Orange County NC Website
tends to follow gentler slopes with rolling elevations ranging from about 490 to 590 ft <br /> above Mean Sea Level. <br /> The soils in this region are generally formed from materials resulting from <br /> weathering slate (Dunn 1977 : 4) . These soils include the Georgeville-Herndon- Tatum <br /> association, mostly found along the western half of the corridor. Dunn describes these <br /> soils as "Gently sloping to moderately steep , well drained soils that have a surface layer <br /> of silt loam and a subsoil of clay loam, silty clay loam, silty clay, and clay , on uplands" <br /> (Dunn 1977 : General Soil Map after p . 94, see also p . 5 ) . Lands closer to the Eno River <br /> tend to be part of the Tatum- Goldston association described as "Sloping to steep, well <br /> drained soils that have a surface layer of silt loam and slaty silt loam and a subsoil of silty <br /> clay, silty clay loam, and slaty silt loam; on uplands " (Dunn 1977 : General Soil Map after <br /> p . 94 , see also p . 5 ) . The remaining soils, north and east of the Eno River, tend to fall <br /> within the Georgeville-Herndon association of "Gently sloping to moderately steep , well <br /> drained soils that have a surface layer of silt loam and a subsoil of clay loam, silty clay <br /> loam, silty clay and clay; on uplands (Dunn 1977 : General Soil Map after p . 94 , see also <br /> PP • 4 - 5) • <br /> This region is composed of metasedimentary and metavolca.ruc rocks (e . g. , <br /> andesitic- dacitic tuffs) and lithics falling within the Mafic igneous complex (Wilson and <br /> Carpenter 1975 : Plate 1 ) . It also contains a wide variety of minerals . The region was <br /> mined historically . A crushed stone mine and a copper mine are listed as inactive mines <br /> in the 1970s . The copper mine was located north of St . Mary ' s Road, east of Pleasant <br /> Green Road . The crushed stone mining operations were located south of St . Mary ' s in <br /> the same vicinity, south and west of Buckwater Creek Wilson and Y ( Carpenter 1975 : Plate <br /> 3 ) . <br /> Historically the project area would have been covered in a mixture of hardwood <br /> forest ( e . g . , oaks , poplars, hickory, sweetgum, maple, beech, ash) and pine (e . g . , loblolly) <br /> (Hargrove 1982 : 4) . These forests would have provided a rich resource base for animals <br /> such as deer, beaver, .mink, rabbit, turkey, quail, opossum, raccoon, and even bison. <br /> Predators such as wolves, bobcat, bear, and mountain lions would have hunted these <br /> animals . Waterfowl and other birds, such as the passenger pigeon, would have also <br /> inhabited the region (Hargrove 1982 : 4 after Dunn 1977 ; Shelford 19749 Lawson in Lefler <br /> 1967) . This rich habitat also provided a fine resource base for human beings throughout <br /> much of the historic period . <br /> Prehistoric Overview <br /> Archaeologists have identified a series of general prehistoric cultural periods <br /> based on distinctions in material culture, site distribution patterns , and concomitant <br /> changes , in the cultural spheres of technology, economy, belief structures , and social <br /> organization. These cultural periods are discussed below. <br /> Paleo - Indian Period- <br /> At the end of the Pleistocene and beginning of the Holocene , the cool and dry <br /> climate and associated boreal tundra and spruce/pine forest was replaced by a cooler and <br /> wet environment with an associated deciduous forest cover (Anderson and O ' Steen <br /> 1992403 ; Daniel 1994 : 6 ; Goodyear et. al . 1989 : 19-23 ) . Early native groups would have <br /> adapted to these changing environmental conditions . The earliest recorded human <br /> 4 <br />