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2012 The Benefit of the Gift: Exchange, Ritual, and Emergent Regional Systems in the Late Archaic Western Great Lakes.
International Monographs in Prehistory. Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Abstract:
Foraging societies with low population densities would seem an unlikely context in which to find extensive, continental scale, exchange systems featuring formal and standardized methods and materials of interaction. Yet, in the Late Archaic of the North American Midcontinent, this situation unfolds. How does formalized exchange function in such dispersed, small scale foraging societies? How does it help to create larger social entities and increasing sociopolitical complexity? How do such systems develop, what do they do, and why? In this study, a synthesis of anthropological theory on exchange and evolutionary theory of cooperative behavior is developed to produce a model of exchange with several testable predictions. These predictions include that differential access to exchange benefits will exist within and between communities, that exchange is inherently risky to participants and their communities, the frequency and scale of exchange will increase as trust is established and validated, exchange of material goods creates opportunities and incentives for social change, and conflict between communities is expected when trust is lost or undermined. These are then examined through a methodologically diverse set of studies involving analysis of lithic and copper artifacts to examine changes affecting Late Archaic societies in the western Great Lakes between 4000 and 2000 years ago. Data from the Late Archaic Riverside site, Middle Archaic Reigh site, and sites of the Late Archaic Burnt Rollways phase are examined to understand the production and movement of copper and lithic exchange materials, access to and benefits from exchange networks, and social changes accompanying the development of such systems of interaction. This study demonstrates that the Burnt Rollways phase is socially distinct from, and not interacting with, their downstream neighbors at Reigh and Riverside, while Riverside is engaged in a formal system of interaction and ritual with communities as distant as the lower Ohio River valley. As a consequence of this interaction network, Riverside exhibits differential access to benefits, standardization and ritualization of materials of interaction including formalized bifaces of Wyandotte chert and copper beads, intensification of exchange through time, significant social changes emphasizing the growing importance of women and children, and conflict.
Selected Articles
2012 Tracing Social Interaction: Perspectives on Archaic Copper Exchange from the Upper Great Lakes. American Antiquity 77(2):279-292.
Abstract:
Compositional analysis of copper is used to explore interaction between the Late Archaic occupants of the Northern Lakes region and their contemporaries in eastern and east-central Wisconsin. Copper artifacts from Burnt Rollways phase sites in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula are compared with the Middle Archaic Reigh and Late Archaic Riverside sites. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis of copper demonstrates differential acquisition of resources between Burnt Rollways and their contemporaries and suggests barriers to social interaction between the
Northern Lakes and societies in the Lake Winnebago and western Lake Michigan regions.
2011 New Dates for Old Copper: Contemporaneity in the Archaic Western Great Lakes. The Wisconsin Archeologist 92(2):85-92
Abstract:
Recent research with the collections from the Middle Archaic Reigh cemetery and the Late Archaic Burnt Rollways site in Wisconsin found datable materials in the form of charcoal and wood. AMS dating of these samples has produced three new dates, including a date of 4490 ± 40 B.P. for Burial 26 at Reigh, a date of 2280 ± 40 B.P. for the Burnt Rollways phase component at the Burnt Rollways type site, and a date of 1540 ± 40 B.P. that is thought to correspond with a sparse Nokomis component at Burnt Rollways. Analysis of these new dates and several other dates now available for the Reigh site, Burnt Rollways phase sites, and the Late Archaic Riverside cemetery show that the Late Archaic Burnt Rollways phase begins concurrent with the final use of the Reigh cemetery, and that Burnt Rollways is then partially contemporary with the Late Archaic use of the Riverside cemetery.
2006 The Duck Lake Site and Implications for Late Archaic Copper Procurement and Production in the Southern Lake Superior Basin. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 31(2):213-248
Abstract:
Few sites relating to Archaic procurement of copper have been archaeologically investigated in the southern part of the Lake Superior basin. The Duck Lake site, located in the Ontonagon River watershed of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, is within the source area for native copper. Investigations at this site reveal a field camp consisting of one or more occupations by Late Archaic groups. Lithic analysis demonstrates a strong reliance on non-local raw materials, and suggests a degree of residential mobility within a region known to the occupants. Lithic material was obtained through embedded procurement and exchange with more distant groups. Copper likely entered the early Late Archaic exchange system in the Midwest through frequent interactions and trade between groups, and appears consistent with a down-the-line model of exchange.
1995 The Timid Mink Site: A Middle Woodland Domestic Structure in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Wisconsin Archeologist 76(3-4):338-364.
Abstract:
The Timid Mink site is a multi-component seasonal camp located in Michigan's western Upper Peninsula. Excavations conducted by the Ottawa National Forest staff have revealed evidence of a small Late Woodland component with associated triangular unnotched projectile points, and a larger Middle Woodland component which contains a domestic structure associated with North Bay ceramics. The house structure was revealed by the distribution of a ringlike midden and the identification of five post molds. The house feature measures approximately 4.7 m by 2.6 m in size, and appears t represent a single family bent-pole structure similar to the historic Ojibwa "waginogan." The midden feature is thought to have resulted from a low earthen berm and organic detritus that encircled this structure, and it is argued that several large natural rocks associated with the house feature were used for structural purposes.
1994 Ottawa North and Alligator Eye: Two Late Archaic Sites on the Ottawa National Forest. Ottawa National Forest Cultural Resources Management Series No. 6. Ironwood, Michigan.
Abstract:
The Alligator eye and Ottawa North sites were investigated in the summer of 1990 by Ottawa National Forest staff and volunteers in the Passport in Time public archaeology program. Both sites date to the Late Archaic period and are tentatively assigned to the Burnt Rollways Phase. Alligator Eye is a small quartz quarry that produced radiocarbon dates of 3640 ± 150 BP and 3490 ± 110 BP. The Ottawa North site is a small short-term camp that has been radiocarbon dated to 3320 ± 220 BP. Investigations at these sites, when combined with survey level data, suggest that the Late Archaic period occupation of Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula was characterized by mobile microbands employing a diffuse economic strategy. It is suggested that the western Upper Peninsula comprised only the warm-season portion of a Late Archaic period settlement system, and that populations moved between warm-season dispersed occupation of the northern Canadian biotic province and winter occupation of the Carolinian biotic province to the south. Technological attributes suggest that populations are beginning to adapt to the western Upper Peninsula’s local resources, specifically to the use of quartz and copper, during the Late Archaic period.
2012 The Benefit of the Gift: Exchange, Ritual, and Emergent Regional Systems in the Late Archaic Western Great Lakes.
International Monographs in Prehistory. Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Abstract:
Foraging societies with low population densities would seem an unlikely context in which to find extensive, continental scale, exchange systems featuring formal and standardized methods and materials of interaction. Yet, in the Late Archaic of the North American Midcontinent, this situation unfolds. How does formalized exchange function in such dispersed, small scale foraging societies? How does it help to create larger social entities and increasing sociopolitical complexity? How do such systems develop, what do they do, and why? In this study, a synthesis of anthropological theory on exchange and evolutionary theory of cooperative behavior is developed to produce a model of exchange with several testable predictions. These predictions include that differential access to exchange benefits will exist within and between communities, that exchange is inherently risky to participants and their communities, the frequency and scale of exchange will increase as trust is established and validated, exchange of material goods creates opportunities and incentives for social change, and conflict between communities is expected when trust is lost or undermined. These are then examined through a methodologically diverse set of studies involving analysis of lithic and copper artifacts to examine changes affecting Late Archaic societies in the western Great Lakes between 4000 and 2000 years ago. Data from the Late Archaic Riverside site, Middle Archaic Reigh site, and sites of the Late Archaic Burnt Rollways phase are examined to understand the production and movement of copper and lithic exchange materials, access to and benefits from exchange networks, and social changes accompanying the development of such systems of interaction. This study demonstrates that the Burnt Rollways phase is socially distinct from, and not interacting with, their downstream neighbors at Reigh and Riverside, while Riverside is engaged in a formal system of interaction and ritual with communities as distant as the lower Ohio River valley. As a consequence of this interaction network, Riverside exhibits differential access to benefits, standardization and ritualization of materials of interaction including formalized bifaces of Wyandotte chert and copper beads, intensification of exchange through time, significant social changes emphasizing the growing importance of women and children, and conflict.
Selected Articles
2012 Tracing Social Interaction: Perspectives on Archaic Copper Exchange from the Upper Great Lakes. American Antiquity 77(2):279-292.
Abstract:
Compositional analysis of copper is used to explore interaction between the Late Archaic occupants of the Northern Lakes region and their contemporaries in eastern and east-central Wisconsin. Copper artifacts from Burnt Rollways phase sites in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula are compared with the Middle Archaic Reigh and Late Archaic Riverside sites. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis of copper demonstrates differential acquisition of resources between Burnt Rollways and their contemporaries and suggests barriers to social interaction between the
Northern Lakes and societies in the Lake Winnebago and western Lake Michigan regions.
2011 New Dates for Old Copper: Contemporaneity in the Archaic Western Great Lakes. The Wisconsin Archeologist 92(2):85-92
Abstract:
Recent research with the collections from the Middle Archaic Reigh cemetery and the Late Archaic Burnt Rollways site in Wisconsin found datable materials in the form of charcoal and wood. AMS dating of these samples has produced three new dates, including a date of 4490 ± 40 B.P. for Burial 26 at Reigh, a date of 2280 ± 40 B.P. for the Burnt Rollways phase component at the Burnt Rollways type site, and a date of 1540 ± 40 B.P. that is thought to correspond with a sparse Nokomis component at Burnt Rollways. Analysis of these new dates and several other dates now available for the Reigh site, Burnt Rollways phase sites, and the Late Archaic Riverside cemetery show that the Late Archaic Burnt Rollways phase begins concurrent with the final use of the Reigh cemetery, and that Burnt Rollways is then partially contemporary with the Late Archaic use of the Riverside cemetery.
2006 The Duck Lake Site and Implications for Late Archaic Copper Procurement and Production in the Southern Lake Superior Basin. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 31(2):213-248
Abstract:
Few sites relating to Archaic procurement of copper have been archaeologically investigated in the southern part of the Lake Superior basin. The Duck Lake site, located in the Ontonagon River watershed of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, is within the source area for native copper. Investigations at this site reveal a field camp consisting of one or more occupations by Late Archaic groups. Lithic analysis demonstrates a strong reliance on non-local raw materials, and suggests a degree of residential mobility within a region known to the occupants. Lithic material was obtained through embedded procurement and exchange with more distant groups. Copper likely entered the early Late Archaic exchange system in the Midwest through frequent interactions and trade between groups, and appears consistent with a down-the-line model of exchange.
1995 The Timid Mink Site: A Middle Woodland Domestic Structure in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Wisconsin Archeologist 76(3-4):338-364.
Abstract:
The Timid Mink site is a multi-component seasonal camp located in Michigan's western Upper Peninsula. Excavations conducted by the Ottawa National Forest staff have revealed evidence of a small Late Woodland component with associated triangular unnotched projectile points, and a larger Middle Woodland component which contains a domestic structure associated with North Bay ceramics. The house structure was revealed by the distribution of a ringlike midden and the identification of five post molds. The house feature measures approximately 4.7 m by 2.6 m in size, and appears t represent a single family bent-pole structure similar to the historic Ojibwa "waginogan." The midden feature is thought to have resulted from a low earthen berm and organic detritus that encircled this structure, and it is argued that several large natural rocks associated with the house feature were used for structural purposes.
1994 Ottawa North and Alligator Eye: Two Late Archaic Sites on the Ottawa National Forest. Ottawa National Forest Cultural Resources Management Series No. 6. Ironwood, Michigan.
Abstract:
The Alligator eye and Ottawa North sites were investigated in the summer of 1990 by Ottawa National Forest staff and volunteers in the Passport in Time public archaeology program. Both sites date to the Late Archaic period and are tentatively assigned to the Burnt Rollways Phase. Alligator Eye is a small quartz quarry that produced radiocarbon dates of 3640 ± 150 BP and 3490 ± 110 BP. The Ottawa North site is a small short-term camp that has been radiocarbon dated to 3320 ± 220 BP. Investigations at these sites, when combined with survey level data, suggest that the Late Archaic period occupation of Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula was characterized by mobile microbands employing a diffuse economic strategy. It is suggested that the western Upper Peninsula comprised only the warm-season portion of a Late Archaic period settlement system, and that populations moved between warm-season dispersed occupation of the northern Canadian biotic province and winter occupation of the Carolinian biotic province to the south. Technological attributes suggest that populations are beginning to adapt to the western Upper Peninsula’s local resources, specifically to the use of quartz and copper, during the Late Archaic period.