The ways in which precontact people organized their settlements and landuse is reflected archaeologically in the types and distributions of artifacts, tools, and cultural features on a site. The horizontal distribution of artifacts across a site provides a wealth of information about a variety of site activities, such as potential work stations, and the overlap of artifact and tool types.
Overall, there is only one clearly defined spatial cluster within the data recovery area of the Denton Reed II site, but multiple diagnostic projectile points found within this area suggest at least three periods of site use or components within the cluster. The cluster encompasses roughly the area along the center of the site limits for a total acreage of about 8,000 m2 (86,111 ft2). Most of the formal tools, pieces of debitage, roughstone tools, and all of the potential features occur within this area. Artifact numbers are so small that attempting to define spatial “micro-clusters” within the larger area proved to be difficult and not very informative. While a smaller cluster appears to the southeastern end of the region on the spatial map, this may be more a factor of the area having a third surface survey which was not performed throughout the entire data recovery area. The general spatial patterns for precontact artifacts, tools, and potential features are indicative of very light and ephemeral periods of landuse across the Denton Reed II site.
Artifact and feature spatial patterns at the Denton Reed II site
