Where the Hunters Hunted: Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the submerged archaeological landscapes of the Alpena-Amberley Ridge, Lake Huron

Summary

Understanding of early Holocene hunter-gatherer archaeological sites relies heavily on paleoenvironmental data, as many of these sites are ephemeral and have little archaeological visibility on the landscape. In rare cases, such as on the Alpena-Amberley Ridge in Lake Huron, highly visible hunting structures are preserved which offer a unique insight into early hunter-gatherer lifeways, while targeted sediment sample collection provides high-resolution paleoenvironmental information.

Since 2011, over 200 sediment samples have been collected by divers and ponar sampler on the Alpena-Amberley Ridge from areas with and without cultural features. These samples have undergone particle size analysis, loss on ignition, microdebitage and testate amoebae analysis. Testate amoebae analysis shows that the area was a patchwork of small microenvironments of boggy ponds, larger inland lakes and forested swamp. Both testate amoebae and sedimentary also point to localized flooding in some areas of the Ridge. The study of this unique archaeological landscape provides a picture of the paleoenvironment while contributing to the understanding of how prehistoric peoples may have utilized the landscape for the hunting of large game.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Great Lakes Archaeology: Current Research and Perspectives   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage