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Forest Opening, Habitat Use, and Food Production on the Cumberland Plateau, Kentucky: Adaptive Flexibility in Marginal Settings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kristen J. Gremillion ,
Jason Windingstad  and
Sarah C. Sherwood
Kristen J. Gremillion
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, 244 Lord Hall, 124 West 17th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 ([email protected])
Jason Windingstad
Affiliation:
Archaeological Research Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, The University of Tennessee, Room 237, Middlebrook Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-0060 ([email protected])
Sarah C. Sherwood
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Sewanee: The University of the South, 735 University Ave, Sewanee Tennessee 37383 ([email protected])
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Abstract

In the rugged uplands of eastern Kentucky, archaeological evidence of pre-maize plant cultivation is largely absent from stream bottom locations, being concentrated instead within upland rockshelters. Some researchers have hypothesized that the apparent failure of early food producers to exploit rich bottomland soils was an economically sound response to the shortcomings of local stream valley habitats. Instead, seed crop farmers favored hillsides and ridgetops, which were less costly to clear and maintain under cultivation than narrow and densely vegetated stream bottoms. We analyze the goodness of fit between hypothetical upland and lowland cultivation systems and new evidence for human interaction with plant communities and the agricultural potential of soils. Seed and wood assemblages indicate a temporal association between increased human interaction with lowland plant communities, higher levels of habitat disturbance, and greater reliance on cultivated plants. However, there is no convincing evidence that plant cultivation caused disturbance and exploitation of lowlands. Expansion of mesic and hydric habitats was in part a response to increased precipitation and frequency and severity of flooding. Floodplains became largely unsuitable for human habitation, contributing to more intensive exploitation of uplands. While ridgetops and steep slopes were both poor locations for cultivated plots, other upland soils on limestone benches also had good agricultural potential, as did the soils on lower colluvial slopes.

Résumé

Résumé

En las accidentadas tierras altas del este de Kentucky, no hay prácticamente ningún vestigio arqueológico de cultivos anteriores al maíz en los lechos de arroyos, al contrario de las tierras altas donde se encuentran concentraciones de restos en abrigos rocosos. Algunos investigadores han planteado la hipótesis de que quizá la decisión de los primeros productores de alimentos de no explotar los ricos suelos de las tierras bajas haya sido una respuesta económicamente acertada a las deficiencias de los hábitats locales de los valles de arroyos. Los agricultores de semillas preferían sembrar en las laderas y cimas de las colinas porque era menos costoso limpiarlas y mantenerlas cultivadas que los estrechos lechos de arroyos cubiertos de una densa vegetación. Para alcanzar esta meta, es necesario analizar las bondades de los hipotéticos sistemas de cultivo en las tierras bajas y altas, al igual que cualquier nuevo indicio de interacción humana con comunidades vegetales y el potencial agrícola de los suelos. Las semillas y madera recolectadas indican una asociación temporal entre mayor interacción humana con las comunidades vegetales de las tierras bajas, niveles más altos de alteraciones en el hábitat y creciente dependencia de plantas cultivadas. Sin embargo, no hay indicios convincentes de que el cultivo de plantas hubiera causado la alteración y explotación de las tierras altas. La expansión de hábitats mésicos e hídricos fue en parte una respuesta al aumento de precipitaciones y de la frecuencia y gravedad de las inundaciones. Estas condiciones contribuyeron a la inestabilidad del suelo tanto en las tierras bajas como altas, y crearon oportunidades de colonización para algunas hierbas anuales cultivadas por sus semillas comestibles. Gran parte de la planicie se volvió inadecuada para la ocupación humana, lo cual contribuyó a una explotación aún más intensiva de las tierras altas. Si bien las cimas de las colinas y las inclinadas laderas no eran buenos lugares para las parcelas de cultivo, otros suelos de las tierras altas sobre bancos de piedra caliza eran relativamente fértiles y no se inundaban.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 73 , Issue 3 , July 2008 , pp. 387 - 411
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2008

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