In 1987, the Archaeological Resources Management Service (AXM6) at Ball State University conducted a sampling survey of a seven mile section of the Maumee River Valley in Allen County, Indiana. In addition to the primary survey, the project conducted an experiment in resurveying previously surveyed sample units, interviewed local collectors, and analyzed and tabulated data from a local collection with site level provenience. The project also reevaluated data previously collected from an adjacent section of the river valley and tested four sites in the latter study area.This study summarizes the data from the Maumee Grant Project and presents a general chronology of prehistoric habitation in the study area based upon that data. More specifically, this study has formulated provisional settlement models for the:PaleoIndian and Early Archaic habitation of the Upper Maumee River Valley, circa-10,000 to 6,000 B.C.The data indicate that the earliest peoples to inhabit the study area were Paleo-Indian bands with a preference for floodplain habitation and a subsistence strategy that emphasized hunting. As the post-glacial climate of the region ameliorated, the Early Archaic peoples that followed adapted a more diverse subsistence strategy, thus drawing upon a wider variety of terrace and floodplain resources. In contrast to their PaleoIndian forerunners, Early Archaic groups in the Upper Maumee Valley generally exhibited a preference for terrace habitation. In addition to the general Early Archaic occupation of the valley, three specific lithic traditions, the Kirk, the Bifurcate, and the Thebes, were identified and their settlement practices compared. While the origins of the earliest PaleoIndian bands in the region remained unclear, subsequent groups seem to have extended from and/or been influenced by Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene populations to the north, west, southwest, south, and east. By contributing to the regional data base and formulating provisional settlement models, this report provides a foundational basis for future research in the region. / Department of Anthropology

Archaeological investigations of the Gronauer lock #2 revealed the presence of the well-preserved lower portion of the lock and associated cribbing. Clearing of the fill in the lock proper and wing area and test excavations in the southern cribbing provided important details on the construction of the lock which were not completely consistent with the historical documentation and building specifications. Few artifacts directly associated with the construction and use of the lock were found although significant numbers of secondarily deposited artifacts from the adjacent lockkeeper's house were recovered. Dating of the artifacts was consistent with the recorded history of the construction and use of the lock. In general, without the physical details recovered through the archaeological investigations, interpretations of the site from the written records alone would have presented an inaccurate view of the actual situation.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306 / Department of Anthropology

<p dir="ltr">The Dorothy and Ray Garman Preserve is a 35.4 hectare tract of hydro-mesophytic forest that includes ephemeral pools and scrub-shrub wetlands with <i>Cephalanthus occidentalis</i> as the dominant species component, a previously farmed agricultural field (now planted with native trees), and areas within that field which have reverted into wetlands. Garman is located within the Cedar Creek Conservation Area of Allen County, a region of important biodiversity in northeast Indiana. To document the structure and composition of the plant communities at this property, I utilized random and systematic plot samping, as well as a meandering floristic survey. The focus of my efforts was to explore the forested portion of the property and its immediate margins. I counted 150 species, representing 53 genera and 50 families. Using the Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) method, eleven species had coefficient of conservatism values of 8-10, ten of which were herbaceous and one arboreal species (<i>Populus heterophylla</i>). This indicates that Garman is a relatively high-quality site with some quality remnant components. The site has an FQA value of 46.4, and the mean coefficient of conservatism was 3.8. Furthermore, 95.3 percent of the total species documented were native, a relatively high mark for a fragment within a larger suburban area. Species potentially indicative of bog habitats such as <i>Sphagnum fimbriatum </i>(a non-vascular species of interest), <i>Ilex verticillata</i>, and <i>Viola nephrophylla</i>, as well as historical occurrences of other peatland communities in the area, indicate that Garman may have historically been a true bog that has since senesced into buttonbush wetland type due to anthropogenic impact. Overall, the vascular plant flora of Garman demonstrates that this site is of unique importance to the broader Cedar Creek Conservation Area, since it contains several plant species not present at other sites within this region, as well as intact natural plant communities.</p>