Native American legacies in archaeological sites: Evidence of early land use in current vegetation

Background/Question/Methods Native American occupation and impacts on vegetation during the Woodland Period are pervasive throughout the United States. Native American peoples, contrary to what many believe, were intensive land managers. The legacies of their land-use can still persist in the forest to the present day. These legacies may have produced what we have termed "indicator species" of aboriginal land use during the Eastern Woodland Period of occupation (~600 BC to ~AD 1000). Study of indicator species is based on the idea that the presence and number of certain plant species, including trees, shrubs, and herbs are an indicator of a specific site quality, habitat type, soil type, successional stage, and preferential utilization by Native Americans. These methods were applied to three areas in eastern United States: Fort Drum Army Installation, NY, Dare County Bombing Range owned by Seymour Johnson Airforce Base, NC, and Cheatham Annex Naval Supply Station affiliated with Yorktown Naval Weapons Station, VA.

Results/Conclusions Several objectives were addressed by this research concerning the impacts of Native American land use on the landscape, in regards to vegetation, soil, and site characteristics, and the legacies left by this use. The culmination of these objectives was employed in the identification of indicator plant species, the use of which was investigated as a means of rapidly and inexpensively (i.e., without excavation) identifying significant versus non-significant pre-European settlement Native American occupation areas, including villages, trails, gathering, and cultivation areas.