The soil-artifact context model: A geoarchaeological approach to paleoshoreline site dating in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA

Abstract

Archaeological investigations in the central Upper Peninsula of Michigan have revealed numerous sites associated with Mid‐ and Late‐Holocene paleoshorelines of the ancestral Great Lakes. The sites typically contain stone flakes and fire‐cracked rock, with no preserved floral or faunal material and rarely any diagnostic artifacts or dateable carbon. Because of the association with dated shorelines, many workers have assumed the sites are Archaic occupations (ca. 5000–2000 B.P.). However, the actual ages of the sites is often unclear, as later Woodland cultures (2000–500 B.P.) may have also used the abandoned shorelines. Based on expected pedological and archaeological characteristics, a soil‐artifact context model was used at eight paleoshoreline sites to provide a preliminary means of relative dating. Sites that were correlative with shoreline development (i.e., Archaic) have artifacts that are deeper within the soil profile, soil horizon boundaries that cut across midden concentrations, and some artifacts that are iron‐stained from Spodic horizon development. In contrast, sites that are not correlative with the time of shoreline development (i.e., Woodland) have artifacts that are at or very near the ground surface and archaeological features, if present, will cut across soil horizons, and artifacts tend not to be iron‐stained. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Geoarchaeology and late glacial landscapes in the western lake superior region, Central North America

“…Some examples of the use of a geoarchaeological perspective in the Agassiz basin include Pettipas and Buchner (1983), Buchner and Pettipas (1990), and Ross (1997). Studies by Farrand (1977), Storck (1988), Julig (1991), Phillips (1993), Cleland et al (1998), Kuehn (1998), Anderton (1999), Jackson et al (2000), and Julig and McAndrews (1993) logical and vertebrate settings by integrating geomorphic and ecological dynamics, which are partly based on interpretations of the regional glacial geology. In fact, early in his career, Rip Rapp served as a field assistant for H. E. Wright, Jr., conducting research on the history of various glacial lobes and their regional direction of advances using pebble counts and till fabric studies.…”