Exploring the Effects of Stabilizing Riverine and Lacustrine Environments on Archaic Faunal Exploitation in the Great Lakes and Prairie Peninsula

Summary

The interplay among changing environmental forces affected the configuration of lake and river drainage systems after 6,000 BP and the abundance, composition, and productivity of aquatic animal communities available to Early, Middle, and Late Archaic groups of the interior Eastern Woodlands. These environmental changes have long been suggested as powerful influences on selection strategies of animal resources during the Archaic period. Using the integrative applications of the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR) to examine faunal databases, this paper considers the role of variability in resource availability and selection among sites in different aquatic settings, specifically the dendritic Saginaw River Valley of Michigan, the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and their upland tributaries in the Prairie Peninsula of Illinois. These comparisons allow us to examine the influence of environmental and resource changes on subsistence change and variability. Potentially related changes and variability in demography, mobility, and cultural practices, identity and interactions can then be considered in order to gain a more thorough understanding of the factors that influenced variability and diversity among Archaic peoples in these parts of the Eastern Woodlands.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Making Fauna Matter in Archaic Period Research: Exploring Adaptation, Population Growth, and Cultural Practice through the Digital Integration of Eastern Archaic Faunal Datasets   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16817