Heaven's Half Acre (archaeological site)
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The Heaven's Half Acre complex is a concentration of Paleoindian sites situated on a series of Pleistocene terraces overlooking a sinkhole in northeastern Colbert County, Alabama, near the town of Leighton.[1] Over one hundred and fifty fluted points have been recovered on these sites, making it one of the most dense fluted point localities in North America.[2][3][4][5]
The complex was discovered by Horace Holland of Leighton, Alabama,[6] a teacher at Colbert County High School and member of the Alabama Archaeological Society, who was interested in Alabama prehistory and often took his students on field trips to collect artifacts.[7] The site Holland discovered is designated as Alabama State Site 1Ct161, and is located in the approximate center of the complex on an eroded knoll descending into the sinkhole.
The remaining twenty or so fluted point sites are located on an undulating series of small natural mounds surrounding this large karstic pond.[1] The knolls vary in elevation from 550 feet 580 feet AMSL, and most of these spots would have been in view of one another through during the Pleistocene Period. A thousand meters or so in all directions, the land rises gently back to the valley floor, enclosing the sites in a karstic basin.[1] Since Holland's discovery, professional and avocational archaeologists have been aware of the occurrence of Clovis and Cumberland fluted points in abundance within this complex, and almost every high spot within the locale exhibits evidence of culture.[8]