ASR Extended Phase 1 Final and Complete.pdf

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 2000

In this study, we used spatial data on soils, near-surface stratigraphy, and paleotopography to reinterpret part of the Late Pleistocene history of northeastern (NE) lower Michigan. We determined the relationships between various soil series and their likely sedimentary environments. Maps of these soil series for two counties in NE lower Michigan were then prepared within a geographic information system (GIS) to interpret the spatial patterns of the sedimentary environments on the paleolandscape which had been "downwarped" within a GIS to account for isostatic rebound. Our primary finding centers on the origin and distribution of clayey, lacustrine sediments in the region. These clays are found in swales between drumlins and on ground moraines. They occur, however, at elevations up to 60 m above any previously known paleolake. Although it is widely known that low-lying, clay-dominated areas near the Lake Huron and Lake Michigan basins were inundated by paleolakes in the Late Pleistocene, thick deposits of lacustrine sediments between drumlins in the high interior of this region suggest that it, too, was periodically submerged between 11,200 and 13,000 yrs B.P. Additionally, the crests of these drumlins are covered with 50-100 cm of sediment that appears to have been water-worked at some time in the past, overlying a denser, less altered till. We argue that a previously unknown lake, or series of interconnected lakes, existed across the uplands of this landscape. Stratified silts and clays were deposited beneath this water body, which was ponded between the Port Huron moraine to the south and an advancing, stagnant, or retreating ice margin to the north and east, and may have discharged to the south across a low section of the moraine. Our findings underscore the complex interactions among ice sheets, meltwater, and preexisting landscapes during final deglaciation, and should assist those who seek to understand and explain modern soil and biotic patterns on those landscapes. We hope that our preliminary findings facilitate further hypothesis generation and testing regarding this lake(s), this landscape, and their coevolution.

American Antiquity, 2012

A systematic assessment of the depositional and postdepositional processes associated with the formation and preservation of the archaeological record has attained increasing importance in regional research design. The increased attention attached to regional taphonomy of sites is largely founded on the need to understand the degree to which the preserved, and recoverable, archaeological record is representative of past site populations, as well as the need to apply the appropriate strategies necessary to discover and assess that part of the record that remains. Such an evaluation is prerequisite to the development of regional field survey strategies and consequently use of regional site data to reconstruct and make inferences about changes in Analysis of regional site taphonomy that incorporates depositional and postdepositional histories has become increasingly important in understanding the nature of preserved site populations and the strategies necessary for their discovery. We applied a systematic archival and field strategy directed at understanding such taphonomic processes in the coastal sand dunes of the northern and eastern Lake Michigan basin, and coupled these with a tactically directed program of OSL, 14C, and AMS dating. We demonstrate that long-term geological processes including lake level variation, episodic dune activation and stabilization, and the long-term effects of postglacial isostatic adjustments have markedly affected the potential for preservation of sites in coastal dune contexts over time and across subregions of the basin. Preservation potential for different time periods in coastal dunes is largely not synchronous with that of southern Michigan floodplains, posing substantial inferential problems. The archaeology of coastal dunes specifically, and coastal zones generally, must be used with extreme caution when cast against archaeological data from landforms with different formation processes and histories. While particularly true for the Great Lakes region, these results have implications for regional research broadly.

The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 2021

A multifaceted, multidisciplinary research strategy was employed to reconstruct the taphonomy and environmental history of a late Holocene coastal archaeological site (20LU115) at Sleeping Bear Point on the north-east coast of Lake Michigan, USA. Our case study shows how interdisciplinary examination of coastal processes that impact archaeological site preservation and destruction can beneficially integrate human settlement into an evolving landscape. We contextualize coastal site taphonomy in to an environmental framework that includes changing Lake Michigan lake levels and coastlines, vegetation regimes, and eolian activation and stabilization cycles during the past 2,000 years. Chronology for this framework derives from 10 radiocarbon and 12 Optically Stimulated Luminescence dates from beach ridges, dunes, paleosols, and human occupation hori-zons at or near the site. Such research outcomes, however, are not possible without focusing on the site as part of a larger landscape history, and could not have been realized without a multidisciplinary design that integrates geologists, physical geographers, environmental archaeologists, and cultural resources managers.

Quaternary Research, 2000

Outcrops of buried soils on lake-plains and glacial headlands along Lake Michigan's eastern shore suggest that periodic dunebuilding has occurred there after relatively long (>100 yr) periods of low sand supply. We located, described, and radiocarbon dated 75 such buried soils that crop out in 32 coastal dune fields beside the lake. We assume that peaks in probability distributions of calibrated 14 C ages obtained from wood, charcoal, and other organic matter from buried A horizons approximate the time of soil burial by dunes. Plotted against a late Holocene lake-level curve for Lake Michigan, these peaks are closely associated with many ϳ150-yr lake highstands previously inferred from beach ridge studies. Intervening periods of lower lake levels and relative sand starvation apparently permitted forestation and soil development at the sites we studied. While late Holocene lake-level change led to development and preservation of prominent foredunes along the southern and southwestern shores of Lake Michigan, the modern dune landscape of the eastern shore is dominated by perched dunes formed during ϳ150-yr lake highstands over the past 1500 yr.

Quaternary Science Reviews, 2013

The arrival of Paleoindian peoples in the lower Great Lakes (ca. 11.5 ka cal. BP) coincided with a phase of lowstand lakes and rapid environmental change in southern Ontario. At Rice Lake, an archaeologically-rich area north of Lake Ontario, rising Early Holocene water levels inundated wetland areas exploited by Paleoindian and Archaic peoples. In order to better understand the distribution of submerged archaeological sites and the water level history of Rice Lake, a detailed multi-proxy study was conducted on two vibracores extracted from the open lake and a shallow (< 4 m) lagoon adjacent to the McIntyre archaeological site (Paleoindian-Archaic-era). Cores were analyzed for particle size, thecamoebians (testate amoebae), magnetic susceptibility and presence of microdebitage (tool lithic fragments) to determine changes in water levels, lake trophic status and the location of submerged archaeological sites. The basin stratigraphy consisted of Holocene organic-rich muds (gyttja), laminated marls, and peats overlying glacial Lake Iroquois sands and clay deposits. Two erosional hiatuses indicating lowstand phases (EH-1 ca. 12.5-11 ka cal. BP EH-2 ca. 6-3 ka cal. BP) were identified by rapid shifts in particle size and thecamoebian abundance and assemblages. The dominant thecamoebian species in the open lake basin were Arcella vulgaris and Centropyxis constricta ‘aerophila’, indicating the trophic status of the lake has remained stable throughout the Holocene. In the McIntyre lagoon, the EH-1 lowstand was associated with a unique bog and wetland species (Bullinularia and Phryganella sp.) along with the recovery of microdebitage, indicating that Paleoindian peoples were likely exploiting wetland resources such as plants, fish and waterfowl. We show that the study of lacustrine paleoenvironments using a multi-proxy approach provides additional information for identifying areas of archaeological potential and gaining additional understanding of settlement patterns and resource procurement strategies of Paleoindian and Archaic peoples in Southern Ontario.