Geoarchaeological Modeling of Late Paleoindian Site Location in the Northwestern Great Lakes Region

ABSTRACT

Full-time occupation of recently deglaciated landscapes in the northwestern Great Lakes by late Paleoindian groups marks a key milestone in the colonization of the region, yet settlement-subsistence systems of these colonizing populations remains poorly understood. Here we apply geoarchaeological modeling and early Holocene environmental reconstruction to analyze environmental settings of known late Paleoindian sites in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Our results reveal significant settlement patterning associated with this early Holocene record, highlighting the spatial correlation between site locations and high ground adjacent to hilly terrain and inland lakes – prime locations for monitoring the movement of large game. The analysis highlights a core area with a high likelihood for undiscovered late Paleoindian sites in the northwest corner of Marquette County and suggests the possibility of a north-south travel corridor into the region from upper Wisconsin along the Michigamme River.

KEYWORDS:

• Paleoindian
• paleoenvironmental reconstruction
• archaeological site suitability
• predictive modeling
• spatial correlation

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the efforts of John Anderton for initiating work on this project and to Norma Froelich, Matthew Smock, Michael Beck and Tia Bowe for assistance with visits to some of the remote sites. We would also like to thank the advice from the three anonymous reviewers who provided comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Robert J. Legg is currently an Associate Professor of Geomatics in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geographical Sciences at Northern Michigan University. He conducts research regarding applied spatial analysis, focusing on human-environment interactions.

Robert R. Regis is currently a Professor of Geology and Remote Sensing in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geographical Sciences at Northern Michigan University. He specializes in the geomorphology of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, with a particular focus on glacial history and glacial landforms.

John M. Lambert is currently undertaking a PhD in the Department of Anthropology at UC Davis, California. His research interests focus on Pleistocene/early Holocene archaeology of the Western Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi Valley; hunter-gatherer mobility, subsistence, and site structure; stone tool technologies; human behavioral ecology; geographic information systems (GIS).

Matthew Liesch is currently an Associate Professor of Geography at Central Michigan University, and he conducts research regarding human-environment interactions in the United States and Canada.

Charles B. Travis is currently an Assistant Professor of Geography with the Department of History at the University of Texas, Arlington; he is also a visiting research fellow at the School of Histories and Humanities at Trinity College the University of Dublin. As an editorial board member of the journal Literary Geography, his book publications include: The Digital Arts and Humanities: Neogeography, Social Media and Big Data Integrations and Applications (Springer Press: 2016), Abstract Machine: Humanities GIS (Esri Press: 2015), History and GIS: Epistemologies, Reflections and Considerations (Springer Press: 2012) and Literary Landscapes: Geographies of Irish Stories, 1929–1946 (2009). Charles’ work also appears in the International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, International Journal of Geographical Information Science, Historical Geography and other peer-reviewed publications.

ORCID

Robert J. Legg http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2846-8241

John M. Lambert http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7159-2195

Charles B. Travis http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9278-5364