The Bradford Woods Pedestrian Survey, Morgan County, Indiana

Abstract

The Bradford Woods Outdoor Center in Martinsville, Indiana is located in Morgan County and is owned by Indiana University. A pedestrian survey was undertaken as a part of the doctoral dissertation of Edward Herrmann and was undertaken in the summer of 2009 and the spring of 2010. This pedestrian survey focused on the interfluvial ridges and overlooks of the White River and Sycamore Creek in the White River Valley. The terrain of the area is mostly forested with flood plains, ponds and occasional, small open fields as defining geographic features. No subsurface work was conducted, however some sites were identified after leaves were racked away. Overlooks and relatively flat upland ridges were targeted and slopes with gradients of greater than 20 percent were not surveyed. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) were used to map locations. The pedestrian survey located 16 prehistoric sites on the Bradford Woods Outdoor Center property. Indian Creek and Glacial Till cherts were the most common chert types recovered with Indian Creek chert discovered at 14 of the 16 sites and Glacial Till chert discovered at 13 of the 16 sites. Most of the sites were concentrated on the eastern side of Sycamore Creek. In total seven of the identified sites may warrant further investigation and/or protection.