Discovering "The Great Settlement": Preliminary geoarchaeological flotation investigation of Etzanoa

Carey, V., Wallace, A., & Dozier, C.A. Discovering "The Great Settlement": Preliminary geoarchaeological flotation investigation of Etzanoa. -- Fyre in STEM Showcase, 2024.

Abstract

Etzanoa, also known as the Cowley County Country Club Site (14CO3), was occupied by the Ancestral Wichita throughout the Great Bend aspect, also known as the Lower Walnut focus, dating approximately 1425-1700 CE. Wichita State University has been excavating a portion of the site with a high density of domestic features, especially storage pits, since 2016. By observing and analyzing the profiles of four baulk walls, this project intends to identify areas of anthropogenic activity and stratigraphic variation. The four baulk walls were excavated from the surface to approximately 120-centimeters below datum, a precedent line to establish consistent measurement. Utilizing bucket flotation allows for the separation of a light organic fraction and a heavy silt fraction before further analysis. By separating the samples, analysts are better suited to recover micro-artifacts such as bone, charcoal, lithic, and 100 poppy seeds as a control. Through the analysis of these recovered micro-botanical and material remnants, researchers are better enabled to understand the depositional history of the locale and estimate that the occupational layer of the soil is around 10-40 CMBD.

Description

Poster and abstract presented at the FYRE in STEM Showcase, 2024.
Research project completed at the Department of Anthropology.

Publisher

Wichita State University

Series

FYRE in STEM 2024

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/10057/27781

Collections

FYRE in STEM 2024