| Abstract: | Late Quaternary hillslope and valley evolution of the loess-mantled uplands between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers has produced a landscape composed of surfaces of different ages. Archaeological remains occur in a variety of geological contexts, including intact surfaces that predate the artifacts upon them, as lag on surfaces formed by subsequent erosion, and buried within alluvium, colluvium, and upland loess soil profiles. Holocene channel belts are largely confined to trenches formed by deep stream incision during the late Pleistocene, and much of the alluvial record is intact, especially in valleys with aggraded floodplains. Modest Holocene hillslope retreat in backslope and shoulder landscape settings and temporary storage of footslope colluvium is documented at some sites. Historic land use practices have resulted in severe hillslope retreat and near complete burial of Holocene valleys with a 0.5-1-m-thick veneer of historic sediment. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
