Great Lakes Archaeology

2009 Life Along the Northern Shore: A Zooarchaeological Approach to Documenting Northbay Phase Seasonal Movements and Settlement Patterns. In The Wisconsin Archeologist 90(1/2): 101-111

by Ralph Koziarski

Intrasite Feature Analysis of the Crescent Bay Hunt Club Site

by Field Notes: A Journal of Collegiate Anthropology

By James Moss, published in Field Notes: A Journal of Collegiate Anthropology 2(1), 2010, pp. 69-82.

The Crescent Bay Hunt Club Site (47JE904) is a Developmental Oneota site located on Lake Koshkonong in southeast... more The Crescent Bay Hunt Club Site (47JE904) is a Developmental Oneota site located on Lake Koshkonong in southeast Wisconsin. This site was occupied circa A.D. 1200 to 1400. Feature remains representing two wigwam style structures and at least one post in trench longhouse structure have been excavated at the site. Using 20 calibrated radio carbon dates ranging from A.D. 1000 to 1500, a Geographic Information System (GIS) is employed to conduct an analysis of the two structure types. It is concluded that despite the range of dates, there is no reason to believe a diachronic pattern is exhibited.

Geological History and Paleoenvironment (at the Parkhill Site)

by Christopher J. Ellis

co-authored with Alan V. Morgan and John H. McAndrews, 2000. Chapter 2 in "An Early Paleoindian Site Near Parkhill, Ontario" by Christopher J. Ellis and D. Brian Deller, pp. 9-30. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec.

A Preliminary Report on Recent Excavations at the Finch Site (47JE0902) in Jefferson County, Wisconsin

by Richard Kubicek

By: Richard H. Kubicek, Nicholas J. Weber and Jennifer Haas

Paper read at the 2011 Midwest Archaeology Conference in La Crosse. In:
New Research in the Lake Koshkonong Region in Southeastern Wisconsin, organized by Seth A. Schneider (University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee) and Robert J. Jeske (University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee)

The Finch Site is a stratified, multi-component open air site with evidence for Late Paleo-Indian/Early Archaic,... more The Finch Site is a stratified, multi-component open air site with evidence for Late Paleo-Indian/Early Archaic, Middle Archaic, Late Archaic/Early Woodland, Middle Woodland/Hopewell, and Late Woodland activity. The site is located on the western and southern banks of Pritchard's Pond, approximately 1.8 kilometers east of Haights Bay on Lake Koshkonong. A twenty-five percent sample (1197.75 square meters) of the site within the State Highway 26 right-of-way was excavated by the Great Lakes Archaeological Research Center, Inc., during the 2001, 2009 and 2010 field seasons.  Laboratory analysis is currently in progress. This paper will outline preliminary results, highlighting the horizontal and vertical distribution of projectile points/knives. This project is sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration.

Paleoindians

by Christopher J. Ellis

Co-authroed with D. B. Deller, In The Archaeology of Southern Ontario to AD 1650, pages 37-63, edited by Chris J. Ellis and Neal Ferris. London Chapter OAS Occasional Paper No. 5, 1990.

Late-Paleoindian Archaeology at the Eaton Site, Western New York

by Kevin P. Smith

Final version published (2011) in Current Research in the Pleistocene 27: 142-145. Co-authored with William Engelbrecht and John D. Holland.

Excavations at the Eaton Site, a late-precontact Erie village in Erie County, NY, uncovered a large suite of pre-Late... more Excavations at the Eaton Site, a late-precontact Erie village in Erie County, NY, uncovered a large suite of pre-Late Woodland bifaces among which were a small suite of diagnostic Late Paleoindian projectile points. Three, referable to the Hi-Lo style, expand the previously known suite of such points from Western New York and are the first from excavated contexts. Three other points are attributable to the Holcombe type, first reported from southeastern Michigan and extremely uncommon in New York State. Morphologically, the Eaton Site Holcombe points fall within the classic Holcombe form, but metrically they intergrade with the recently defined Late Paleoindian Cormier-Nicholas type of New England, suggesting both continued interaction between the Lower Great Lakes and New England, ca. 10,000-10,200 bp, and increasing regional divergence among these Late Paleoindian populations.

Late Archaic Radiocarbon Dates from the Popper Site (FS 09-10-03 825/20AR350): A Multicomponent Site on Grand Island, Michigan

by Sean Dunham

Co-authored with John Anderton.  Published in "The Michigan Archaeologist" 45(1):1-22 (1999).

The Popper site (03-825/20AR350) is located on Grand Island, Michigan.  The site was discovered in 1990 and has... more The Popper site (03-825/20AR350) is located on Grand Island, Michigan.  The site was discovered in 1990 and has been the subject of small scale investigations on three occasions.  The site is multicomponent with prehistoric and historic occupations.  In 1994, test excavations at the site revealed three prehistoric hearth features.  Two of these have produced Late Archaic radiocarbon dates (ca. 4,200 BP).  The results of the 1994 test excavations are summarized and briefly discussed in relation to recent investigations of Late Archaic sites on the south shore of Lake Superior.

The Early and Middle Archaic in the Niagara Frontier: Documenting the "Missing Years" in Lower Great Lakes Prehistory (pt. 3)

by Kevin P. Smith

Co-authored with Neil O'Donnell and John D. Holland; published in Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences 36: 1-79 (1998)

The Early Holocene period remains the least understood segment of lower Great Lakes prehistory. This paper provides a... more The Early Holocene period remains the least understood segment of lower Great Lakes prehistory. This paper provides a descriptive and synthetic catalog of curated Early and Middle Archaic projectile points from the Niagara Frontier of western New York and adjacent Ontario, documents their diversity and diagnostic attributes, and discusses their distribution, frequency, and probable ages in the region. The number and variety of diagnostic Early Holocene artifacts identified in these collections suggest that past models of culture-history and cultural dynamics in the early post-glacial lower Great Lakes region need to be reconsidered.

An old chestnut, published 1998 in a very deeply hidden series and ignored either because it should be or because it's very hard to find. Admittedly this is a very old-school, cultural historical and normative exercise, but hopefully was a useful exercise to bring old collections, and some then-recent survey collections, out into the open and to rethink some ideas about 4000 years of poorly understood prehistory based upon those materials.

This is Part 3 of 3.

The Early and Middle Archaic in the Niagara Frontier: Documenting the "Missing Years" in Lower Great Lakes Prehistory (pt. 2)

by Kevin P. Smith

Co-authored with Neil O'Donnell and John D. Holland; published in Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences 36: 1-79 (1998)

The Early Holocene period remains the least understood segment of lower Great Lakes prehistory. This paper provides a... more The Early Holocene period remains the least understood segment of lower Great Lakes prehistory. This paper provides a descriptive and synthetic catalog of curated Early and Middle Archaic projectile points from the Niagara Frontier of western New York and adjacent Ontario, documents their diversity and diagnostic attributes, and discusses their distribution, frequency, and probable ages in the region. The number and variety of diagnostic Early Holocene artifacts identified in these collections suggest that past models of culture-history and cultural dynamics in the early post-glacial lower Great Lakes region need to be reconsidered.

An old chestnut, published 1998 in a very deeply hidden series and ignored either because it should be or because it's very hard to find. Admittedly this is a very old-school, cultural historical and normative exercise, but hopefully was a useful exercise to bring old collections, and some then-recent survey collections, out into the open and to rethink some ideas about 4000 years of poorly understood prehistory based upon those materials.

This is Part 2 of 3.

The Early and Middle Archaic in the Niagara Frontier: Documenting the "Missing Years" in Lower Great Lakes Prehistory (pt. 1)

by Kevin P. Smith

Co-authored with Neil O'Donnell and John D. Holland; published in Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences 36: 1-79 (1998)

The Early Holocene period remains the least understood segment of lower Great Lakes prehistory. This paper provides a... more The Early Holocene period remains the least understood segment of lower Great Lakes prehistory. This paper provides a descriptive and synthetic catalog of curated Early and Middle Archaic projectile points from the Niagara Frontier of western New York and adjacent Ontario, documents their diversity and diagnostic attributes, and discusses their distribution, frequency, and probable ages in the region. The number and variety of diagnostic Early Holocene artifacts identified in these collections suggest that past models of culture-history and cultural dynamics in the early post-glacial lower Great Lakes region need to be reconsidered.

An old chestnut, published 1998 in a very deeply hidden series and ignored either because it should be or because it's very hard to find. Admittedly this is a very old-school, cultural historical and normative exercise, but hopefully was a useful exercise to bring old collections, and some then-recent survey collections, out into the open and to rethink some ideas about 4000 years of poorly understood prehistory based upon those materials.

Cache Pits: Archaeology, Ethnohistory and Continuity of Tradition

by Sean Dunham

Published in "Interpretations of Native North American Life: Material Contributions to Ethnohistory," edited by M. Nassaney and E. Johnson, pp. 225-260. The Society for Historical Archaeology, University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

The cache pits at the Ne-con-ne-pe-wah-se site (20NE331) are noteworthy, as this class of features is a poorly... more The cache pits at the Ne-con-ne-pe-wah-se site (20NE331) are noteworthy, as this class of features is a poorly understood phenomenon in Michigan archaeology. The recovery of a wide range of botanical materials representing a variety of food and other cultural taxa is compelling testimony that the features tested at 20NE331 were used for the storage of dried nuts and fruits in the late nineteenth century. The Ne-con-ne-pe-wah-se site was formed as a result of the activities of nineteenth century Native American women and children. This observation was greatly clarified through the interpolation of ethnohistoric and archaeological data that provided a cultural context or model to illuminate the archaeological data. Without such cultural context, the site would simply represent a storage site and not a locale reflecting gendered space and activity.

The Woodland Period Occupation of Grand Island

by Sean Dunham

Co-authored with Eric Drake. Proof Copy, published in "Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology" 29(2):133-166 (2004)

The coastal waters surrounding Grand Island, Michigan represent one of the most productive fisheries located along the... more The coastal waters surrounding Grand Island, Michigan represent one of the most productive fisheries located along the southern shore of Lake Superior. Archaeological investigations of coastal settings like Grand Island have figured prominently in studies of Woodland period (ca. AD 0 – AD 1600) subsistence, settlement, and social integration in the Upper Great Lakes. The topic of Woodland subsistence and settlement is not without controversy regarding the timing of technological changes associated with the increased exploitation of the fall fishery. This article provides a summary of Woodland period archaeology on Grand Island with the goal of interpreting the data from within the framework of the Inland Shore Fishery debate. A multiscalar approach is used to look for differences between Initial and Terminal Woodland fishing strategies and address changes in the way Grand Island was socially and economically integrated into the broader context of Woodland period settlement and subsistence systems. The evidence suggests that while Grand Island was occupied and used in a similar manner throughout the Woodland period, the social and economic significance of the island may have changed with a shift in settlement toward greater access to deep water settings for the exploitation of fall-spawning fish.

Nuts About Acorns: A Pilot Study on Acorn Use in Woodland Period Subsistence in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan

by Sean Dunham

Published in the "The Wisconsin Archeologist" 90(1-2):113-129 (2009)

This paper examines the viability of acorns as a dietary staple for Woodland peoples in the eastern Upper Peninsula of... more This paper examines the viability of acorns as a dietary staple for Woodland peoples in the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The archaeological evidence for acorn use in the eastern UP is limited as a result of poor preservation of botanical remains. A variety of other evidence is reviewed to address this topic. These include regional archaeological data, ethnohistoric data, environmental data, and the results of experimental work concerning acorns as a food source. Based on these lines of evidence, acorns appear to be an excellent candidate for a seasonally abundant, storable starchy food resource.

Regards sur l'Hypothese de l'Origine In Situ des Iroquoiens

by Peter Ramsden

Published in Recherches Amerindiens au Quebec 22(4): 19-23.  1992

This was an invited comment on a then-ongoing debate between Norman Clermont and Dean Snow regarding the demographic... more This was an invited comment on a then-ongoing debate between Norman Clermont and Dean Snow regarding the demographic implications of in situ versus migration explanations of Iroquoian origins.