Floodplain Agriculture in the Driftless Area: A Reply to Overstreet

Comments offered by Overstreet are based on a misunderstanding of the physiographic setting of the Sand Lake site and selective reading of the data. The Sand Lake ridged fields are situated in a floodplain in the Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin, a setting very different from that of upland ridged fields in glaciated eastern Wisconsin. Overstreet attempts to refute interpretations that we have already revised significantly. Current interpretations of the floodplain ridges suggest that, although surface drainage of the fields was probably not their primary function, periodic internal drainage of the soil would have been important.