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1 7 Geoarchaeological investigations in the Medicine Creek Basin around Medicine Creek reservoir have revealed Late Wisconsin and Early Holocene fluvial processes and their impact on creating Paleoindian occupation surfaces. I begin the discussion of each of the three Paleoindian sites that were discovered in 1947 (Allen, Lime Creek, and Red Smoke) and excavated during the 1947–1953 period with a summary of the original geoarchaeological investigation at the site. (For a general history of geoarchaeological investigations at the three classic Paleoindian sites around Medicine Creek, see May 2000, 2002.) The primary purposes of this chapter are to present new data and interpretations of the alluvial stratigraphy at the sites, to present the results of recent radiocarbon dating at the Paleoindian sites, and to compare the alluvial stratigraphy and ages of the sediments among the sites. The sites studied and discussed in this chapter include the three previously excavated Paleoindian sites at the reservoir, a cutbank along Medicine Creek immediately upstream of the reservoir, and an unstudied Paleoindian site (the Stafford site) in Lime Creek Valley upstream of the reservoir (Figure 3.1). Previous Pertinent Work In the late 1940s, C. Bertrand Schultz, geologist with the University of Nebraska State Museum, and his students conducted extensive pioneering work on river terraces and the stratigraphy of alluvial valley fills in the Medicine Creek Basin (Schultz et al. 1948). These geomorphic and stratigraphic investigations were performed primarily in conjunction with the excavations of three Paleoindian sites (Allen [25FT50], Lime Creek [25FT41], and Red Smoke [25FT42]) that were to be inundated by Medicine Creek reservoir beginning in 1949. (Schultz’s contributions to archaeology at the reservoir can be found in May 2000, 2002, and in chapter 2.) Pertinent to my reinvestigation of the three Paleoindian sites at the reservoir, the Paleoindian components at these sites are in the lower part of chapter 3 LANDFORMS, ALLUVIAL STRATIGRAPHY, AND RADIOCARBON CHRONOLOGY AT SELECTED PALEOINDIAN SITES AROUND MEDICINE CREEK RESERVOIR David May Figure 3.1 Map of sites around Medicine Creek reservoir referred to in the text (originally appeared in May 2002). 18 / Chapter 3 valley fill 2a beneath the 17- to 20-m-high Terrace 2 in the Medicine Creek Basin (Davis 1953a, 1962; Davis and Schultz 1952; Elias 1949; Holder and Wike 1949; Schultz and Frankforter 1948). In the early 1960s, James Brice conducted a study of gully erosion and sedimentation in the Medicine Creek Basin. As part of that research, he reconstructed Late Wisconsin through Holocene landscape evolution in the basin. He (1966) recognized three terraces in the Medicine Creek Valley: from lowest (youngest) to highest (oldest), they are the Mousel, Stockville, and Wellfleet terraces. Brice indicates that the Stockville Terrace is equivalent to Schultz et al.’s (1948) Terrace 2 and that the “Stockville terrace deposits” are equivalent to fill 2a beneath Terrace 2. Methods of Investigation and Laboratory Analyses Mapping of Terraces An important initial part of this geomorphic and stratigraphic investigation of Paleoindian sites in the vicinity of Medicine Creek reservoir was mapping the spatial extent of Republican River Terrace 2 (Schultz et al. 1948) in Medicine Creek Valley around the reservoir. The dual purposes of this mapping were to reveal the degree of possible preservation of other Paleoindian sites within valley fill 2a and to facilitate archaeological surveys for Paleoindian sites. The extent of Terrace 2 was delineated on U.S. Geological Survey 7.5-minute series topographic maps (Medicine Creek Dam and Freedom quadrangles) during field reconnaissance and then reduced to produce Figure 3.2. Drilling at the Lime Creek and Red Smoke Sites Today the Allen site (25FT50) is completely submerged, but the Lime Creek (25FT41) site is dry at low levels of the reservoir, and the Red Smoke site (25FT42) is usually just above the elevation of the normal pool elevation of the reservoir. Thus, Paleoindian components at the Lime Creek site can be reached by drilling, and those at the Red Smoke site are generally accessible. A Bureau of Reclamation drill crew collected continuous drill cores from the lower part of fill 2a at the Lime Creek site. They drilled three holes north of excavation area C (Davis 1962) and 30 m northwest of the northern wall of the bulldozer trench cut during the original excavation of the site (see Conyers 2000 for locations of drill holes). I sent one core to Linda Scott Cummings for pollen analyses (see chapter 6). Another was sent to Larry Conyers (2000) for use in his study of paleotopography...

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