Great info & thanks for your efforts..I'm in N. I'll. which was settled much later however still had to have activity around where I'm focusing ..Every bit of knowledge helps.
See the lower great lake shore above you?
Now point left and right below it. That major trail saw lots of feet.
Now look foe travel routes below it.
Riverine or terrain features.
Would you like water , lush summer growth and life (things to eat) along a water route and the opportunity to dunk yourself if for some reason you were out in the hottest part of the day in summer ; or would you rather walk a prairie in dry hot weather?
Winter will arrive too. That great lake shore with a North wind not so inviting then. Let us get inland farther. And the right river valley will let some of that wind go above us.
Why a fork in a river? Or where a creek enters a river? Two waters that were not two waters a little ways away. Ask yourself that while you stand at such a place after doing some research. Most maps will help.
Which one tells you if you can stand on site today though?
We've done a pretty good job of covering up or at least claiming such prime sites. Development sucks soimetimes.
Be patient. What you're after is at a certain depth of time to start that can be measured by a given sites soil depth relics are in.( A given era's layer .)
That will change by site.
And if you get along banks that erode in spring or flood ect those layers can get exposed.
When a sites era you seek is deep , what are you going to do?
I recovered a foothold trap out of a bank that annual spring flooding had about three foot of sediment above. It's last year of manufacture around 1920.
Same river has native mounds I stay clear of. But how deep are relics where that trap came out? L.o.l..
And I've studied more than one gravel bar in that areas river too....
Trails. Natural traffic funnels. Terrain features.
Riverine lower ground. That of course means a contrast of higher ground beyond including vantage points. Some were task related.
Where would you spend a night? A week?
Can't see what was there then. Even some creeks move. The oldest wandering all over compared to the newest in a hurry almost straight routes.
But vantages were and are vantages for a reason.
Try to find some undisturbed.
No luck?
Carry a good weight wool blanket next time.
With proper precautions in the right conditions , have a small fire you are sure is dead before you leave. Cook something. Ponder if your vantage makes sense to keep an eye behind and in front of you and along and on the water. How far?
