G. William Monaghan

Wetlands and emergent horticultural economies in the upper great lakes: A new perspective from the Schultz site

The Schultz site (20SA2) is a benchmark site for understanding the Woodland adaptations of the Upper Great Lakes, although its older excavation data is not comparable with recent Eastern Woodlands research, which consistently uses fine-grained recovery techniques. The 1991 Schultz-site research collected supplementary and upgraded subsistence and environmental data to address questions about regional transformations from hunting and gathering to horticulture. In addition, questions regarding the role of aquatic and wetland resources, and how environmental change affected the availability and productivity of these alternative resources, were addressed. Results of faunal, floral, and geoarchaeological research reveal that Woodland economies in the Saginaw region of the Upper Great Lakes were keyed to environmental changes affecting wetland availability and productivity. The Early Woodland presence of cucurbits does not appear economically important until later when it is combined with more reliable supplementary food sources. Although chenopod is present during the Middle Woodland and early Late Woodland, wetland plant and animal resources act as surrogates for other starchy and oily seeded annuals common in other portions of the Midwest and in the Mid-South. Maize apparently does not achieve economic significance until the Late Woodland period. A model of this combined northern and southern strategy is developed.

Mound Construction Chronology at Angel Mounds Episodic Mound Construction and Ceremonial Events

Abstract Mound F was the second-largest platform mound at Angel Mounds (12Vg1), a Mississippian town in southwestern Indiana. It consisted of a simple truncated pyramid shape, but excavations in 1939–1942 and 1964–1965 revealed at least two platforms that once contained buildings buried within it. Each of these mounds and buildings were successively larger than the preceding. The first platform mound (informally known as the inner mound) was <1 m high and include at least two buildings. Thatch from one building yielded a 14C age of 900 B.P. Other 14C ages indicated that the inner mound was buried ca. 750 B.P. when a second ca. 2 m high platform (informally known as the primary mound) was built. Features and structural elements from a large, multichambered building on this surface yield 14C ages between 680 and 530 B.P. A final ca. 3–4 m mound (informally known as the secondary mound) was built over the Primary Mound soon after 530 B.P. No building was found on the secondary mound’s upper platform. Compared to other earthworks at Angel Mounds, the building on the inner mound platform is among the earliest recorded. It also corresponds with the initial construction of Mound A, which implies that earthwork construction was among the first community tasks undertaken after the site was founded. Unlike Mound A, the vast majority of which was constructed during one episode, Mound F indicates multiple construction and use phases. Each of these probably reflected a significant ceremonial or community event, the final of which may have been part of a “ceremonial closing” of the site.

The Timing of Angel Mounds Palisade Construction A Search for the Best Chronological Model

Abstract Angel Mounds was a heavily fortified Mississippian settlement with several discrete palisades. Although the palisades were identified early on, the construction sequence has remained elusive because the construction episodes do not have stratigraphic relationships with one another. Recent work at the site reexamined old test excavations and collected new material for radiocarbon dating. AMS dating yielded a suite of new dates from palisade contexts. To refine the construction sequence, five Bayesian chronological models were constructed for palisade building. These models indicate that palisades were first built at Angel Mounds sometime between A.D. 1278 and A.D. 1410, which precedes or coincides with regional depopulation in the lower Ohio River valley. These results further indicate that palisade building at Angel Mounds may be a consequence of external competition and conflict caused by resource-induced stress resulting from deteriorating climatic conditions.

Differential temporal and spatial preservation of archaeological sites in a great lakes coastal zone

Abstract Analysis of regional site taphonomy that incorporates depositional and postdepositional histories has become increasingly important in understanding the nature of preserved site populations and the strategies necessary for their discovery. We applied a systematic archival and field strategy directed at understanding such taphonomic processes in the coastal sand dunes of the northern and eastern Lake Michigan basin, and coupled these with a tactically directed program of OSL, 14C, and AMS dating. We demonstrate that long-term geological processes including lake level variation, episodic dune activation and stabilization, and the long-term effects of postglacial isostatic adjustments have markedly affected the potential for preservation of sites in coastal dune contexts over time and across subregions of the basin. Preservation potential for different time periods in coastal dunes is largely not synchronous with that of southern Michigan floodplains, posing substantial inferential problems. The archaeology of coastal dunes specifically, and coastal zones generally, must be used with extreme caution when cast against archaeological data from landforms with different formation processes and histories. While particularly true for the Great Lakes region, these results have implications for regional research broadly.