Unravelling identities on archaeological borderlands: Late Woodland Western Basin and Ontario Iroquoian Traditions in the Lower Great Lakes region

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-56
Author(s):  
Amy St. John ◽  
Neal Ferris
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Late Woodland ◽  
Great Lakes Region ◽  
Western Basin

Comments on “A Reconsideration of Aboriginal Fishing Strategies in the Northern Great Lakes Region” by Susan R. Martin

1989 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 605-609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles E. Cleland
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Fish Fauna ◽  
Late Woodland ◽  
Convincing Evidence ◽  
Great Lakes Region ◽  
Middle Woodland ◽  
Population Loss ◽  
Fishing Strategies ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Economic Specialization

Martin's suggestion that there is great continuity in subsistence strategy through the Middle and Late Woodland periods of the Northern Great Lakes is rejected. She fails to produce convincing evidence for the use of gill nets during Middle Woodland times and to account for the difference in fish fauna on sites of these two periods. Also addressed here is the possible consequence of economic specialization on population size and fluctuation. It is concluded that unlike Middle Woodland populations, those of the Late Woodland fluctuate rather dramatically. Finally, it is suggested that whatever the cause of the population loss and mechanisms of replacement, these shifts likely have important implications for periodicity in ceramic style change.

A Reconsideration of Aboriginal Fishing Strategies in the Northern Great Lakes Region

1989 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 594-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Rapalje Martin
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Late Woodland ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Great Lakes Region ◽  
Target Species ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Site Characteristics ◽  
Fishing Strategies ◽  
Prey Specificity

Aboriginal northern Great Lakes fishing strategies varied with season, target species, and organization of the labor force. The placement of Woodland archaeological sites complied with the structure of these fisheries, but their locations do not reflect prey specificity or one specialized technology. Rather, resource-general locations suggest an essential step in the process of specialization. Flexibility in settlement and social styles existed among prehistoric foragers of the midlatitudes, as did a variety of solutions to food-getting problems. Slow, accretional processes rather than temporally discrete growth processes were responsible for Late Woodland site characteristics in this region. Stable locational-selection patterns are visible through reexamination of the historical data base and through statistical analyses of environmental factors associated with sites at a number of Woodland localities.

Dating the Entry of Corn (Zea Mays) into the Lower Great Lakes Region

1997 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary W. Crawford ◽  
David G. Smith ◽  
Vandy E. Bowyer
Keyword(s):  
Zea Mays ◽  
Great Lakes ◽  
Mass Spectrometer ◽  
Late Woodland ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Great Lakes Region ◽  
Eastern Woodlands ◽  
Grand Banks ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometer ◽  
Ams Dates

Five accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) dates on corn (maize or Zea mays) from the Grand Banks site, Ontario, range from cal A.D. 540 to 1030. These are the earliest directly dated corn samples in the Lower Great Lakes region. The presence of corn during the Princess Point Complex, a transitional Late Woodland phase preceding the Ontario Iroquoian Tradition, is confirmed as is an early presence of the Princess Point culture in Ontario. Maize appears to have spread rapidly from the Southeast and/or Midwest to Ontario. The corn cupules and kernel remains are fragmentary, as they are elsewhere in the Eastern Woodlands during this period. The limited morphological data indicate that the corn is a diminutive form of Eastern Eight-Row, or Eastern Complex, maize.

Childhood Diet and Western Basin Tradition Foodways at the Krieger Site, Southwestern Ontario, Canada

2011 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 446-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Watts ◽  
Christine D. White ◽  
Fred J. Longstaffe
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Late Woodland ◽  
Great Lakes Region ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Dental Tissue ◽  
Western Basin ◽  
Subsistence Economy ◽  
Maize Production ◽  
Childhood Diet

In this article, we discuss new stable isotope data obtained from human dental tissue at the Krieger site, a Late Woodland Western Basin Tradition occupation from southwestern Ontario, Canada. These data point to significant maize consumption within an otherwise diffuse subsistence economy and settlement pattern geared toward the occupation of short-term campsites. The degree of maize consumption at Krieger implies the necessity for storage and year-round use. We suggest that maize horticultural practices during this time were as intensive as those suggested for contemporary and more sedentary Iroquoian groups to the east yet were accommodated without major changes to other aspects of the subsistence-settlement regime. Furthermore, the absence of a breastfeeding signal in the dental tissue not only implicates women in the role of maize production but might also imply demographic consequences. Accordingly, and with reference to comparative data, we suggest that notions of food production be recast and decoupled from the advent of sedentary lifeways in the lower Great Lakes region.

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