Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T21:31:21.327Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Comments on “A Reconsideration of Aboriginal Fishing Strategies in the Northern Great Lakes Region” by Susan R. Martin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Charles E. Cleland*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 354 Baker Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1045

Abstract

Martin's suggestion that there is great continuity in subsistence strategy through the Middle and Late Woodland periods of the Northern Great Lakes is rejected. She fails to produce convincing evidence for the use of gill nets during Middle Woodland times and to account for the difference in fish fauna on sites of these two periods. Also addressed here is the possible consequence of economic specialization on population size and fluctuation. It is concluded that unlike Middle Woodland populations, those of the Late Woodland fluctuate rather dramatically. Finally, it is suggested that whatever the cause of the population loss and mechanisms of replacement, these shifts likely have important implications for periodicity in ceramic style change.

Résumé

Résumé

La sugerencia hecha por Martin de que hay una gran continuidad en las estrategias de subsistencia en los períodos Middle y Late Woodland del norte de los Grandes Lagos es desechada. La autora fracasa en su intento por producir evidencia convincente sobre el uso de las redes de pesca durante el período Middle Woodland y tampoco considera las diferencias existentes en la fauna piscícola de los sitios pertenecientes a estos dos períodos. Estos comentarios se dirigen también a la posible consecuencia que tenga la especialización económica sobre el tamaño y la fluctuatión de la población. Se concluye que, a diferencia de la población en el período Middle Woodland, aquella del Late Woodland fluctua en forma más bien drámatica. Finalmente, se sugiere que cualquiera quefuese la causa de la pérdida de la población o de los mecanismos de su sustitución, es posible que estos cambios tengan implicaciones importantes en lafrecuencia con que cambia el estilo de la cerámica.

Type
Comments
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Boserup, E. 1965 The Conditions of Agricultural Growth. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Cleland, C. E. 1976 The Focal-Diffuse Model: An Evolutionary Perspective on the Prehistoric Cultural Adaptations of the Eastern United States. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 1: 5976.Google Scholar
Cleland, C. E. 1982 The Inland Shore Fishery of the Northern Great Lakes: Its Development and Importance in Prehistory. American Antiquity 47: 761784.Google Scholar
Cleland, C. E. 1983 Indians in a Changing Environment. In The Great Lakes Forest: An Environmental and Social History, edited by Flader, S., pp. 8395. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Cohen, M. N. 1977 The Food Crisis in Prehistory. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Engelbrecht, W. 1987 Factors Maintaining Low Population Density Among the Prehistoric New York Iroquois. American Antiquity 52: 1327.Google Scholar
Hayden, B. 1975 The Carrying Capacity Dilemma in Population Studies. In Archaeology and Biological Anthropology, edited by Swedlund, A. C., pp. 1121. SAA Memoir 30. Society for American Archaeology, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Kay, J. 1984 The Fur Trade and Native American Population Growth. Ethnohistory 31: 265287.Google Scholar
Lovis, W. A., and Holman, M. B. 1976 Subsistence Strategies and Population: A Hypothetical Model for the Development of Late Woodland in the Mackinac Straits-Sault Ste. Marie Area. Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science Arts and Letters 8: 267276.Google Scholar
Martin, S. R. 1985 Models of Change in the Woodland Settlement of the Northern Great Lakes Region. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, East Lansing.Google Scholar
McPherron, A. 1967 The Juntunen Site and the Late Woodland Prehistory of the Upper Great Lakes Area. Anthropological Papers No. 30. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Schoolcraft, H. R. 1839 Census of Michigan Indian Population under the Treaty of Washington 1836. R66: 41828, The Papers of Henry R. Schoolcraft 1782-1878. Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. Microfilm. Google Scholar
Smith, B., and Cleland, C. E. 1987 Analysis of the Faunal Materials from Test Unit 1 on the P-Flat Site, Manitou Islands, Lake Superior. In Archaeological Investigations at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, 1979-1980, by Richner, J. J., Appendix A. U. S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Midwest Archeological Center, Lincoln.Google Scholar