The spatial analysis of ceramic in the plow zone at Town Creek Indian Mound State Historic Site

Abstract

Ceramics are used in archaeological research to determine the spatial and temporal distributions of people in the past. Ceramics were used for cooking and serving food for households. Ceramics changed over time and can be used to date different archaeological occupations. This research examines the spatial distribution of several temporally significant types of ceramics at Town Creek, an archaeological site in North Carolina's Piedmont. This research used the ceramic collection from the plow zone at Town Creek Indian Mound State Historic Site (31Mg3) to inform about site usage through time. Although the site was intermittently occupied for over 10,000 years. Ceramics first occur at the start of the Woodland period about 2000 years ago. Using existing artifact collections curated by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this research uses ceramics collected from the plow zone to conduct a spatial analysis across the site to address the temporal and spatial use of the site. In particular, this research will look at the distribution of the different ceramic groupings to determine the different time periods that the site was occupied during the last 2000 years and the areas of the site those people used. This will allow for a better understanding of site function and site usage over time.