The Belson Site: A Paleoindian Campsite on the Outwash Plains of the Central Great Lakes

ABSTRACT

By 16,000 calendar years ago, glacial melt waters from the ice masses in the basins which would hold lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan had sculpted vast sandy plains with innumerable kettle lakes, gravel hills, and former channels. These provided a mosaic of marshes, open herbaceous vegetation, and patches of forest sustaining a diversity of herbivores. This rich ecosystem was the home of forager groups using different stone tool assemblages at different times. A small assemblage from the Belson site, made entirely on Attica chert from sources 235 km to the southwest, manifests characteristic Clovis techniques of biface reduction and basal preparation. At present it is the northwestern-most such occurrence in the Great Lakes region. If so, it should date about 13,000 calendar years ago. Further research will better characterize the tool industry and directly establish its age and ecological context.

KEYWORDS:

• Clovis
• Attica chert
• Great Lakes
• fluted points

Acknowledgements

The Belson Project is part of the research program of the Great Lakes Range of the Museum of Anthropological Anthropology, directed by John O’Shea. We wish to thank Rob Belson for his interest in and support of the research at the Belson Site. Talbot wishes to recognize the early guidance of the late Tony DeRegnaucourt in his studies of Midwestern cherts. We are indebted to Scott Beld, Daniel Fisher, John O’Shea, John Speth, and three anonymous reviewers for their useful criticisms and comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Thomas Talbot is an independent researcher affiliated with the St. Joseph County Historical Society investigating archaeological and historical topics in the St. Joseph River Valley.

Henry T. Wright is the Albert Clanton Spaulding Distinguished University Professor of Anthropology and Curator of Near Eastern Archaeology, Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan. He has led research projects in Iraq, Iran, and Madagascar investigating the development of complex societies, and during his tenure at the University of Michigan he has maintained an active interest in the early archaeology of the upper Midwest of North America. Dr Wright is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, a MacArthur Fellow, an affiliate of the Santa Fe Institute, and foreign associate of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Brendan Nash is the Research Assistant for the Great Lakes Range of the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan, and a doctoral candidate with the Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan. His research focuses on geoarchaeology and data processing using neural networks to better understand hunter-gatherer prehistory in North America.

Additional information

Funding

Given the pandemic conditions, this project has been funded entirely by the authors’ private contributions.