The data recovered from the Phase 3 investigation of the Denton Reed II site provided researchers with sufficient information to interpret precontact chronology, lithic technology, site function, landuse, and regional settlement patterns, as well as providing an environmental and functional context for a wider sample of hunter-gatherer sites and components within the Susquehanna-Unadilla confluence region.
A clustering analysis using a sample of precontact sites and components around the Denton Reed II site was used to classify site types and functions for the Susquehanna-Unadilla confluence region. Consistent with earlier work by Versaggi (1987), the analysis identified four site types for hunter-gatherer occupations within the region, including base camps, large camps, small camps, and processing stations. The Denton Reed II site was classified as a general resource processing location, but likely contains a number of smaller processing locales from a variety of time periods. The Denton Reed II site was characterized as an expedient lithic reduction resource processing location. Expedient reduction is used to produce flakes and debitage as simple cutting or scraping tools for an immediate activity, with little regard for future use.
A variety of GIS layers were used to make some preliminary interpretations about the Denton Reed II site, as well other sites/components around the larger Wells Bridge moraine. As a resource processing locale, Denton Reed II was likely associated with several periods of ephemeral landuse across the moraine. The predicted site catchment or foraging zone encompassed an area of less than 1.0 km2 across the moraine terrace, with no overlap with any wetlands, poorly-drained (and therefore potential wetland) soils, or with the margins of the Susquehanna River. This suggests that neither wetland nor riverine resources were the main focus for the inhabitants of the Denton Reed II site. Rather, the site catchment trended directionally northwest toward the moraine terraces flanking the valley walls. The terraces and valley walls may have provided productive hunting grounds, as indicated by the numerous projectile points found at the site. Used flakes and unused flakes recovered at the site suggest that other resources were also processed on the moraine.
