AbstractsAnthropology

The Ronald Watson Gravel site (15Be249) is located on a terrace of the Ohio River, in Boone County, Kentucky, just downstream from Cincinnati. Excavated during the early 1990s, initial research suggested inconclusively that a transitional Late Woodland/Fort Ancient occupation may be present. This thesis re-examines a portion of the ceramic collection from the site, and re-evaluates this conclusion. Results of the analysis from feature and surface contexts, in addition to the acquisition of six radiocarbon dates, suggest that the site was occupied during the Late Archaic, Middle Woodland, Late Woodland, and Middle Fort Ancient periods, without conclusive evidence of any transitional occupations. The data were then compared to a southwestern Ohio ceramic chronology, in order to further tighten the periods of occupation at 15Be249. I conclude that sufficient variation exists between the two areas that additional research is needed to develop a detailed ceramic chronology for northern Kentucky.