Recent Investigations at the Cedar Creek Earthworks (AaHq-2), Essex County, Ontario. Issue 1 (February 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Watts, Christopher
• Is Part Of: Midcontinental journal of archaeology. Volume 41:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 25
• Publication Date: 2016-02
• Subjects: earthworks -- monumentality -- western Lake Erie -- Late Woodland -- Late Prehistoric; Indians of North America -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; United States -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; 977
• DOI: 10.1179/2327427115Y.0000000011
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0146-1109

Abstract

Abstract : This paper presents and contextualizes the results of recent research at the Cedar Creek Earthworks (AaHq-2) in Essex County, Ontario, one of the few remaining Late Prehistoric earthen enclosures in the western Lake Erie region. First documented in the 1930s, the site consists of a unique semicircular berm and ditch feature to which has been appended three earthen projections or "nodes." Despite a combination of remote sensing, testpitting, and targeted test excavations both within and beyond the earthworks, a dearth of material culture remains and subsurface features (including evidence for a palisade) suggests the site did not serve as a village and raises questions regarding the role(s) Cedar Creek played in the lifeways of past aboriginal populations.