Life and Adaptation during the Little Ice Age in Midwestern Agricultural Villages: Evidence through Stable Isotopes

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Middle Grant Creek archaeological site, located in northeastern Illinois, was a prehistoric village occupied in the early seventeenth century, during one of the coldest periods of the Little Ice Age. Despite this, the site was home to up to 200 inhabitants for around a decade and showed signs of impressive maize cultivation and storage to feed the large population. Stable oxygen isotopic analysis of Actinonaias ligamentina shells from various levels of storage pits can allow for climate reconstruction during the site’s occupation. This climate reconstruction can be enhanced by isotopic analysis of shells from another site in the region, Collier Lodge, which provides shells from the mid-1400s through the twentieth century. Through this analysis, Middle Grant Creek’s specific climate can be assessed within the background of a wide span of the Western Great Lakes region. In addition, previous archaeological work at this site can be analyzed in the context of this climatic change to understand how the individuals here lived and adapted to their environment.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36918.0