The West Runway site (15BE391) is located in an upland setting in Boone County, Kentucky. Excavations at this locality revealed intact Early Woodland deposits including pit features containing Fayette Thick ceramics and straight stemmed Kramer projectile points. Until these investigations, Fayette Thick ceramics had not previously been recovered from non-mound locations or in isolation within undisturbed feature contexts. Several radiocarbon determinations bracket the primary occupation of the West Runway site between 770 B.C. and 390 B.C. These dates indicate that the site predates the well-known Adena culture and suggest a need for continuing refinement of the Early Woodland cultural sequence.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ClayR. B.1980The Cultural Historical Placement of Fayette Thick Ceramics in Central Kentucky, Tennessee Anthropologist, 5:2, pp. 166–178.
2.
ClayR. B.1986, Adena Ritual Spaces, in Early Woodland Archaeology, FarnsworthK. B. and EmersonT. E. (eds.), Kampsville Seminars in Archaeology, Center for American Archaeology, Kampsville, Illinois, pp. 581–595.
3.
CowanC. W.1985, Understanding the Evolution of Plant Husbandry in Eastern North America: Lessons from Botany, Ethnography, and Archeology, in Prehistoric Food Production in North America, FordR. I. (ed.), Anthropological Papers No. 75, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, pp. 205–243.
4.
DragooD. W.1963Mounds for the Dead: An Analysis of the Adena Culture, Annals of the Carnegie Museum 37, Pittsburgh.
5.
DuerksenK.DoershukJ. F.KimballL. R., and BergmanC. A.1994Kramer Points and Fayette Thick Ceramics: Data Recovery at the West Runway Site (15BE391), an Upland Early Woodland Camp in Boone County, Kentucky, prepared by 3D/Environmental, Cincinnati, Ohio.
6.
DuerksenK.DoershukJ. F.BergmanC. A.TuneT. W., and MillerD. A.1995, Fayette Thick Ceramic Chronology at the West Runway Site (15BE391), Boone County, Kentucky, in Current Archaeological Research in Kentucky, DoershukJ. F.BergmanC. A., and PollackD. (eds.), Kentucky Heritage Council, Frankfort, pp. 70–88.
7.
FarnsworthK. B. and AschD. L.1986, Early Woodland Chronology, Artifact Styles, and Settlement Distribution in the Lower Illinois Valley Region, in Early Woodland Archaeology, FarnsworthK. B. and EmersonT. E. (eds.), Kampsville Seminars in Archaeology, Center for American Archaeology, Kampsville, Illinois, pp. 326–457.
8.
FortierA.EmersonT. E., and FinneyF. A.1984, Early Woodland and Middle Woodland Periods, in American Bottom Archaeology, A Summary of the FAI-270 Project: Contribution to the Culture History of the Mississippi River Valley, BaerreisC. J. and PorterJ. W. (eds.), University of Illinois Press, Urbana, pp. 59–103.
9.
GibbonsA. B.1972Geologic Map of Parts of the Burlington and Addyston Quadrangles, Boone County, Kentucky, University of Kentucky Geological Survey.
10.
GriffinJ. B.1943The Fort Ancient Aspect, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
11.
JusticeN. D.1987Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points, Indiana University Press, Indiana and Bloomington.
12.
LewisR. B.1986Why are Early Woodland Base Camps So Rare? in Early Woodland Archeology, FarnsworthK. B. and EmersonT. E. (eds.), Center for American Archeology, Kampsville Seminars in Archeology, Center for American Archeology Press, Kampsville, Illinois, pp. 596–597.
13.
MunsonP. J.1971, An Archaeological Survey of the Wood River Terrace and Adjacent Bottoms and Bluffs in Madison County, Illinois, in An Archaeological Survey of the American Bottoms and Wood River Terrace, Illinois State Museum Reports of Investigation 21/1.
14.
MunsonP. J.1982Marion, Black Sand, Morton, and Havanna Relationship: An Illinois Valley Perspective, Wisconsin Archaeologist, 63, pp. 1–17.
15.
O'MalleyN.TuneT. W., and BlustainM. S.1983Technological Examination of Fayette Thick Ceramics: A Petrographic Analysis and Review, Southeastern Archaeology, 2:2, pp. 145–154.
16.
RaileyJ.1991, Woodland Settlement Trends and Symbolic Architecture in the Kentucky Bluegrass, in The Human Landscape in Kentucky's Past: Site Structure and Settlement Patterns, StoutC. and HensleyC. K. (eds.), Kentucky Heritage Council, Frankfort, pp. 56–77.
17.
RaileyJ.1996, Woodland Cultivators, in Kentucky Archaeology, LewisR. B. (ed.), University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, pp. 79–126.
18.
SeemanM. F.1986, Adena “Houses” and the Implications for Early Woodland Settlement Models in the Ohio Valley, in Early Woodland Archeology, FarnsworthK. B. and EmersonT. E. (eds.), Center for American Archeology, Kampsville Seminars in Archeology, Center for American Archeology Press, Kampsville, Illinois, pp. 564–580.
19.
TuneT. W.1985, Fayette Thick: A New Vessel Form for an Old Ceramic Type, in Woodland Period Research in Kentucky, PollackD.SandersT., and HockensmithC. (eds.), Kentucky Heritage Council, Frankfort, pp. 43–61.
20.
TurnbowC. A.JobeC. E.O'MalleyN.WymerD. A.SemeM., and RovnerI.1983Archaeological Excavations at the Goolman, Devary, and Stone Sites in Clark County, Kentucky, Archaeological Report No. 78, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington.
21.
WallS.RussellK.PerkinsG.MillerD.KimballL.JacobsM.DuerksenK.DoershukJ.AdamsR., and BergmanC.1993, Kramer Projectile Points and Early Woodland Activity at the West Runway Site (15BE391), Boone County, Kentucky, in Current Archaeological Research in Kentucky, DoershukJ. F.BergmanC. A., and PollackD. (eds.), Kentucky Heritage Council, Frankfort, pp. 89–112.
