William A. Lovis

Quarter Sections and Forests: An Example of Probability Sampling in the Northeastern Woodlands

Problems involved in the application of probability sampling strategies to woodland environments are discussed and illustrated by example. The results of the sample and the field tactics employed in its implementation are appraised. Some directions for the development of specialized field tactics in woodland environments, including the reduction of transect intervals, the use of test-pitting, and the generation of explicit means for survey strategy alteration, are suggested.

Long-distance logistic mobility as an organizing principle among northern hunter-gatherers : A great lakes middle holocene settlement system

Concepts of residential and logistic mobility are applied to survey assemblages from multiple decades of research along the interior drainages of central lower Michigan. Drawing on the ethnographic record of boreal hunter-gatherers and archaeological interpretations of long-distance logistic mobility from the Mesolithic of northern England and continental Europe, it is argued that the importance of logistic mobility is underrepresented in summaries of northern hemisphere hunter-gatherers. Reconstruction of Middle Holocene environments suggests that the resource structure of the central Michigan uplands was one that fostered use of logistic mobility, and that interior Middle Archaic assemblages and site structures reveal special function activities systemically tied to residential and other special function sites at lower coastal elevations, as well as currently submerged under Lake Huron. We conclude that rising levels of Lake Huron ca. 4500 B.P. resulted in decreased land area, population packing, and a consequent shift to residential mobility by the Late Archaic. Further, the results of this analysis can serve as a comparative framework for recognizing the role of logistic mobility in the evolution of hunter-gatherer adaptive strategies in other regions.

Curatorial Considerations for Systematic Research Collections: AMS Dating a Curated Ceramic Assemblage

The needs of new analytic techniques that may be depleting or destructive, or which have requirements that may be at odds with other approaches, place new and different demands on curated archaeological research collections. Curatorial approaches and attitudes need to accomodate such changes in research environment and be aware of both the potentials of curated collections as well possible conflicts. A pilot study employing AMS dating of adhering residues on a curated ceramic collection is used to illustrate curatorial concerns and decisions associated with the use of modern techniques. It is argued that continued use of such collections is important, and that management decisions must keep pace with technological innovations.

THE FRESHWATER RESERVOIR AND RADIOCARBON DATES ON COOKING RESIDUES: OLD APPARENT AGES OR A SINGLE OUTLIER? COMMENTS ON FISCHER AND HEINEMEIER (2003)

Fischer and Heinemeier (2003) present a hypothesis that the freshwater reservoir effect produces old apparent ages for radiocarbon dates run on charred cooking residues in regions where fossil carbon is present in groundwater. The hypothesis is based in part on their analysis of dates on charred cooking residues from 3 inland archaeological sites in Denmark in relation to contextual dates from those sites on other materials. A critical assessment of the dates from these sites suggests that rather than a pattern of old apparent dates, there is a single outlying datenot sufficient evidence on which to build a case for the freshwater reservoir effect.

A Multi-regional Analysis of AMS and Radiometric Dates from Carbonized Food Residues

Abstract Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is increasingly employed to date encrusted carbonized food residues on prehistoric pottery sherds, particularly in regions where other datable material is absent or scarce, or where such materials lack good association with objects of chronological interest. The accuracy of AMS dating of residues has recently been questioned in Europe and North America, with skepticism directly or indirectly attributed to the presence of carbonate rich bedrock, a freshwater carbonate reservoir resulting from association with such bedrock, or the cooking of aquatic resources such as mollusk or fish engaged in the uptake of older carbonates. It is argued that carbonized food residues from such contexts or resources are expected to display older apparent ages than dates on other materials. We evaluate this proposition through hypotheses assessing the accuracy and internal consistency of a broad range of data from the northeastern and midwestern United States. We statistically assess dates from 25 site components where either both dates on residue and context dates on other materials have been obtained. Of the 70 dates on residue tested, only 5.7 percent are considered inconsistent with their respective context dates. We also test for consistency 46 dates on residues from 14 site components lacking context dates. Of these, only 4.5 percent are considered internally inconsistent with expectations at the site or regional level. At present, we conclude that AMS dating of residues provides results consistent with those of other datable materials.

Lithic raw material sourcing and the assessment of Mesolithic landscape organization and mobility strategies in northern England

Analysis of the early evolution of cultural landscapes, particularly the regional organization of space by mobile hunter-gatherers, is often hampered by a lack of overt landscape marking and modification and/or a lack of sufficient biological material with which to assess regional affinity. This situation places a premium on the accurate sourcing of durable materials, such as stone for tool manufacture (commonly employed as proxy measures of space utilization), and including resource procurement, control, and movement. In an effort to understand the Mesolithic (10 000—5500 BP) organization of space in northern England, we undertake studies on black cherts, employing LA-ICP-MS, an efficient and minimally destructive geochemical technique. Comparisons between primary sources of black cherts, and archaeologically derived chert artefacts, from the site of Lismore Fields in Derbyshire, reveals that systematic application of this approach allows both the chemical differentiation of sources and an understanding of the chemical relationship between archaeological samples and specific analysed sources. These results are consistent with results of earlier studies employing different analytic methods and allow the partial testing of two alternative models of Mesolithic landscape organization in the region. We conclude that the use of LA-ICP-MS is a useful method to employ for chemical characterization of sources and results reinforce an interpretation of regional Mesolithic landscape organization being framed around east—west trending, upland-coastal transects consistent with natural drainage features.

Modeling freshwater reservoir offsets on radiocarbon-dated charred cooking residues

Abstract Obtaining radiocarbon assays on objects of chronological interest is always preferable to obtaining assays on spatially associated charcoal. The development of Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (AMS) dating has expanded the number of objects that can be directly assayed because it requires only a few milligrams of material. Pottery can be directly assayed when charred cooking residues adhering to the interior walls are present. The accuracy of AMS ages derived from residues has been questioned in cases where cooking freshwater aquatic organisms may have introduced carbon from ancient carbon reservoirs into residues. Here we provide analytic protocols for examination of this phenomenon and the results of systematic modeling of age estimates on residues formed from fish and maize with varying percentages of dead carbon. We present a regional case study using a large series of AMS age estimates on residues from the Finger Lakes region of northeastern United States to demonstrate how the paleolimnological record and lipid analysis of residues can help to determine if dates on residues from a given region are likely to have been affected by the presence of ancient carbon. In the case of the Finger Lakes, there is no evidence that ancient carbon affected the age estimates.

The potential of bulk δ13C on encrusted cooking residues as independent evidence for regional maize histories

Abstract The histories of maize utilization in eastern North America have been substantially revised recently, primarily because of the analysis of charred cooking residues encrusted on pottery. A multifaceted research strategy of bulk δ13C assays coupled with accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon data and microbotanical evidence can yield coherent regional maize use histories. Bulk δ13 C assay interpretation complications include (1) variations among vessels by site, (2) a potential for false negatives, and (3) a wide range of variation potentially present for any given time period. Regional histories using this approach can be quite variable without appropriate use of multiple lines of evidence.

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.

Before Removal: An Archaeological Perspective on the Southern Lake Michigan Basin

Abstract More than 12,000 years of cultural adaptation and change in the southwestern Great Lakes preceded the period of Removal that is the focus of this volume. Strategies for economic risk management, patterns of group interaction, and dynamics of group identity in play during the Removal period were developed over the long expanse of prehistory and early history. In this paper we provide an overview of these cultural developments, and offer a deep-time perspective of traditional cultural patterns leading to the specific Removal period case studies presented.