Aaron R Comstock
Biographic Data
| ID | 4053111 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Aaron R Comstock |
| GIVEN NAMES | Aaron R |
| FAMILY NAME | Comstock |
| SIGNATURE | COMSTOCK A R |
| AFFILIATIONS | The Ohio State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9534-4452 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 71 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Reevaluating Ceramic Assemblages through Pottery Refit Analysis: A Fort Ancient Case Study from Southwest Ohio
Exploring Hopewell Pyro Engineering: Experimental Replication of the “Pit and Tunnel” Features from the Turner Site (33HA26) in Southwest Ohio
The peoples referred to by archaeologists as “Hopewell” were expert artisans and adept engineers who created vast culturally modified landscapes. One of the most intriguing Hopewell sites is the Turner Earthwork Complex in southwest Ohio. This complex included enclosures, embankments, and mounds. Excavations beneath one mound by Harvard University's Peabody Museum in the 1880s revealed a circle of 30 large features originally referred to as “Pits…
Middle Ohio Valley Maize Histories: New Dates from the Crossroads of the Midcontinent
The transition to maize agriculture frames important cultural shifts in the Eastern Woodlands. However, the tempo and mode of this transition are unclear, particularly when analytical techniques are not standard across the region. In this article, we present evidence of directly dated maize macrobotanical fragments from the Turpin site in southwest Ohio that date between cal AD 552-649 and 684-994. These dates add to current dialogues on the spre…
Modeling Diachronic Changes in Site Location Preferences Related to an Agricultural Transition: A Middle Ohio Valley Case Study
This article explores changes in site location preferences that accompanied the shift to a maize-farming lifestyle in the Middle Ohio River valley. Criteria including distance between sites, distance to earthen mounds, distance to rivers, and soil types are documented for both Late Woodland and Fort Ancient sites in southwest Ohio. These data are incorporated into a multivariate model suggesting that, in addition to significant shifts in subsiste…
Following the Mississippian Spread: Climate Change and Migration in the Eastern US (ca. AD 1000-1600)
Contextualizing Mississippian Migration in Early Fort Ancient Villages
The transition to sedentary village life and maize agriculture was an important turning point in the prehistory of the American midcontinent. This article presents the results of excavations at the Turpin site, one of the earliest agricultural villages in the Middle Ohio Valley, located just east of Cincinnati, Ohio. Although earlier researchers suggested that Turpin was occupied later during the Fort Ancient period, our work confidently anchors …
Climate Change and Migration Along a Mississippian Periphery: A Fort Ancient Example
Archaeologists have long recognized an important relationship between climate change and the trajectory of the Mississippian polity at Cahokia, with twelfth- and thirteenth-century droughts playing a key role in transforming social relationships and the pace of monument construction. This environmental transition may have spurred emigration from Cahokia and surrounding farming communities. This raises the questions: What was the nature of environ…
Early Village Life in Southeastern Indiana: Recent Field Investigations at the Guard Site (12d29)
Investigations at the Guard site (12D29), located in Dearborn County, Indiana, have provided evidence pertaining to the development of early Fort Ancient villages. Recent geophysical survey and excavations alongside many new radiocarbon dates have allowed for improved understanding of household architecture and intrasite variability. Although some scholars have hypothesized that Middle Fort Ancient villages developed out of small early Fort Ancie…
Focusing on the Old Wood Problem: A Response to Hart and Nolan
Our recent paper demonstrated that radiocarbon assays sampled from wood charcoal were not systematically skewed when compared to non-wood samples from the same site. This suggests that the “old wood” problem may not be quite as problematic in the temperate Middle Ohio Valley as many suspect. In their comment, Hart and Nolan missed our broader point and mischaracterized our findings. Specifically, we did not suggest that our findings apply to the …
Toward More Continuous and Practical Artifact Analyses: Defining and Learning From Key Dimensions of Fort Ancient Triangular Projectile Points in the Miami Valleys
Artifact typologies are routinely created, debated, and modified, but too rarely is the goal to focus on small geographic regions and to define key axes of variation. Our goal is to further this practice by examining the utility of a long-standing artifact typology from the U.S. Midwest, one associated with discerning temporal changes in triangular projectile-point forms. Our samples are derived from nine well-dated Fort Ancient villages along th…
Evaluating the Old Wood Problem in a Temperate Climate: A Fort Ancient Case Study
Schiffer (1986) first identified the old wood problem for wood charcoal-based dates from archaeological contexts in the American Southwest. The potential for dates to be skewed toward excessively old calendar ages in this region has recently generated reticence in part of the archaeological community towards including wood charcoal dates in general. Some scholars have even begun to cleanse the radiocarbon databases of regions throughout North Ame…
Working With Wilmsen: Paleoindian End Scraper Design and use at Nobles Pond
This study is an investigation of tool design and the organization of work. Here we further test Wilmsen's (1970) conclusion that early Paleoindian tools-specifically, hafted end scrapers-were redesigned to facilitate the processing of a broader range of resources as colonizing populations moved into the forested environments of eastern North America from the west. We use a large sample from the Nobles Pond site, morphometic variables, and high-p…
Climate Change and Migration Along a Mississippian Periphery: A Fort Ancient Example
Archaeologists have long recognized an important relationship between climate change and the trajectory of the Mississippian polity at Cahokia, with twelfth- and thirteenth-century droughts playing a key role in transforming social relationships and the pace of monument construction. This environmental transition may have spurred emigration from Cahokia and surrounding farming communities. This raises the questions: What was the nature of environ…
Evaluating the Old Wood Problem in a Temperate Climate: A Fort Ancient Case Study
Schiffer (1986) first identified the old wood problem for wood charcoal-based dates from archaeological contexts in the American Southwest. The potential for dates to be skewed toward excessively old calendar ages in this region has recently generated reticence in part of the archaeological community towards including wood charcoal dates in general. Some scholars have even begun to cleanse the radiocarbon databases of regions throughout North Ame…
Working With Wilmsen: Paleoindian End Scraper Design and use at Nobles Pond
This study is an investigation of tool design and the organization of work. Here we further test Wilmsen's (1970) conclusion that early Paleoindian tools-specifically, hafted end scrapers-were redesigned to facilitate the processing of a broader range of resources as colonizing populations moved into the forested environments of eastern North America from the west. We use a large sample from the Nobles Pond site, morphometic variables, and high-p…
Early Village Life in Southeastern Indiana: Recent Field Investigations at the Guard Site (12d29)
Investigations at the Guard site (12D29), located in Dearborn County, Indiana, have provided evidence pertaining to the development of early Fort Ancient villages. Recent geophysical survey and excavations alongside many new radiocarbon dates have allowed for improved understanding of household architecture and intrasite variability. Although some scholars have hypothesized that Middle Fort Ancient villages developed out of small early Fort Ancie…
Following the Mississippian Spread: Climate Change and Migration in the Eastern US (ca. AD 1000-1600)
Toward More Continuous and Practical Artifact Analyses: Defining and Learning From Key Dimensions of Fort Ancient Triangular Projectile Points in the Miami Valleys
Artifact typologies are routinely created, debated, and modified, but too rarely is the goal to focus on small geographic regions and to define key axes of variation. Our goal is to further this practice by examining the utility of a long-standing artifact typology from the U.S. Midwest, one associated with discerning temporal changes in triangular projectile-point forms. Our samples are derived from nine well-dated Fort Ancient villages along th…
Contextualizing Mississippian Migration in Early Fort Ancient Villages
The transition to sedentary village life and maize agriculture was an important turning point in the prehistory of the American midcontinent. This article presents the results of excavations at the Turpin site, one of the earliest agricultural villages in the Middle Ohio Valley, located just east of Cincinnati, Ohio. Although earlier researchers suggested that Turpin was occupied later during the Fort Ancient period, our work confidently anchors …
Middle Ohio Valley Maize Histories: New Dates from the Crossroads of the Midcontinent
The transition to maize agriculture frames important cultural shifts in the Eastern Woodlands. However, the tempo and mode of this transition are unclear, particularly when analytical techniques are not standard across the region. In this article, we present evidence of directly dated maize macrobotanical fragments from the Turpin site in southwest Ohio that date between cal AD 552-649 and 684-994. These dates add to current dialogues on the spre…
Modeling Diachronic Changes in Site Location Preferences Related to an Agricultural Transition: A Middle Ohio Valley Case Study
This article explores changes in site location preferences that accompanied the shift to a maize-farming lifestyle in the Middle Ohio River valley. Criteria including distance between sites, distance to earthen mounds, distance to rivers, and soil types are documented for both Late Woodland and Fort Ancient sites in southwest Ohio. These data are incorporated into a multivariate model suggesting that, in addition to significant shifts in subsiste…
Working With Wilmsen: Paleoindian End Scraper Design and use at Nobles Pond
This study is an investigation of tool design and the organization of work. Here we further test Wilmsen's (1970) conclusion that early Paleoindian tools-specifically, hafted end scrapers-were redesigned to facilitate the processing of a broader range of resources as colonizing populations moved into the forested environments of eastern North America from the west. We use a large sample from the Nobles Pond site, morphometic variables, and high-p…
Toward More Continuous and Practical Artifact Analyses: Defining and Learning From Key Dimensions of Fort Ancient Triangular Projectile Points in the Miami Valleys
Artifact typologies are routinely created, debated, and modified, but too rarely is the goal to focus on small geographic regions and to define key axes of variation. Our goal is to further this practice by examining the utility of a long-standing artifact typology from the U.S. Midwest, one associated with discerning temporal changes in triangular projectile-point forms. Our samples are derived from nine well-dated Fort Ancient villages along th…
Evaluating the Old Wood Problem in a Temperate Climate: A Fort Ancient Case Study
Schiffer (1986) first identified the old wood problem for wood charcoal-based dates from archaeological contexts in the American Southwest. The potential for dates to be skewed toward excessively old calendar ages in this region has recently generated reticence in part of the archaeological community towards including wood charcoal dates in general. Some scholars have even begun to cleanse the radiocarbon databases of regions throughout North Ame…
Early Village Life in Southeastern Indiana: Recent Field Investigations at the Guard Site (12d29)
Investigations at the Guard site (12D29), located in Dearborn County, Indiana, have provided evidence pertaining to the development of early Fort Ancient villages. Recent geophysical survey and excavations alongside many new radiocarbon dates have allowed for improved understanding of household architecture and intrasite variability. Although some scholars have hypothesized that Middle Fort Ancient villages developed out of small early Fort Ancie…
Focusing on the Old Wood Problem: A Response to Hart and Nolan
Our recent paper demonstrated that radiocarbon assays sampled from wood charcoal were not systematically skewed when compared to non-wood samples from the same site. This suggests that the “old wood” problem may not be quite as problematic in the temperate Middle Ohio Valley as many suspect. In their comment, Hart and Nolan missed our broader point and mischaracterized our findings. Specifically, we did not suggest that our findings apply to the …
Climate Change and Migration Along a Mississippian Periphery: A Fort Ancient Example
Archaeologists have long recognized an important relationship between climate change and the trajectory of the Mississippian polity at Cahokia, with twelfth- and thirteenth-century droughts playing a key role in transforming social relationships and the pace of monument construction. This environmental transition may have spurred emigration from Cahokia and surrounding farming communities. This raises the questions: What was the nature of environ…
Contextualizing Mississippian Migration in Early Fort Ancient Villages
The transition to sedentary village life and maize agriculture was an important turning point in the prehistory of the American midcontinent. This article presents the results of excavations at the Turpin site, one of the earliest agricultural villages in the Middle Ohio Valley, located just east of Cincinnati, Ohio. Although earlier researchers suggested that Turpin was occupied later during the Fort Ancient period, our work confidently anchors …
Modeling Diachronic Changes in Site Location Preferences Related to an Agricultural Transition: A Middle Ohio Valley Case Study
This article explores changes in site location preferences that accompanied the shift to a maize-farming lifestyle in the Middle Ohio River valley. Criteria including distance between sites, distance to earthen mounds, distance to rivers, and soil types are documented for both Late Woodland and Fort Ancient sites in southwest Ohio. These data are incorporated into a multivariate model suggesting that, in addition to significant shifts in subsiste…
Following the Mississippian Spread: Climate Change and Migration in the Eastern US (ca. AD 1000-1600)
Middle Ohio Valley Maize Histories: New Dates from the Crossroads of the Midcontinent
The transition to maize agriculture frames important cultural shifts in the Eastern Woodlands. However, the tempo and mode of this transition are unclear, particularly when analytical techniques are not standard across the region. In this article, we present evidence of directly dated maize macrobotanical fragments from the Turpin site in southwest Ohio that date between cal AD 552-649 and 684-994. These dates add to current dialogues on the spre…
Exploring Hopewell Pyro Engineering: Experimental Replication of the “Pit and Tunnel” Features from the Turner Site (33HA26) in Southwest Ohio
The peoples referred to by archaeologists as “Hopewell” were expert artisans and adept engineers who created vast culturally modified landscapes. One of the most intriguing Hopewell sites is the Turner Earthwork Complex in southwest Ohio. This complex included enclosures, embankments, and mounds. Excavations beneath one mound by Harvard University's Peabody Museum in the 1880s revealed a circle of 30 large features originally referred to as “Pits…
Reevaluating Ceramic Assemblages through Pottery Refit Analysis: A Fort Ancient Case Study from Southwest Ohio
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (11 works) · Archaeology (10 works) · Geography (10 works) · History (6 works) · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies (5 works) · History (5 works) · Archaeology and Natural History (4 works) · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies (4 works) · Ecology (4 works) · Ecology (4 works)