A Study of Possible Prehistoric Wild Rice Gathering on Lake of the Woods, Ontario

1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Rajnovich
Keyword(s):  
Wild Rice ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Settlement Pattern ◽  
Late Woodland ◽  
Woodland Period ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Middle Woodland ◽  
Lake Of The Woods ◽  
Middle Woodland Period

Archaeological surveys of Lake of the Woods have located about 200 prehistoric sites including Palaeo, Archaic, Middle Woodland (Laurel) and Late Woodland (Blackduck and Selkirk) components. None have contained direct evidence of wild rice usage prehistorically, but this may be due to the archaeological record rather than a real reflection of non-use of wild rice. This article presents a discussion of the palynological record of the area to determine the advent of wild rice and a settlement pattern study of Middle and Late Woodland components in relationship to known wild rice stands. Both Middle and Late Woodland components tend to cluster around wild rice stands. This factor, along with the palynological record, leads to the hypothesis that wild rice was gathered as early as the Middle Woodland period on Lake of the Woods.

Phytolith Evidence for the Early Presence of Maize in Southern Quebec

2015 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 408-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Gates St-Pierre ◽  
Robert G. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Late Woodland ◽  
Woodland Period ◽  
Middle Woodland ◽  
Late Woodland Period ◽  
Middle Woodland Period ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
New Crop ◽  
St Lawrence River

It has long been believed that maize (Zea maysspp.mays) was introduced in Quebec at around A.D. 1000, at the very beginning of the Late Woodland period. The identification and dating of maize phytoliths extracted from the carbonized encrustations on the interior surfaces of Native American ceramic vessels from three sites located in the St. Lawrence River valley, namely the Hector-Trudel, Station-4, and Place-Royale sites, indicate that this cultigen was rather introduced in that area during the Early Middle Woodland period, ca.400 to 200 B.C. These sites provide the northernmost and possibly the oldest evidence of maize consumption in northeastern North America. More samples of maize phytoliths from the same two sites were dated to the late Middle Woodland period, between A.D. 600 and 800, suggesting an increase in the ubiquity and importance of this new crop in the subsistence strategies. Moreover, the identification of an unknown variety of maize points toward the possibility that a new local variety of maize appeared during the process. This process might have been accompanied by a more intensive and complementary collecting of wild rice. Finally, the results support the hypothesis of an in situ origin of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians.

Crafting Everyday Matters in the Middle and Late Woodland Periods

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Pluckhahn ◽  
Martin Menz ◽  
Lori O’Neal
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Control ◽  
Late Woodland ◽  
Craft Production ◽  
The Political ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Middle Woodland ◽  
Central Florida ◽  
Middle Woodland Period ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Crystal River

A defining characteristic of the Middle Woodland period is the prevalence of craft goods of stone, bone, shell, and metal, which originated frequently from exotic sources and were often fashioned into non-utilitarian, symbolically-charged products. In the processual heyday, archaeologists devoted considerable attention on the perceived control of the production and exchange of these exotic goods and what it may say about the political and economic power of elites, and, by extension, their societies. In this chapter, the authors suggest that this emphasis on the political- and ritual-economic contexts for craft production may obscure an important point: specifically, that crafting was rooted in the everyday rhythms of domestic life, by which the authors mean the networks of relationships with other people and other objects. Reviewing the archaeological record for two large Middle Woodland populations and ceremonial centers – Kolomoki in southwestern Georgia and Crystal River in west-central Florida (Figure 9.1) – the authors argue that a low level of craft production was common to domestic contexts.

The Evolution and Persistence of Ceramic Motifs in Northern Georgia

1950 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wauchope
Keyword(s):  
Woodland Period ◽  
Previous Article ◽  
Cultural Continuity ◽  
Middle Woodland ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
American Antiquity ◽  
Early Woodland ◽  
Middle Woodland Period ◽  
Frequency Peak

Stamped or impressed designs on pottery from a group of relatively early sites in northern Georgia provide new data on the origin of several well known motifs of later times, and add to the evidence for a considerable cultural continuity between the archaeological phases of this area.In a previous article for american antiquity (Vol. XIV, pp. 201-9), I summarized the general ceramic sequence in the Etowah Drainage. Fabric impressed pottery seems to be the first majority ware in this area. It gradually decreased in popularity as Mossy Oak Simple Stamped increased and Deptford Bold and Linear Check Stamped appeared. The last named, together with Deptford Simple Stamped, became majority types during Late Archaic or Early Woodland times. In the meantime Woodstock Stamped and Woodstock Incised pottery appeared, but did not reach their frequency peak until Early Swift Creek had presumably degenerated into its later form near the end of the Middle Woodland period. Napier Stamped appeared at this time. Napier and Woodstock pottery strongly influenced the Early Mississippi "Etowah" wares, both stamped and incised. In the latter part of this period, Savannah Stamped intruded briefly, but the Etowah types persisted and finally deteriorated in carefulness of execution, thus evolving into the Lamar pottery of Late Mississippi time.

scholarly journals Modeling Regional Radiocarbon Trends: A Case Study from the East Texas Woodland Period

Radiocarbon ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (02) ◽  
pp. 239-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Z Selden
Keyword(s):  
Probability Distributions ◽  
Late Woodland ◽  
Woodland Period ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Middle Woodland ◽  
East Texas ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Early Woodland ◽  
Resultant Data

The East Texas Radiocarbon Database contributes to an analysis of tempo and place for Woodland era (∼500 BC–AD 800) archaeological sites within the region. The temporal and spatial distributions of calibrated14C ages (n= 127) with a standard deviation (ΔT) of 61 from archaeological sites with Woodland components (n= 51) are useful in exploring the development and geographical continuity of the peoples in cast Texas, and lead to a refinement of our current chronological understanding of the period. While analysis of summed probability distributions (SPDs) produces less than significant findings due to sample size, they are used here to illustrate the method of date combination prior to the production of site- and period-specific SPDs. Through the incorporation of this method, the number of14C dates is reduced to 85 with a ΔTof 54. The resultant data set is then subjected to statistical analyses that conclude with the separation of the east Texas Woodland period into the Early Woodland (∼500 BC–AD 0), Middle Woodland (∼AD 0–400), and Late Woodland (∼AD 400–800) periods.

Ohio Hopewell Trophy-Skull Artifacts as Evidence for Competition in Middle Woodland Societies Circa 50 B.C.. A.D. 350

1988 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 565-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark F. Seeman
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Woodland Period ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Middle Woodland ◽  
Middle Woodland Period ◽  
Ohio Hopewell ◽  
Human Skulls

During the Middle Woodland period in eastern North America, modified human skulls are interjected into a broader pattern of "trophy"-artifact manufacture. Interpretations of these human trophies have resulted in a polarity of opinion-that they are the remains of (1) revered ancestors, or (2) defeated enemies. Both previous investigations of the problem support exclusively the "revered-ancestor" interpretation. Results of the present study, which makes use of a six-site Ohio Hopewell sample and stylistic and biological analyses, do not support this position, and are seen as reflecting a competitive component in Hopewell society.

scholarly journals Phelps Lake and Jim Burt: Two Middle Woodland Period Mounds in Northwestern Louisiana

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffery S. Girard
Keyword(s):  
Woodland Period ◽  
Middle Woodland ◽  
Middle Woodland Period

Clarence Webb defined the pre-Caddoan Bellevue focus on the basis of investigations at several isolated mounds located in upland settings in northwestern Louisiana. With the exception of the Bellevue Site (16B04), little detailed information is available about these mounds. Most were excavated many years ago and few notes, photographs, or other records exist This paper describes the results of recent cleaning of an old excavation trench through one of the Bellevue focus sites the Phelps Lake Mound (16B024). The work has provided a relatively detailed look at the mound strata. A radiocarbon assay on a sample of charcoal underlying the mound constitutes one of the few chronometric dates from a Bellevue focus context. Also discussed briefly is the Jim Burt Site (16B023), where a radiocarbon assay was obtained on charcoal recovered near the mound.

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