Economics, Culture, and Ecology: A Comparative Study of Oneota Localities in Wisconsin

Summary

The manifestation of different cultural history trajectories of Late Prehistoric Oneota groups from eastern and western Wisconsin can be seen in multiple material classes, including faunal remains. Despite the generally similar use of shell as a ceramic tempering agent and generic vessel shapes, Wisconsin Oneota groups vary among localities in settlement and subsistence practices. The relationship among Oneota groups and wild rice, maize, aquatic and upland game, as well as the choice of materials for food procurement technology is compared. In relation to Classeen's (1968) and Borgstrom's (1962) models for agriculturalist communities’ risk-buffering behaviors using seasonal shellfishing, this research expands beyond the economics of potential risk management to include the socio-cultural aspect of differing degrees of Middle Mississippian influence. This paper presents an examination into the treatment of the same resources by groups occupying the Lake Koshkonong locality in southeastern Wisconsin and those in the La Crosse locality in western Wisconsin.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage