interpretations of the geophysical data. The geophysical methods proved to be useful in locating and defining the remnants of the prehistoric clay loam liner, and the results of our investigation indicate that almost 50% of the liner still remains in the pit today. This discovery supports a new interpretation that the Hopewell excavated and preserved the pits at the Mound City site because they served as cultural landscape features.

Correlation of the Waco Member of the Alger Shale Formation (Silurian; Llandovery; Telychian) in east-central Kentucky and south-central Ohio

New and published stratigraphic data are integrated herein to resolve the age and correlation of the Waco Member (Alger Shale Formation), a problematic Telychian lithostratigraphic unit exposed in east-central Kentucky (United States). This interval is correlated with strata presently assigned to the Dayton Member of the Drowning Creek Formation in south-central Ohio and north-central Kentucky, where recent conodont studies refer these beds to the Pterospathodus eopennatus Superzone, a conclusion that is reinforced by an interval of elevated stable carbon isotope (δ13C) values, consistent with the lower Telychian “Valgu” Excursion. This correlation is strengthened by observations of facies and new carbonate carbon isotope (δ13Ccarb) data generated from localities in south-central Ohio and, for the first time in publication, from the type area of the Waco in east-central Kentucky. It is now clear that both lithostratigraphic units are substantially older than the recently redefined Dayton Formation of western Ohio, and a formal revision of nomenclature is needed. A series of revised correlations are proposed: the basal carbonate bed of the Waco in its type area is correlated to the lower “white” division of the “Dayton Member” in southern Ohio; an interval of fossiliferous shales, found in typical exposures of the Waco, is correlated to the upper “orange” division of the “Dayton” in outcrops further north. Continued use of the term “Dayton Member of the Drowning Creek Formation” at sections south and east of Greene County, Ohio, should be abandoned in favour of “Waco Member of the Alger Shale”.

Southampton, Canada’s third pallasite

A. 3.58 kg pallasite meteorite was found in April 2001, near the mouth of the Saugeen River on Lake Huron (44°30.385′N, 81°22.330′W) by Carl Young of London, Ontario. The specimen is in the form of an irregular triaxial ellipsoid approximately 6.8 cm × 13.4 cm × 18.1 cm. Olivine crystals are visible on the smooth exterior surface which has a thin rind of oxidized iron. The sectioned interior contains olivine crystals with a considerable range in sizes up to approximately 2.5 cm diameter. Larger crystals have angular outlines and some are fractured, although corners and small grains are rounded. Apart from the kamacite and taenite of the metal phase, only small amounts of schreibersite and troilite are present. Analysis of the metal phase by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) yielded Ni 97.4 mg/g, Ga 17.2 μg/g, Ge 77.8 μg/g, Ir 0.137 μg/g, and Au 2.12 μg/g. These values lie within the defined ranges for main group pallasites, except that Ge is ca. 20% higher. Analysis by inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP–MS) yielded Ir 0.0755 μg/g and Au 0.937 μg/g, differences attributed to difference in the mass and heterogeneity of the material analyzed. Olivines were found to have a mean composition of fayalite (Fa) 12.30, within the range of compositions for main group pallasites. Although the Hopewell Mounds of south-central Ohio contain fragments of the Brenham (Kansas) pallasite that were transported there by pre-contact people and are in the same region as the Southampton meteorite find, the apparent glacial transport of the newly found pallasite together with its compositional and textural differences indicate that it is a unique meteorite and the third pallasite found in Canada. The pallasite is named after the community of Southampton in which it was found.

Protocalliphora (Diptera: Calliphoridae) Infestations of Nestling Red-shouldered Hawks in Southern Ohio

Abstract We examined nestling Red-shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus) in 56 nests (147 nestlings) in suburban southwestern Ohio and in 25 nests (67 nestlings) in rural forested Hocking Hills in south-central Ohio, ∼180 km east of southwestern Ohio. Fifteen of 25 nests in Hocking Hills had Protocalliphora avium larvae on one or more nestlings and/or pupae in the nest material. Nineteen nestlings had larvae in one or both ears, an additional 14 had evidence of larvae outside the ears, 32 were not visibly parasitized, and two were not examined or their status was not reported; in contrast, no nests and no nestlings were parasitized in southwestern Ohio. Reproductive rate (young fledged/nest) did not differ between southwestern Ohio and Hocking Hills (2.4 ± 0.1 young/nest at southwestern Ohio vs. 2.7 ± 0.2 at Hocking Hills; P = 0.214). Parasitized nests at Hocking Hills were no more likely to have been used in the previous breeding season than non-parasitized nests (χ2 = 0.903, P = 0.342, n = 22). Simil...

Beyond Squier and Davis: Rediscovering Ohio's Earthworks Using Geophysical Remote Sensing

The prehistoric earthworks of Ohio have played a major role in the development of American archaeology and they continue to figure prominently in archaeological research. However, while a select group of larger earthwork sites have been intensively studied and resurveyed with geophysical survey instruments, much of the ongoing earthwork research, and reference to less-well-known sites, still relies on nineteenth-and early twentieth-century maps. In this article, we present the results of magnetic gradient surveys at three earthwork complexes in south central Ohio. Though much degraded by agricultural plowing and other historic impacts, our survey results show that despite near invisibility at the surface, Ohio's earthwork sites are (1) readily detected in geophysical surveys, (2) more complex than most early maps suggest, and (3) more numerous and varied than once thought. Given the major role these sites have taken on in studies that explore topics ranging from community structure and burial ceremonialism to population mobility and the development of socioeconomic complexity, a radical redrafting of the nineteenth-century maps could have far-reaching implications in the study of Woodland period (specifically, ca. 300 B.C.-A.D. 500) cultures in the Midwest U.S.

Orconectes (Procericambarus) raymondi (Decapoda: Cambaridae), a new species of crayfish from southern Ohio

A new species of crayfish, Orconectes (Procericambarus) raymondi, is described from unglaciated portions of south-central Ohio, North America. Of the recognized members of the subgenus, it is morphologically most similar to Orconectes (P.) putnami, found in Kentucky and Tennessee and is easily separated from it by the presence of a strong rostral carina. It is distinguished from other recognized members of the subgenus by the rostral carina, mandible structure, and a first form male gonopod having a central projection approximately 50% of total gonopod length. An amended version of Taylor's key to the members of the Orconectes juvenilis complex is provided.

Variation in Ohio Hopewell Political Economies

I examine mortuary, artifactual, symbolic, and proxemic data from Hopewell sites in southwestern and south-central Ohio to suggest that people associated with south-central Ohio sites such as Hopewell and Seip implemented more exclusionary political strategies, while people at southwestern sites such as Turner and Fort Ancient maintained a more corporate orientation through much of the Middle Woodland period. The recognition of this dimension of variation among Ohio Hopewell peoples has important implications for the study of the evolution of middle-range societies.

Butterfly Abundance and Movements Among Prairie Patches: The Roles of Habitat Quality, Edge, and Forest Matrix Permeability

The spatial distribution of patchy insect populations is partly caused by behavioral patterns of insect movement that are influenced by habitat quality, isolation, and the permeability of the surrounding matrix. We recorded insect movements, abundance, and edge behaviors in two species of butterflies, the great-spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele F., Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) and the pearl crescent (Phyciodes tharos Drury, Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), inhabiting remnant prairies surrounded by a forest matrix in south-central Ohio. We also determined the number of forest matrix types present and recorded the permeability of the different types to butterfly movement. The great-spangled fritillary exhibited a relatively high number of interpatch movements, a higher abundance at patch edges, and a propensity to cross the prairie-forest edges, and the forest matrix had a high permeability to butterfly movement. The pearl crescent, in contrast, rarely crossed edge boundaries, moved infrequently among patches, and was more abundant within the patch interior and in patches with high host-plant and flower densities. There were three structurally different forest matrix types separating habitat patches, which in previous studies would have been classified as a single deciduous forest matrix. Butterfly movement and edge behaviors mechanistically interact with patch quality, isolation, and the matrix permeability to determine the spatial structure of these populations in fragmented habitats.

Applications of twin analysis to studying meteorite impact structures

This paper describes a technique, twin analysis of dolomite and calcite, which was used to estimate the level of erosion of an impact crater. If the age of impact is known, the level of erosion gives the amount of sediments present at that time. The estimate of the level of erosion, and the presence or absence of tectonic strains in calcite constrains the age of impact. This technique might also be useful in identifying deeply eroded impact structures. Twin analysis gives the greatest shortening direction, ε 1. Tilt corrected ε 1 directions converge at or above the present day surface, if a shallow gas explosion or meteorite impact explains the structure, rather than a deep gas or cryptovolcanic explosion. The energy density recorded by twinning distinguishes an impact from a shallow gas explosion for structures ≤ 100 m diameter. At Serpent Mound, a well-established impact structure, ε 1 directions converge at 1400 ± 390 m (95% confidence interval of the mean) above the present day structure and the sample closest to the center of the structure records an energy density of 1.7 × 10 7 J/m 3. These results are consistent with previous studies showing that Serpent Mound is an impact (e.g., [R.W. Carlton, C. Koeberl, M.T. Baranoski, G.A. Schumacker, Discovery of microscopic evidence for shock metamorphism at the Serpent Mound structure, south–central Ohio: confirmation of an origin by impact, Earth and Planet. Sci. Lett. 162 (1998) 177–185]). The level of erosion and other data suggests that Serpent Mound formed between 290 and 256 Ma and was originally 8.5 to 11 km in diameter. Dolomite twinning is not observed at Serpent Mound suggesting that this technique may only be useful for studying larger, more deeply eroded structures.

Multi-year Reproduction in Etheostoma blennioides in South-central Ohio

From April 1999 through August 2001 Etheostoma blennioides was collected from the Hocking River in south-central Ohio. Ovaries of adult females were classified by developmental stage and appropriate-stage ovaries were used to analyze clutch size, egg size and gonadosomatic index (GSI). Overall means for reproductive traits were similar to previously published estimates. No traits showed differences among years, though all traits showed significant differences across the breeding season. Clutch size was largest in the middle of the season, while egg size and GSI each declined across the season. These patterns were similar to those seen in a comparable study of E. zonale from the same stream.

Hopewell geometric earthworks: a case study in the referential and experiential meaning of monuments

Archaeological landscapes with dispersed settlements often contain widely spaced, morphologically similar, non-residential monuments (e.g., Neolithic megaliths and enclosures, Eastern Woodlands conical burial mounds, Southwestern great kivas, and Hopewell geometric earthworks). These monuments are commonly interpreted as “village surrogates,” places at which members of a local, dispersed community gathered to express and reproduce social ties. Some applications of the village surrogate model have privileged referential meaning (what a monument symbolized) at the expense of experiential meaning (how monuments were experienced), obscuring important variability in relationships between monuments and use-groups. Focusing on a cluster of five likely contemporary Hopewell geometric earthworks in south-central Ohio, this paper emphasizes that the construction of monuments in dispersed settings was not always experienced as the aggregation of autonomous, isomorphic communities. An analysis of labor involved in earthwork construction demonstrates that in the Hopewell case, a very widely dispersed population, not exclusively affiliated with individual monuments, gathered repeatedly to build a related set of ceremonial centers. Parallels with the Chaco Phenomenon of northwest New Mexico are explored, and the importance of distinguishing between referential and experiential meaning in the broader study of prehistoric monuments is discussed.

Reproduction in Etheostoma zonale across Three Breeding Seasons in Ohio

Etheostoma zonale was collected from the Hocking River in south-central Ohio from April 1999 through August 2001. Ovaries of adult females were classified by developmental stage and appropriate-stage ovaries were used to analyze clutch size, egg size and gonadosomatic index (GSI). Although body condition was significantly low in 1999, we saw no direct evidence for a correlation with any reproductive trait in that year. Clutch size varied among years, though not in parallel with condition. Etheostoma zonale produced larger clutches and had larger GSI toward the middle of the breeding season in each year. Egg size declined over the season in each year. The amount of intraseasonal variation in reproductive traits here was similar to that previously reported for interannual and geographic variation in E. zonale and should caution investigators from generalizing from limited collections during the breeding season.

Nest Site Selection and Productivity of Suburban Red-Shouldered Hawks in Southern Ohio

AbstractWe measured nest site selection and productivity of suburban-nesting Red-shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus) in southwestern Ohio and rural-nesting Red-shouldered Hawks in south-central Ohio. At both the suburban and the rural locations, nest sites had greater canopy height and overall tree basal area than paired random plots, and were located closer to water than were paired random plots. Nest trees also had greater diameter and height than random plot-center trees. Reproductive rates at suburban and rural sites were similar, averaging 2.6–3.1 nestlings per successful nest. Results indicated that suburban-nesting Red-shouldered Hawks were very similar to rural-nesting hawks in both nest site selection and productivity, suggesting that Red-shouldered Hawks were habituated to their suburban environs.

The relations between spectral data and water in a crop production environment

The results of a correlation study between high spatial resolution (1m) Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) data and reference data with particular emphasis to soil-plant water parameters are presented. Digital images of the Management Systems Evaluation Area (MSEA) research site in south central Ohio were acquired using MSS mounted on an aircraft. Gravimetric soil water, plant water, and plant residue information relating to MSS data were collected in April, July, August, and September, 1994. It was found that the correlation between MSS data and soil water was changed by the presence of crop residue versus bare soil. The combined water estimates from the soil and plant enhanced the correlation structure between MSS parameters and soil-plant water variables. It was also shown that when using soil water content data below the 0.5-2.0 cm soil depth, the correlation with MSS parameters decreased.

NEST SITE SELECTION AND PRODUCTIVITY OF SUBURBAN RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS IN SOUTHERN OHIO

Abstract We measured nest site selection and productivity of suburban-nesting Red-shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus) in southwestern Ohio and rural-nesting Red-shouldered Hawks in south-central Ohio. At both the suburban and the rural locations, nest sites had greater canopy height and overall tree basal area than paired random plots, and were located closer to water than were paired random plots. Nest trees also had greater diameter and height than random plot-center trees. Reproductive rates at suburban and rural sites were similar, averaging 2.6–3.1 nestlings per successful nest. Results indicated that suburban-nesting Red-shouldered Hawks were very similar to rural-nesting hawks in both nest site selection and productivity, suggesting that Red-shouldered Hawks were habituated to their suburban environs.

Analysis of Slips and Other Inorganic Surface Materials on Woodland and Early Fort Ancient Ceramics, South-Central Ohio

Petrographic analyses were made of 386 utilitarian pottery vessels from 23 dated components of 18 Early Woodland through early Fort Ancient period sites (ca. 1150 B.C.–A.D. 1300) in south-central Ohio. The analyses reveal that a significant percentage ( 11.6 percent) of the 386 vessels bear uncolored (i.e., unpigmented) pottery slips and washes, that these surface materials were common (>56 percent) among the 23 sampled components, and that they were produced throughout most of the examined prehistoric sequence, including the earliest Early Woodland, when pottery making began in the Midwest. In contrast, a literature review indicates that uncolored slips and washes are unrecorded for utilitarian wares in the prehistoric Eastern Woodlands, that both colored and uncolored slips are unknown for any ceramics of the Early Woodland period, and that colored slips or washes in the pre-Mississippian Midwest have been observed in only low frequencies. Electron microprobe analysis of seven sherds show the compositional similarity of the clays of slips to the clays of their associated vessel bodies, indicating that the slips were made from the same raw clays as the bodies, but with no or little added rock temper and/or with the sieving of the slip clay. Contextual analyses give further insights, including the possible uses of slips and washes for decoration and to decrease vessel wall permeability. Calcite and apatite coatings on the vessel surfaces also were observed and are interpreted. Results indicate greater continuity between and Midwestern and Southeastern United States in ceramic technology than previously thought, and suggest a need for caution in electron microprobe and INAA chemical studies of Midwestern ceramics.

Health Watch 2000: Community Health Assessment in South Central Ohio

In Ohio, there has been a recent but concerted effort from the state health department down through the local health departments to complete community health assessment studies for the prioritization and delivery of health services in their respective communities. At the same time, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations has been actively encouraging hospitals to assess targeted communities prior to the delivery of community-based services. In a changing health care system that demands greater emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention, new alliances are born of necessity, with collaborative products and benefits to all involved. A local health department and a community hospital in south central Ohio that was jointly owned by the city and county, in consultation with a neighboring state university, embarked on a 1 1/2-year study to define, prioritize, and plan service delivery for the community through Health Watch 2000. Six priority health areas based on national health objectives were determined along with subsequent health planning recommendations, leading to the ultimate goal of healthy people in healthy communities.