Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Miami Fort: An Ancient Hydraulic Structure

Ballantyne, Marianne R.

Abstract Details

2009, MA, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences : Anthropology.
Miami Fort, located in southwestern Ohio, is a multicomponent hilltop earthwork approximately nine kilometers in length. Detailed geological analyses demonstrate that the earthwork was a complex gravity-fed hydraulic structure, which channeled spring waters and surface runoff to sites where indigenous plants and cultigens were grown in a highly fertile but drought prone loess soil. Drill core sampling, x-ray diffractometry, high-resolution magnetic susceptibility analysis, and radiocarbon dating demonstrate that the earthwork was built after the Holocene Climatic Optimum and before the Medieval Warming Period. The results of this study suggest that these and perhaps other southern Ohio hilltop earthworks are hydraulic structures rather than fortifications.
Kenneth B. Tankersley, PhD (Committee Chair)
Vernon L. Scarborough, PhD (Committee Member)
73 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Ballantyne, M. R. (2009). Miami Fort: An Ancient Hydraulic Structure [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1242752728

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Ballantyne, Marianne. Miami Fort: An Ancient Hydraulic Structure. 2009. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1242752728.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Ballantyne, Marianne. "Miami Fort: An Ancient Hydraulic Structure." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1242752728

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)