In 1951, the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University and the St. Croix Museum Commission conducted a joint archaeological survey on St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. This survey was led by Gary Vescelius, who at that time was a student at Yale University. The ceramics recovered from these investigations were used to refine the island's prehistoric chronology and for a settlement pattern analysis. This article presents the results of Vescelius' 1951 survey of St. Croix and compares his settlement pattern analysis with the results of more recent investigations. A geographic information system was created and analysis with ArcGIS® Spatial Analyst software used elevation, soil type and slope for a path distance (or least cost path) analysis. Second, the Vescelius ceramic collections, housed at the Yale Peabody Museum, were inventoried and studied. As a result, a better understanding of the island's prehistory, the potential roles of prehistoric Crucian settlements in inter-island interaction spheres, and the actions and behaviors involved in processes of settlement and social organizational change has been gained.
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1 April 2009
The St. Croix Archaeology Project and the Vescelius Collection: A Reexamination
Meredith D. Hardy
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ceramic style
Geographic Information Systems
networks
settlement patterns
St. Croix