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Estimating Tillage Effects on Artifact Distributions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

George H. Odell  and
Frank Cowan
George H. Odell
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74104
Frank Cowan
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, SUNY Buffalo, 479 Spaulding, Building 4, Buffalo, NY 14261
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Abstract

Although behavioralists who deal with plow zone sites have a need to discriminate between cultural and non-cultural effects on artifact distributions, relatively little is known about the influences of agricultural equipment. A series of experiments was conducted to answer questions concerning the parameters of recovery, lateral artifact displacement, spatial patterning, duration of tillage, and the effects of tillage patterning. Results indicate an average recovery rate of 5-6 percent; support for the "size effect"; relatively constant recovery of small and large pieces; dominant displacement in the direction of plowing; lack of relationship between displacement and artifact size; basically random distribution of objects; and possible spurious clustering, depending upon the analytical methods employed.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , July 1987 , pp. 456 - 484
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1987

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References

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