Evaluation of Recent Disturbances
In an attempt to assess the degree and extent of modern disturbances to the Cox's
Woods site, surface evidence of illegal digging was documented through the location,
measurement, and recording of pot-holes (traces of unfilled looters pits) at the
site. Over a period of two days, a survey crew was assigned the task of searching
out and documenting all unequivocal disturbances from illegal digging. Each pot-hole
was marked with a colored survey flag and its location was mapped using a transit
and metric tape; the depth and approximate diameter of each disturbance was recorded
as well. Table 2 provides a summary of the
data relating to recent disturbances. Pot-holes ranged from 100-250 cm in diameter
and 10-50 cm in depth.
As a further means of evaluating the disturbance to the site from vandals, two
of the recorded pot-holes were included within areas of excavation. Unit O and
subunit R of Trench 1 exposed two locations where surface evidence of recent digging
was detected. The disturbance in Unit O was a 200 cm long and 50 cm wide linear
depression that was oriented in a north-south alignment; only the southern 75
cm of this disturbance was included within Unit O. Upon excavation, this depression
was found to be only 30 cm deep and did not intersect any cultural features or
rock concentrations. There was no apparent reason why this small trench was excavated
in this particular location, and its shallow depth indicated that it was abandoned
soon after being started.
The recent disturbance in Trench 1, subunit R was a circular depression that measured
about 125 cm in diameter. Upon excavation, this pot-hole proved to be only 15
cm deep at which depth a number of large pieces of limestone rock were encountered.
It appears that the illicit excavation was terminated at this point, and no significant
disturbance of the cultural deposits took place. In fact it appears that in all
of the areas where illicit digging took place, there was no evidence that subsurface
pit features were located or disturbed, and neither was there any evidence of
disturbed (or undisturbed) human remains found anywhere on the site. Furthermore,
it is the authors' suspicion that at least some of the open holes on the site
may be the remains of the unsystematic excavation carried out by the young Jesuit
scholars from West Baden College in the 1950's (Redmond and McCullough 1993).
The locations of all identified pot-holes are depicted in Figure
15 in relation to a hypothetical reconstruction of the original enclosure.
Most of these disturbances are concentrated in the eastern half of the site and
appear to parallel the arc of the preserved embankments. What is of greater interest
is the observation that this curving line of holes extends beyond the wall remnants
and extends around the southern edge of the site, into the area where farming
has removed all above-ground traces of the embankments (Figure 15). In fact, these
southern pot-holes were placed directly over the stockade line as evidenced by
concentrations of limestone block fragments in the bottoms of the holes.
The surprising locations of these holes indicates that the illicit diggers had
knowledge of where the embankments existed before they were plowed away, and,
consequently, located their excavations in the area of the site where artifacts
can be found in abundance (i.e., the midden-filled stockade line). The fact that
these holes can still be seen proves that they were dug after cultivation ceased,
otherwise they would have disappeared with the following year's plowing. The presence
of pot-holes in this area also shows that at least some of the illegal excavations
were planned and deliberate, and those who carried out the work had an intimate
knowledge of the archaeological features of the site. Fortunately, the actual
impact of these potentially very destructive activities appears to have been minor.
[Continue on to Part II: Summer 1994 Excavations]
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