Papers by Dr. Frank Vento
University of Utah Press eBooks, 2024
Early Human Life on the Southeastern Coastal Plain, 2018
Recent excavations at the famous Pleistocene Vero Site, also known as the Old Vero Man site in Ve... more Recent excavations at the famous Pleistocene Vero Site, also known as the Old Vero Man site in Vero Beach, Florida, have documented strata ranging in age from 22,000 to 2000 BP. Field and lab work has resulted in a detailed reconstruction of natural and cultural stratigraphy, with possible human presence at 14,000 KA. Excavations are protected year-round by a WeatherPort structure. The project is multiyear in scope with excavations continuing through 2017.
Abstract : This document presents the results of Phase I cultural resources survey of the Alhambr... more Abstract : This document presents the results of Phase I cultural resources survey of the Alhambra to Hohen-Solms and Hohen-Solms to Modeste Project Items in Ascension and Iberville Parishes, Louisiana. This survey was conducted by R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc., during July, August, and September of 1999 R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc.; is was performed on behalf of the U.S. Array Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District. The Areas of Potential Effect consists of that portion of the batture that lies between the extant flood control structure and a series of borrow pits excavated to construct the present levee. This area measures approximately 10 to 15 m (32.11 to 49.2 ft) in width. The Alhambra to Hohen-Solms Project Item measures approximately 4,300 m (14,107.6 ft) in length and is extends from a point west of the town of Cannonburg to a point east of the town of Holen-Solms, i.e., from River Mile 191 to 185-R. The Hohen-Solms Project Item measures approximately 5,100 m (16,732.3 ft) in length and it extends from a point east of the town of Hohen-Solms to a point south of the town of Philadelphia Point, i.e., from River Mile 185 to 179-R. Prior to fieldwork the proposed project items were stratified into 14 survey segments, each of which was characterized as possessing high, moderate, or low probabilities for containing intact cultural deposits. Areas characterized at having a low potential for containing intact cultural deposits were subjected to pedestrian survey only; no backhoe trenches were excavated in these anus. In areas designated at having a high probability for possessing intact cultural deposits, backhoe trenches were excavated at 30 m (98.4 ft) intervals. In moderate probability areas, backhoe trenches were spaced at 50 m (164 ft) intervals.
Phase III archaeological data recovery studies were conducted at two prehistoric archaeological s... more Phase III archaeological data recovery studies were conducted at two prehistoric archaeological sites, 36Ju104 and 36Mi92, in the Lewistown Narrows in Juniata and Mifflin counties, as part of the cultural resource studies for the planned improvements to S.R. 0022, Section A09 and A11. Phase III investigations at 36Ju104 recovered over 100,000 artifacts and 38 prehistoric cultural features of various types. Occupations spanning at least 8000 years, from the late Early Archaic through the Late Woodland period, were evident in the artifacts and features. The site seems to have been used for temporary camps occupied during both long-distance and local movements through the region. Each of those camps or bivouacs was occupied for a day or a few days at a time, during which time stone tool kits were renewed and local materials were used for expedient tools. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of these occupations is that many of them date to the end of the Early Archaic and the beginnings of the Middle Archaic, ca. 6500-6000 B.C., providing an in-depth look at lifeways during these poorly known periods of prehistory. Conditions in the area available for study during the Phase III investigations at 36Mi92 sharply limited the usefulness of the field results. Additional analysis of the roughly 500 artifacts and artifact patterning, however, yielded further insights into the occupations at the camps dating to the Middle to Late Archaic periods. The results from data recovery at both sites have added substantially to our understanding of Archaic period settlement and culture in the Ridge and Valley province, especially the patterns of raw material use and group movements.
The most ancient floras of the Pleistocene of the American Southeast date back more than 50,000 y... more The most ancient floras of the Pleistocene of the American Southeast date back more than 50,000 years. This limit is probably not due to the proscribed distribution of the deposits, but clearly is controlled by our ability to date them using radiocarbon techniques. Beyond about 40,000 yr b.p., things are simply radiocarbon “dead,” so one has difficulty defining actual ages before that time. This situation notwithstanding, and regardless of the actual ages of the most ancient accumulations of plant debris, it remains true that the flora the first Native Americans encountered shaped their relationship with the land. Understanding the potential for resource exploitation that lay before them provides us with some insight into the types of economies that developed. This is true of both plant and animal resources, of course, but in this chapter we will examine the history of the flora of the general area of central and coastal Georgia and northern Florida—those areas that most likely held...
Abstract : The Memorial Park archeological site (36 CN 164) preserves an unbroken sequence of com... more Abstract : The Memorial Park archeological site (36 CN 164) preserves an unbroken sequence of complex prehistoric occupations in stratified floodplain-terrace deposits of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River near Lock Haven, Pennsylvania (Figure 1- 1). The presebt report is an effort to merge the records of site occupation and preservation within the broader context of the Susquehanna's floodplain history over the past 10,000-i2,000 years. Interpretations are the product of a carefully designed program of field work and laboratory analysis. The program's objectives were to supplement and integrate the results of nearly 15 years of previous research at the site and its immediate vicinity. The geoarcheological approach of this study reflects the convictions of the contractor, that the rich but varied archeological occupations registered in the flooplain of Memorial Park are best understood through systematic reconstruction of the Holocene landscape history of this portion of the Susquehanna drainage basin.
Stratigraphers are becoming increasingly aware that relatively minor physical and biological even... more Stratigraphers are becoming increasingly aware that relatively minor physical and biological events have played major, although often cryptic, roles in the accumulation of strata. Stratigraphic analyses have too often avoided the stratum-by-stratum (i.e., stratinomic) examination of sequences in favor of “broad brush” recognition of lithostratigraphic units (formations, members, alluvial facies, colluvial facies, etc.) (Busch and Brezinski, 1989).
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Papers by Dr. Frank Vento