Reconsidering the Chronology: Carbonized Food Residue, Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Dates, and Compositional Analysis of a Curated Collection from the Upper Great Lakes

Abstract

Recent reexamination of pottery, copper objects, and glass trade beads using modern analytic methods has amended the occupational history of the Cloudman site (20CH6), once interpreted as an early “Contact” period site in Michigan. The original chronology of the site, located on northern Michigan's Drummond Island in Lake Huron, was based on an apparent association of Iroquoian pottery with European-made trade goods relatively dated to circa AD 1630. Current advances in archaeological dating methods have revealed new insights into the poorly understood settlement patterns and social interactions of various Upper Great Lakes groups between AD 1300 and 1700. Accelerator mass spectrometry dating of carbonized food residue collected from late Late Woodland and Ontario Iroquoian pottery vessels suggests some contemporaneous use of both styles and the culmination of occupation by pottery-making groups by AD 1500. Elemental analysis of glass beads indicates that the recovered trade items were likely manufactured post–AD 1650. Likewise, compositional analysis of copper-base metal artifacts clarifies how such objects were made and used over time at the site. The results demonstrate how the application of modern analytic methods to curated collections can lead to significant reinterpretation, ultimately enhancing understandings of regional chronologies, social relationships, and population movements.

The Elemental Analysis of Glass Beads

“…The date estimates presented above indicate that the population of Upper Hampton Farm survived well into the 17th century and the European trade good assemblage cannot be attributed to early conquistador interaction or 18th century Historic Overhill Cherokee occupation. This data supports the arguments of Holland-Lulewicz et al ( 2020), Panich and Schneider (2019), and Kooiman and Walder (2019) that high resolution chronologies are critical in understanding post-Contact Indigenous lifeways in the Southeast. While not elaborated in this paper, we also see similar patterns on other archaeological sites in the region (see Dalton-Carriger 2016).…”

“…. Indeed, recent research has suggested that long-held assumptions about population decline, abandonment, and collapse often rest on false assumptions and weak chronologies (e.g.,Holland-Lulewicz et al 2020;Kooiman and Walder 2019; …”

“…These include manufacture, use-life, exchange relations, adoption of technologies, and durability"(Holland-Lulewicz et al 2020:2). New diagnostic dating methods as well as expanding our perception of the kinds of material evidence we use to determine Native occupation are needed to tease out the subtle differences between trade items and cultural periods(Kooiman and Walder 2019;Panich and Schneider 2019).…”

Reevaluating the antiquity of the Palmrose site: Collections-based research of an early plank house on the northern Oregon Coast

“…The combination of Bayesian analysis and chronological modeling of 12 new AMS radiocarbon dates for the Palmrose site and the plank house feature, along with field notes and provenience information, provides an excellent opportunity to create a revised and precise chronology for the Palmrose site. These new data have the potential to change our understanding of site chronology, the development of semi- to fully-sedentary lifeways on the northern Oregon Coast, and alter regional chronologies broadly [ 6 , 9 ].…”