Soils studies generated during recent archaeological investigations at the Abbott Farm Site Complex in New Jersey have partially resolved many of the stratigraphic problems and inconsistencies inherent in the earlier landmark work of Dorothy Cross, especially as concerns her excavations on the Abbott Farm “bluff.” The interaction of wind blown sediments with on-site erosion and redeposition of soils are viewed as the natural processes affecting site burial and the integrity of the cultural deposits on the high Delaware River terrace bluff. The burial of multiple “humuses” at Cross' Excavation 14 in the lowlands and the implications of burial processes for the archaeological remains are also reevaluated. The general applicability of these studies to other Eastern North American archaeological sites is discussed.
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