An Early Woodland Community at the Schultz Site 20SA2 in the Saginaw Valley and the Nature of the Early Woodland Adaptation in the Great Lakes Region 9780932206923, 9781951519018

Table of contents :
Contents
List of Tables
List of Illustrations
List of Appendices
Foreword, by Richard I. Ford
Preface
1. Introduction
2. The Schultz Site
3. Stratigraphy of the Schultz Site
4. Paleoethnobotany
5. Archaeozoology
Part I. Freshwater Mussels
Part II. Mammals
6. The Ceramic Inventory
7. The Lithic Inventory
8. Minor Arts
9. Features
10. The Early Woodland Community
Part I. At the Schultz Site
Part II. Schultz Complex Sites in Michigan
11. Regional Manifestations Of Early Woodland
12. Late Archaic Relationships
13. Conclusions: The Early Woodland Adaptation
Appendices
Bibliography

Citation preview

ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS

MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN NO. 70

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY AT THE SCHULTZ SITE 20SA21N THE SAGINAW VALLEY AND THE NATURE OF THE EARLY WOODLAND ADAPTATION IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION

by DOREEN OZKER

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 1982

© 1982 Regents of the University of Michigan The Museum of Anthropology All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America ISBN 978-0-932206-92-3 (paper) ISBN 978-1-951519-01-8 (ebook)

To my husband, Sacid, whose continued support and confidence made this task a pleasure

CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ............................................ vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................... vii LIST OF APPENDICES ....................................... ix FOREWORD, by Richard I. Ford ............................... xi PREFACE ................................................. xvii 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................ 1 2. THE SCHULTZ SITE ..................................... 7 3. STRATIGRAPHY OF THE SCHULTZ SITE ................. 23 4. PALEOETHNOBOTANY ................................ 31 5. ARCHAEOZOOLOGY ................................... 43 Part I Freshwater Mussels ............................. 43 Part II Mammals ..................................... 53 6. THE CERAMIC INVENTORY ............................ 71 7. THE LITHIC INVENTORY ............................... 83 8. MINORARTS ......................................... 131 9. FEATURES ........................................... 139 10. THE EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY ................ 157 Part I At the Schultz Site ............................. 157 Part II Schultz Complex Sites in Michigan ................ 167 11. REGIONAL MANIFESTATIONS OF EARLY WOODLAND .. 181 12. LATE ARCHAIC RELATIONSHIPS ...................... 209 13. CONCLUSIONS: THE EARLY WOODLAND ADAPTATION. 217 APPENDICES ............................................. 239 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................... 263

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TABLES

l.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27.

Soil Samples ............................................................ 25 Charcoal Identified from Features .......................................... 38 Breeding Periods of Mussels in the Huron Drainage ........................... 51 Comparison of Cleland's and Luxenberg's Results ............................. 54 Total Individual Prey Count from Cleland's and Luxenberg's Studies .............. 54 Fauna of the Schultz Site Early Woodland Period .............................. 58 Sherd Count by Square and Level .......................................... 76 Comparison of Kramer Point Metrics ........................................ 93 Blade Comparisons ..................................................... 110 Early Woodland Slate Artifacts ............................................ 112 Summary of Chert Count by Size and Origin ................................ 120 Chert Count by Square/Level ............................................. 123 Comparison of Fire Cracked Rock at Four Sites .............................. 129 P{t Feature Summary .................................................... 144 Summary Data for Post Molds ............................................. 147 Location of Concentrations ............................................... 150 Summary of Material Inventories .......................................... 159 Kantzler Rim Sherds .................................................... 169 Croton Mound Data ..................................................... 172 Norton Mound (20KT1) Pit Data .......................................... 173 Comparative Measurements .............................................. 193 Leimbach and Schultz Blades Compared ................................... 194 Leimbach Sherd Types .................................................. 196 Leimbach Pit Features ................................................... 198 Charred Floral Contents from Scaccia Pit Features ........................... 204 Occurrences in Contents of 100 Salts Cave Paleofeces ......................... 206 Red Ochre Burial Mode .................................................. 212

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ILLUSTRATIONS

l.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22a. 22b. 23. 24. 25. 26a. 26b. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37.

Schultz Site and the Saginaw Drainage ....................................... 8 Schultz Site Elevations ................................................... ll Schultz Site Soil Types ................................................... 14 Schultz Site Excavations .................................................. 15 Early Woodland Exposure ................................................ 18 Correlation of Speth's Depositional Units with Culture Period and Ceramic Wares .. 27 Distribution of Nut Lots .................................................. 34 Distribution ofWood Charcoal (Tree Species) ................................ 39 Distribution of Mussels .................................................. 45 Distribution of Deer Bones ............................................... 60 Distribution of Beaver Bones and Antler Fragments ........................... 63 Distribution of Muskrat and Porcupine Bones ................................ 65 Distribution of Carnivore Bones ........................................... 66 Early Woodland Vessel Forms ............................................. 73 Distribution ofSherds ................................................... 75 Comparison of Kramer and Other Stemmed Projectile Points ................... 94 Distribution of Stemmed Projectile Points ................................... 95 Distribution of Notched Projectile Points ................................... 101 Distribution of Ovate Bifaces ............................................. 107 Distribution ofUniface Artifacts .......................................... 108 Distribution of Heavy Duty Tools ......................................... 113 Distribution ofDebitage in Squares B, C, D ................................ 121 Distribution ofDebitage in E570 Units .................................... 122 Distribution of Fire Cracked Rock ........................................ 127 Copper Item #69443 ................................................... 132 Distribution of Minor Arts ............................................... 135 Pit Type Profiles ........................................................ 141 Pit Type Profiles ........................................................ 142 Distribution of Pit Types ................................................. 146 Distribution of Features ................................................. 149 Hypothetical Schema for Seasonal Exploitation of Resources ................... 165 Sny-Magill Mound ..................................................... 186 Schultz Thick Sherds from Feature 62 and 20x20B (20SA2) .................... 223 Schultz Thick Rim Sherds (20SA2) ........................................ 224 Schultz Thick Lugs, Bases (20SA2) ........................................ 225 Schultz Thick from Feature 48 (20SA2) ..................................... 226 Schultz Thick from Feature 48 (20SA2) ..................................... 227 Schultz Thick Rim Sherds from Kantzler (20BY30) ........................... 228 Kramer Points (20SA2) .................................................. 229

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38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46.

Stemmed Points (20SA2) ................................................ 230 Notched Points (20SA2) ................................................. 231 Miscellaneous Bifaces (20SA2) ............................................ 232 Ovate Bifaces and Point Fragments (20SA2) ................................. 233 Cores (20SA2) ......................................................... 234 Heavy Duty Tools ...................................................... 235 Lithic Assemblage 20x20B (20SA2) ........................................ 236 Lithic Assemblage 630E570 (20SA2) ....................................... 237 Map of Northeastern United States, Showing Archaeological Sites Mentioned in This Study ............................................ 238

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APPENDICES

A. B. C. D. E.

F. G. H. I.

J. K. L. M. N. 0. P. Q. R. S.

Charred Nut Inventory .................................................. 239 Charcoal Identified from Features ......................................... 240 Summary of Evidence for Squash in the Eastern United States .................. 241 Identified Mollusca-All Levels ............................................ 242 Mussel (Bivalve Pairs) Distribution ........................................ 243 Heat Treated Projectile Points ............................................. 244 Kramer Point Metrics .................................................... 244 Stemmed Point Metrics .................................................. 245 Notched Projectile Points ................................................ 246 Ovate Bifaces .......................................................... 247 Miscellaneous Bifaces ................................................... 248 U niface Artifacts ........................................................ 249 Bayport Blades ......................................................... 250 Dimensions of Heavy Duty Tools .......................................... 251 Dimensions of Copper Items .............................................. 251 Location and Quantity of Clay Lumps (count/weight in grams) .................. 252 Location of Ochre Occurrence ............................................. 252 Mammalian Remains from the Schultz Site, Saginaw Valley, Michigan, by Linda Palsgaard ............................... 253 Provenience ofHornstone Artifacts/Core Dimensions ......................... 261

ix

FOREWORD by Richard I. Ford

The question most often asked of curators of archaeological collections is: after you have studied the remains from an archaeological site, why do you bother saving the material? In other words, what more can you say about it if your report has ample illustrations and your description is sufficiently detailed? Requests even come from private collectors and children for the relics. Dr. Doreen Ozker's study of the Early Woodland occupational deposits at the Schultz site is a superb response to these inquiries as well as illustrative of the unspecified intellectual value of museum collections. A well curated archaeological site collection, even if it has been published, is indispensable to future research as scientific ideas and analytical techniques change. The original investigator simply cannot foresee the advances in the profession or the intellectual trends in a discipline. Even though the site may be destroyed, curation of the cataloged artifacts and the field excavation records will enable subsequent research. Too often, however, the artifacts are given to a museum for permanent storage while the notes are kept by the original researcher or even discarded. This worse possible case permits some research, but it certainly limits the utility of the artifacts. Fortunately, the Schultz site has been preserved as a well-curated collection in the Great Lakes Range in The University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology. The Schultz site is a contemporary designation, named after a recent land owner, Mr. Ruben Schultz, for an area at the confluence of the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers known to local relic collectors and early archaeologists as Green Point. Green Point site is 20SA1 and the Schultz site is 20SA2, but the area was, in fact, so familiar to professional archaeologists that the first two site numbers for Saginaw County in the Michigan site files are these continguous sites. The pioneer American archaeologist,

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Harlan I. Smith, excavated here at the end of the 19th century and deposited a cache of stone biface blanks in the Harvard Peabody Museum. Later Fred Dustin, who was a distinguished avocational archaeologist, collected from this site and left his material and notes to the University of Michigan in its Museum of Anthropology. The availability of his collection and correspondence between various archaeologists in the University and local collectors led to exploratory excavation by field crews from the Museum of Anthropology in 1959 and again in 1960. A more extensive investigation into prehistoric environment relations in the Saginaw Bay area attracted a larger crew in 1962 under the direction of Dr. Richard 0. Keslin. The potential for recovering substantial material attributable to the Middle Woodland period was an impetus for his return with a larger excavation crew in 1963. Dr. James E. Fitting continued excavation at this site in 1964 and 1965, and he guided the analysis and eventual publication of The Schultz Site at Green Point (Fitting 1972). As monumental as this monograph is, equally important was the condition of the collection from the site following its publication. Fitting cataloged the artifacts and organized all fieldnotes, excavation maps, and site photographs for posterity. Doreen Ozker recognized the potential of this collection for continued research and reanalyzed it for her dissertation with new objectives in mind. Doreen Bettina Voiles was born on October 4, 1920, to American parents who were living in London, England, at the time. Later, after her family moved to Michigan, she was graduated from Royal Oak High School in 1938 and went to the University of Michigan where she received her B.A. in 1942. Here she developed a lifelong devotion to anthropology after electing courses from the heretical Professor Leslie White and from other inspiring teachers in the fledging Department of Anthropology. But not all dreams are immediately satisfied. For Doreen 35 years of the challenges of a business caree1~ the duties of a devoted wife, the responsibilities of raising five daughters, and the obligations of civic leadership stood between her anthropology baccalaureate degree and a Ph.D. in anthropology. Her first employment was as an insurance adjuster for Liberty Mutual in Detroit, Michigan, and Newark, New Jersey. Next, at the end of World War II she worked as a hospital recreation worker for the American Red Cross at Great Lakes Naval Base. In 1946 she married Mehmet Sacid Ozker, and they lived in Ankara, Turkey, in 1947 and 1948, where Doreen was librarian in the British Archaeological Institute. During this six year period following her graduation, she continued to study anthropology as a part-time graduate student first at the University of Michigan, next at Columbia University with D1~ Gene Weltfish, then in 1946 at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago in a seminar on the Paleolithic taught by Professor Robert J. Braidwood, and finally Hittite

xiii

archaeology with Professor Ekrem Akurgal at the University of Ankara. This truncated exposure to formal anthropology would have to suffice until she assumed a part-time faculty position at Wayne State University where she taught Introduction to Anthropology in 1967 and Introduction to Archaeology in 1968. With the encouragement of her family she once again returned to the University of Michigan in 1969 as an M.A. candidate in anthropology, a degree she completed one year later with grades that permitted admission to the doctoral program at the age of 50. Family activities and membership in civic organizations continued to foster her interest in nature and the archaeology of Michigan and helped her gain the diplomatic skills of a politician that would be required in her eventual position as a professional archaeologist. For 20 years she was an active P.T.A. member while her daughters were in elementary school. She was a board member of the Farmington and Dearborn chapters of the American Association of University Women and for two years she served on the State of Michigan board. In Farmington, Michigan, she was associated with the Artist Club, the Holly Hill Farms Association, and the Girl Scouts of America. These local organizations all benefited from her leadership and prospered under her guidance. Yet even the press of these demands did not snuff the flame of anthropology. In 1968 she joined the American Anthropological Association and in 1969 the Society for American Archaeology. She added still another straw to her heavy burden when as a graduate student she joined the Michigan Archaeological Society and was active in its Clinton Valley Chapter. She considered this organization of amateur archaeologists as important to work with as a professional archaeologist as she did the P. T. A. when she was a concerl}ed parent. Once Doreen adjusted to the expectations of graduate school, she became an outstanding student. Her research papers were always on schedule despite illness at home, her long daily commute from Farmington Hills, or her dedication to her grandson. Her course papers drew on earlier anthropological experiences, such as her reading course from Dr. Weltfish, an ethnographer of the Pawnee Indians, that inspired an ecology paper based on this tribe and her seminar from Dr. Braidwood that assisted her exceptional performance in Near Eastern archaeology. She wrote the best preliminary examinations the year she was admitted to candidacy and thus began to write a doctoral dissertation. Doreen never complained about the requirements of the Department of Anthropology or requested special consideration. She resented the suggestion that the fieldwork requirement could be waived for her. Her past employment could satisfY the work-experience requirement, but she insisted upon dedicating hours to a research assistantship in the Museum of Anthropology even if dinner at home would be late more than once. Her

xiv initial position was for two years in the Ethnobotantical Laboratory identifying archaeological plants from sites in Illinois and Michigan. In 1973 she worked in the Great Lakes Range studying lithic technology and stone artifacts from the Chippewa Nature Center in Midland, Michigan. Meeting the archaeological fieldwork requirement was more difficult. Since she lacked previous excavation experience or a course at a formal field school, she had to learn the basic skills that were almost second nature to her fellow graduate students. Nonetheless, she developed field experience by working with other graduate students whenever and wherever possible. Her first opportunity was in 1973 as a field assistant at the Sumac Bluff site under excavation by the Chippewa Nature Center in Midland, Michigan. A year later she accompanied Nancy Wilson on several archaeological site surveys in the Hocking River Valley, Ohio. Two more summers of excavation as director of the field school conducted by the Chippewa Nature Center fulfilled the fieldwork requirement and certified Doreen as an archaeologist who could administer her own field research. Fieldwork inspired her dissertation. As she learned more about the prehistory of Michigan, she became increasingly concerned about prehistoric adaptations to the natural environment. The Sumac Bluff site allowed her to examine plant and animal remains in order to discover the dependence of Late Woodland people on local natural resources, but the mostly missing scraps from this site were too fragmentary to satisfy her curiosity. While attempting a similar analysis on the multicomponent Naugle site, a similar set of missing biological data forced her to examine the stone artifacts in detail for clues to their articulation with plant or animal processing. In the course of these studies, she became increasingly interested in the poorly defined Early Woodland period in Michigan, and at the same time she sought a site with sufficient preservation to allow her to conduct an ecological study. The well-curated Schultz site satisfied her goal. With her fieldwork requirement completed, she could write a dissertation based on a major museum collection. Before her detailed analysis of the prehistoric ecology of the Early Woodland culture could begin, she had to painstakingly reexamine the entire Schultz site collection to be satisfied that she was studying occupational levels that were stratigraphically isolated and uncontaminated by later cultural intrusions. After months of methodically constructing the depositional history, she was convinced that she could proceed to identify and interpret each category of data and then to construct a picture of prehistoric site utilization and a long extinct way of life along the Tittabawassee River. The final product of her labor was her dissertation, An Early Woodland Community at the Schultz Site 20SA2 in the Saginaw Valley and the Nature ofthe Early Woodland Adaptation in the Great Lakes Region, which was ably defended and accepted in 1977. Her dream of

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earning a Ph. D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan had been achieved. Dr. Ozker became a cultural resource manager immediately upon completing her degree. In 1976 she had prepared an appraisal of the archaeological potential ofland owned by the Dow Chemical company. Now as a certified professional, she could devote her boundless energy to surveying land threatened by modern development in Michigan and by energy exploration in Ohio. She was employed as a Research Associate II in the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology from 1977 until March 1979. After serving as her administrative supervisor for these two postdoctoral years, Dr. Christopher Peebles recommended that Doreen be appointed as an Assistant Research Scientist to administer independently the contract archaeology program in the Great Lakes Range. In this capacity she successfully obtained numerous contracts for archaeological reconnaissance and excavation in Michigan, and she provided invaluable field experience and salaried employment to many graduate and undergraduate students at Michigan. She held this position up to her death on June 20, 1982. Her professional colleagues recognized her many other talents as well, and she willingly shared her knowledge with them. Following the awarding of her dissertation she taught Introduction to Archaeology as a Lecturer at Eastern Michigan University. She often presented papers at the Michigan Archaeological Society, the Midwest Archaeological Conference, and the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters meetings. True to her nature, she became an elected officer in several organizations, serving as chairman of anthropology in the Michigan Academy of Science and as secretary of the Conference for Michigan Archaeology, an organization that had previously honored her as a fellow. She added to her professional contacts by joining the Wisconsin Archaeological Society and the Eastern States Archaeological Federation. Doreen wrote more than a dozen contract reports and published some ten professional papers. This volume is a revised version of her dissertation. It describes the previously poorly recognized Early Woodland manifestations in Michigan. She demonstrates how important the Early Woodland occupation at the Schultz site is not only for its breadth of artifact types but for its exceptional preservation ofbiological remains. With this evidence she is able to show that the site was actually occupied at several separate times during the year. She demonstrates that the settlement pattern was actually different from the preceding Late Archaic and not merely a continuation as other investigators have assumed. This monograph is the first extensive treatment of the regional connections and spatial interaction of the Early Woodland period in Michigan. Dr. Ozker brings a humanistic perspective to her work. Although her

xvi

analysis is rigorously scientific, she had spent too many years as a private citizen reading what archaeologists had to say and wondering why they did not discuss more about the daily lives, the joys and hardships, of prehistoric people. In this volume she attempts to satisfy both her professional peers' need to have details about the cultural inventory from the unique Early Woodland levels at the Schultz site and also the interest of students and the general public in what people did with their time long ago. To achieve these objectives, she attempted to write a paleoethnography of the Schultz occupants. The reader winces at wading in the cold springtime water of the Saginaw Bay to gather mussels and marvels at the clay packages used to bake these mollusks. For these inhabitants, a return to the Schultz site in the fall was accompanied by the ringing sound of the pounding of hardshelled nuts in preparation to boiling in heavy clay pots in order to recover their oil. Not all the artifacts could be interpreted as elegantly, but those connected with the subsistence activities are described as vital to the seasonal rhythm of these Early Woodland bands. Green Point and the Schultz site have been used for many purposes by archaeologists. Previous investigators had used their artifacts to establish the culture history of Michigan. By the early 1960s, the growing museum collection refined knowledge of the cultural development of the important Saginaw Bay region and directed inquiry about post-Pleistocene environmental changes and broad aspects of prehistoric adaptation. The intensive excavations conducted by Keslin and Fitting focused on the Middle Woodland mounds and the associated wood stockade. The site collection still held answers to unanticipated questions. Doreen Ozker illustrates some of them in this monograph. In turn, she left the Schultz site artifacts still well organized, the site records in archival condition, and our knowledge of the past at a higher level of understanding. Meanwhile, the entire collection awaits yet another generation of archaeologists who will focus their keen intellects on new problems just as Dr. Ozker did. As all museum collections should, it remains well curated in expectation of future investigators.

PREFACE

This research project is based upon records of the field work undertaken at the Schultz site (20SA2) during the years 1962-65. This site is located on farmland owned by Mr. Reuben Schultz at the southern edge of the city of Saginaw in Saginaw County, Michigan. The Saginaw region has long been known for its rich archaeological heritage. The Schultz site itself has afforded an opportunity rare in Michigan: the opportunity to investigate well preserved stratified prehistoric cultural material dating from the 6th century B.C. The excavation of the Schultz site was carried on with the support of several grants from the National Science Foundation received by Dr. James B. Griffin under his proposal A Correlation of Prehistoric Cultural Complexes and Post Pleistocene Ecologies in the Upper Great Lakes. These grants were for 1960-61, NSFG-12969; for 1961-62, NSFG-16494; and for 1962-63, NSFGS-86. Concurrent with these grants were undergraduate participation grants; among the latter was a grant received by Dr. Richard Keslin that supported Henry Wright's (Wright 1964) work at the Schultz site during 1962. In 1972, University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology Memoir Number 4, The Schultz Site at Green Point, edited by Dr. James E. Fitting, was published. It includes papers by ten authors; these papers report a history of the preliminary survey of the Schultz site area and review the work of the seasons of 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1965. The distinguished roster of crew names reads like a "Who's Who in Archaeology of the Seventies," for so many talented people contributed to the quality of excavation and recording. Their work laid a firm foundation for a number of studies. This following study is concerned solely with excavated Early Woodland cultural materials which constitute the earliest material at the Schultz site. Excavation of this level revealed an Early Woodland open occupation area unique for the breadth of exposure and abundance of cultural material. xvii

xviii

Hereafter, in the text, certain abbreviated terms have been employed: UMMA stands for The University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology; FCR abbreviates fire cracked rock; 20x20, lOxlO, 5x5 and 5x20 are references to excavation units described by their horizontal dimension in feet; "ss" is the excavation surface which is recorded on a sheet of paper. The author is deeply indebted to many individuals for providing her with sincere aid in a number of ways: advice, critique, and information sharing. Particular thanks are due to Dr. James B. Griffin and Dr. Richard I. Ford for giving her the opportunity of analyzing the Schultz site material. The resources ofThe University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, its collections and analytical facilities, its staff and its graduate students all vitally contributed to the culmination of this research, The Great Lakes Range under curatorship of Dr. Christopher S. Peebles provided access to collections, office facilities, and an atmosphere which served as an effective sounding board for developing ideas. Dr. Henry T. Wright gave generously of his knowledge of the site and provided critical commentary. The author would also like to express her appreciation to Dr. Richard I. Ford for identifying the squash seed and wood charcoal. Other ethnobotanical identifications were made for the author by Paul Minnis and Kathy Giles, and additional identifications of Schultz site material were made in 1964 by Volney Jones and April Allison. Jan Bloom, a graduate student at Western Michigan University, identified tabular Bayport chert and conducted a chert flaking experiment. In the Great Lakes Range, Nancy Wilson, Deborah Black, and James Krakker contributed useful commentary on various aspects of the study. The author was most fortunate to have the assistance of George Stuber who took the photographs in Figures 32-36 and 39-43, of Jane Mariouw who drew the Schultz site map, and of Bud I. Kaufman, who photographed the lithic artifacts in Figures 37, 38, 44 and 45. Lisa Klofkorn, graphic artist at the Museum of Anthropology, prepared the figures for publication. The author is truly grateful to her family for their patience and their genuine interest in the progress of this research. Special thanks go to Suzan Ozker who did so much of the typing, including the original draft and revisions.

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

The definition of Early Woodland culture as simply the addition of certain traits to a basic Late Archaic culture was formulated over a number of decades. In 1935 at the Conference on Midwestern Archaeology held in Indianapolis, there was a concerted effort to draw up a classification of culture patterns in the eastern United States. The resulting classificatory scheme came to be known as the McKern or Midwestern Taxonomic Method, and this framework defined the Woodland pattern as distinct from the Mississippian pattern (McKern 1939; Byers 1943). As a result the Woodland culture pattern was distinguished by a list of twelve traits that included pottery and additional elements such as burial mounds. This was a trait list without reference to chronology. In the following decade, use of the term Early Woodland became more frequent as archaeologists recognized that the formally defined ''Archaic," "Woodland," and "Mississippian" patterns were successive in time and that there was a gradual transition from the Archaic into the Woodland pattern. The emerging recognition of Early Woodland can be followed through certain publications, particularly those having to do with Adena material. James B. Griffin described the Early Woodland pottery of Kentucky in 1943 and the "Ceramic affiliations of the Ohio Valley Adena Culture" in 1945. The informal distinction of Early Woodland became a formal one in a paper for the publication Man in Northeastern North America (Johnson 1946) in which Griffin wrote with reference to transitional and Early Woodland groups: "The addition of pottery marks a significant step in the cultural evolution of the eastern area" (Griffin 1946:43). The accompanying map illustrated the distribution of Early Woodland pottery from Wisconsin and Illinois through southern Indiana and Ohio, northeast Kentucky, New York and Canada. It was noted that Early Woodland in Illinois was "none too 1

2

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

clear" in 1946. However, by 1952 Griffin had described "Some Early Woodland Pottery Types for Illinois" (Griffin 1952c), and the role of pottery as an indicator of Early Woodland was firmly established. In that same year the definitive Archaeology of the Eastern United States, which Griffin edited, was published. It contained 28 papers, of which 14 employed the term Early Woodland, defined by the appearance of pottery with no other change in a Late Archaic way oflife. Griffin's paper in this collection added burial mounds and certain projectile point styles to the trait list for Early Woodland. In 1967, in his summary of archaeological developments in eastern North America, Griffin added cultigens and a temporal framework oflOOO B.C. to 200 B.C. to the Early Woodland trait list (Griffin 1946, 1967). The definition of Early Woodland as a cluster of certain traits (pottery, stemmed projectile points, burial mounds, cultigens) added to a Late Archaic base culture has remained essentially unchanged since then. The acceptance of this definition invites the question of why any of these traits should have been incorporated into the recognized established adaptation made by the Late Archaic culture? Since they were indeed incorporated, it is doubtful that there was no substantial change in the basic technological, social, and ideological aspects of Late Archaic culture. Why should so modest a trait as the earliest pottery be added to the cultural inventory? On what basis are new traits incorporated? Does a culture take on a new trait solely because diffusion has presented the opportunity? Does a culture exercise any criteria or selection in adopting a new trait, or must the new trait accommodate or facilitate an established function? The incidental role of early pottery as a defining characteristic of Early Woodland was reinforced by the scarcity of such sherds at any site, as well as the poor appearance of the ware which has been taken to imply poor workmanship due to the primitive state of the art. Only MacNeish (1948) paused to consider the impact of "grafting" pottery onto a pre-pottery culture. No study has undertaken consideration of the role or function of early pottery. The implication has been_ that pottery was an occasional addition to culinary techniques. A direct extension of this view is the often cited paper by Ritzenthaler and Quimby (1962) on the Red Ochre culture, in which burial mounds and pottery are added as peripheral traits to a basic Late Archaic burial complex known as Red Ochre. Mounds were included in the Red Ochre complex,because red ochre and certain other diagnostic artifacts accompanied interment in mounds. Pottery entered the Red Ochre complex because of a somewhat tenuous association with certain mounds. Subsequently, Munson (1966) followed the then-current view and reinforced the association of Early Woodland and Late Archaic on the basis of similar radiocarbon dates.

INTRODUCTION

3

Cultigens, when added to the Early Woodland trait list, were viewed only as items that enriched the catalogue of gathered plant resources to a very marginal degree. As early as 1936, Volney Jones reported cultigens present in pre-pottery levels of the Newt Kash shelter in Kentucky. When radiocarbon dating became available, a date of 650 B.C. (Griffin 1952b, Appendix) was assigned to those levels. Stemmed projectile points had long been recognized as part of the Adena complex (Dragoo 1963; Mayer-Oakes 1955). Munson (1966) called attention to the association of a certain stemmed projectile point with Marion Thick ware in Illinois. The presence of stemmed projectile points stands in strong contrast to the predominantly side-notched points of the Late Archaic. This replacement of point morphology has been regarded as a stylistic change in the past. However, this study favors an alternate interpretation: such a marked change in projectile point morphology reflects a change in weapon technology which is related to a change in hunting strategy, which in turn may have induced a modification in social organization. The assumption is made here that culture is a system integrating the major subsystems of technology, social organization, and ideology in such a way that each subsystem interacts with the other and with the surrounding natural and social environment. Therefore, the additions of pottery, cultigens, projectile points, and burial mounds are so numerous and pervasive in effect that even if acquired singly and at different times, when all have been integrated into one cultural system, the final culture is a distinctly different entity with somewhat different demands upon the surrounding environment. Prior to the excavation of the Schultz site (20SA2) in Michigan during the years 1962-65, no recognized Early Woodland open occupation sites had been excavated that could be compared with Late Archaic sites in content and structure. In contrast, Late Archaic sites were known in sufficient number that two studies analyzed whole Late Archaic settlement patterns, one in the southern Wabash River region (Winters 1969) and another in the Saginaw Valley (Taggart 1967). A similar study of a settlement pattern of the Meadowood culture in western New York State has appeared recently (Granger 1978). (Meadowood is commonly accorded Early Woodland classification because of the inclusion of one of the earliest pottery wares and a series of radiocarbon dates that place it in the first half of the first millennium B.C., a time range consistent with Early Woodland. In other respects, however, it is unlike Early Woodland in the western Great Lakes region.) This study will analyze the Early Woodland levels of the Schultz site, examine the site's relationships within the Saginaw Valley and southern Michigan and pursue its relationships in the Great Lakes region. Its

4

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

primary purpose is to observe the structure of an Early Woodland community and, secondarily, to define Early Woodland as a cultural adaptation possessing certain archaeologically observable traits that distinguish it from the Late Archaic culture. The theoretical framework of this study, which presents a model of Early Woodland adaptation that is distinct from that of the Late Archaic, draws upon several assumptions about culture process. The first is that culture is the human mechanism for adaptation to the natural and social environment. The second assumption is that culture is a dynamic, systemic relationship of technology, social organization, and ideology in subsystems, each of which interact mutually and with the enveloping environment. A system is defined as a set of objects with related attributes such that a change in the state of one object necessitates a compensatory reaction by at least one other object in the system in order to return the system to its original goal range. Thus adaptive behavior is initially homeostatic; that is, it is influenced by negative feedback (or negative-feedback mechanisms). However, variables in a dynamic system such as the cultural system usually have a tolerable range of variation (goal states) which can be accommodated, so that when a variable returns to equilibrium with other parts of the system, the point at which the return is equalized may be at the extreme of the tolerable range. The next excitement of a stimulus to the system may affect in subsequent adjustments the goal ranges of other variables in the system, such that more or all affected variables return to extremes in their range of tolerance in response to positive feedback mechanisms that permit deviation amplification of an insignificant or accidental initial "kick" (Maruyama 1963; Flannery 1968). At this point, the system may be altered noticeably from its original condition. Altered goal ranges may result from a series of systemic adjustments through time. Yet, at the conclusion of every shift in goal state, the evolving system has changed only enough, according to Romer's Rule, to remain as nearly as possible the same, that is, to maintain the familiar relationships. Thus changes in an ongoing culture are gradual but pervasive. The third assumption is that Early Woodland culture can be assigned to a hunter-gatherer stage of cultural complexity, a general stage of cultural evolution which has occupied most of humankind's lifespan. The great cultural revolution based upon domestication of plant and animal resources brought consonant quantum changes in social organization, ideology, and manipulation of the environment. Later, the industrial harnessing of fossil fuels continued the course of general evolution into the fairly recent past. Thus there are three major adaptative stages of culture, and they exhibit increasing systemic complexity. The arena for this work is the primordial hunting-gathering band stage. Use of the concept "adaptation" in the

INTRODUCTION

5

following text will refer only to the hunter-gatherer stage, which encompasses a variety of responses to particular environments that differ in their natural and cultural parameters. The hunter-gatherer is a member of a band level society having a high degree of mobility "required by a foraging economy" and a material culture that is simple and meagre, as a direct consequence of the required mobility (Service 1966:7). Both Service and Sahlins (Sahlins 1972) stress the limiting conditions placed upon material culture by the mobile quality of a huntinggathering economy. Frequent movement requires carrying possessions, and reduces the quantity of goods possessed at any one time as a matter of convenience. Furthermore, pursuit of subsistence, quite literally, is a scheduling of pursuit, a following of resources as they come into ripe or prime condition, which obviates the need for storage or cartage. In fact, storage facilities, while quite within the technical grasp of a huntergatherer, have a number of social and practical disadvantages (Sahlins 1972:31). Following the seasons' bounty encourages consumption of plants and animals in their best condition and reduces the possibility of exhausting the local supply of food species and fuel. The population level is adjusted to the optimum, rather than the maximum, carrying capacity relative to the season ofleast resources. Hunter-gatherers are organized on a familistic basis in social and economic activities. Band size is small, 25-50 persons. A whole band may travel or meet together as seasonal resources permit. For most of the year, band members may travel in smaller family groups. On certain occasions, several bands (usually related individuals) may congregate for special integrative occasions of ceremonial importance and, during these events, information is exchanged. Another major integrative mechanism operating between bands over great distances is some sort of trading or exchange network. Archaeologically, the latter is evidenced by exotic goods found at considerable distances from their sources. Throughout the Eastern Woodlands, a broad community of shared ideas in material culture and general adaptation at the hunter-gatherer level of complexity increased throughout the Archaic period. In the Late Archaic a number of lithic artifact types and a burial mode (flexed, in a pit just large enough, on a sand or gravel knoll) with local variations were distinctive and endured for a thousand years and more. According to one model for Early Woodland, the Late Archaic was a hunting-gathering culture to which were added cultigens, pottery, and a burial mode in mounds without essentially altering the Late Archaic character. In contrast, the model for Early Woodland to be presented in this study requires that integration of new elements into the cultural system took place by the deviation-amplification of positive feedback relationships which induced change throughout the

6

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

whole system such that divergence from the initial condition increased with each addition as the Early Woodland adaptation evolved. This study begins with a description of the Schultz site and its ecological setting. A detailed description of the material cultural inventory follows. Differential spatial distributions aid in defining the structure of the site. This descriptive section provides the basis for comparison as the Schultz site's extemal relationships are explored. Finally, Late Archaic and Early Woodland are distinguished from each other, and as a result, Early Woodland culture is redefined.

Chapter 2

THE SCHULTZ SITE

In this chapter, the Schultz site is described within the ecological parameters of the environment with which the bearers of Early Woodland culture interacted while at the Schultz site, one station in their settlement pattern. The archaeological limits of20SA2 within the levee will be defined by a description of the sequence and location of excavation units. A brief history of the Schultz site will note both amateur and professional interest. The Schultz site, 20SA2, is located in the southern part of the city of Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan, TUN R4E, at the latitude 43°30' North. The excavated portion lies just west of the section line between Sections 2 and 3 of Saginaw Township, approximately 600 feet north of the Tittabawassee River, nearly a mile west of its junction with the Saginaw River. Approximately one-half mile east of 20SA2 is the Green Point site (Wright 1964) which may properly be considered an extension of 20SA2. The excavated site 20SA2, and 20SA1, also, exposed only parts of a lengthy habitation area along the Tittabawassee.

THE SAGINAW ECOSYSTEM The Schultz site is located in the central part of the Saginaw Drainage Basin near a vast low lying flatland, the Shiawassee Flats, shaped by later Pleistocene pro-glacial lakes. The waters of the entire drainage basin are retained in the flats by the configuration of the Saginaw Moraine. The only outlet to the Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron is through this recessional moraine, and the second moraine at Bay City is by means of the Saginaw River. The resulting drainage patterns bring the waters of four rivers through the flatlands to join in forming the Saginaw River (Fig. 1). The

7

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

8

t

GREEN SCHULTZ

N

I -43°-25

0 MILES

0

20

40

~Moraine

KILOMETERS

~

Figure l.

:-----: City

The Schultz site and the Saginaw drainage.

Limits

THE SCHULTZ SITE

9

Schultz site is located near this junction and at the northwestern edge of the Shiawassee Flats. The whole landscape is notable for its lack of relief. Topographic variation is entirely provided by low sandy knolls and ridges which are inland dunes marking former lake shorelines (Kelley 1971). Saginaw County itself is below the northern border of the Carolinian Biotic Province (Davis 1964; Cleland 1966). It is, furthermore, advantageously set within a climatic pocket where the last freezing temperature in spring occurs no later than May 5. The growing season of Saginaw and Bay Counties extends to 150-160 frost-free days and forms an isothermic island where temperature conditions similar to those in southwestern Michigan prevail. The southernmost three rivers, the Cass, Flint, and Shiawassee, drain an area where the last frost falls between May 10 and 20. The Tittabawassee, however, follows a northern course into a region where frosts occur later than May 20. The local environment of the Schultz site is bounded by the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers. Only a narrow peninsula separates the Tittabawassee from the Shiawassee River. The Saginaw Bay as an extension of Lake Huron stabilized at its present elevation, 580 feet, early in the 6th century B. C. (Hough 1963:105; Speth 1972:61). The rivers that combine into the Saginaw River are remarkable for their low gradient relative to the bay. At the Schultz site, elevation of the river's surface is maintained at about 581 feet. Figure 2 indicates the major elevations in the Schultz site environs. At 585 feet in elevation, the site area is a high point on the Schultz farm. The farm is somewhat higher than the general level of the Shiawassee Flats, where an extensive wet prairie and swamp coincides in its undrained reaches with the shoreline of the former Glacial Lake Algonquin. Even today, much of the wetlands near Saginaw is preserved as the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge. During the Early Woodland period the swamp lands extended behind the Schultz site toward the 585 foot elevation. The Flint, Cass, and Shiawassee rivers drain lands to the east and south of Saginaw and peak with high water in the spring earlier than does the Tittabawassee. The latter river not only drains more land than each of the first three, but its drainage area draws on much more northerly land from which a later spring thaw brings cold water past Schultz and, at times, produces a second flood or lengthens the initial flood period. The ponding of flood waters behind the Saginaw Moraine and the slow release of water through the Saginaw River to the Bay preserved a vast extent of wet prairie and swamp. The swamps support a variety of aquatic life: molluscs, fish, and mammals with semi-aquatic habits. A migration route of geese includes a

10

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

stopover in the Shiawassee Flats. Ducks follow a route somewhat further east over the "thumb" area. Prehistorically, forest cover was heavy around the flats. This forest, comprising the northern limits of the Carolinian Biotic province, supported a rich array of tree species and animal life. Today, the low moist ridges at the 585 foot elevation support a group of trees somewhat different from those on the higher drier morainic uplands (Veatch 1976): Moraine

Lowland

maple elm basswood ash yellow birch hemlock white pine hickory walnut oak

elm silver maple ash swamp white oak basswood shagbark hickory sycamore cottonwood red oak

These species are essentially those that were present in the 6th century B. C. A study by government surveyors of Bay County tree flora (between Saginaw County and Saginaw Bay) in the years 1822-46 before logging had gotten underway lists the same tree species (Jones and Kapp 1972). Identification of charcoal and pollen from Schultz site (Fitting 1972:320) verifies the duration of tree types and their soils. Such soils in this region are graybrown podzols formed on heavier glacial deposits and, under broadleaf forests, they are suitable for continuous agriculture (Davis 1964). This combination of forest land and wetland resources forms an edge area of rich resources for human settlement. A pollen study performed by A. S. Keene (1974) on material obtained at 20SA1 (an extension of the Schultz site) provides some information about plant forms existing in the area of the site in the 6th century B. C. Although the sample was judged to be biased by poor preservation due to the evident effects of "humification, rebedding and battering probably from fluvial processes," the resulting pollen count is of considerable interest for what could be identified and what was missing from the list. The pollen/spore count from the Early Woodland occupation zone included (ibid. :42): 2-Chenopodamaranth 3-Ericaceae 2-Gramineae

5-Picea (spruce) 2-Pinus (pine) 4-Salix (willow) l-Tsuga (hemlock)

2-Ambrosia-Iva 3-Compositae 2-Wood fern 1-Mushroom

Although the paleo-ethnobotanical samples from the excavation at

JAMES

-Moraine -

of

Figure 2.

Refuge

0.5 Kl LOMETERS

0

0.5

0 Ml LES

of

I

N

1

COBBLES

600'

-Moraine-

~SOURCE

~

&s-

6'

Saginaw

Schultz site elevations.

Former Swamp

city

lO

co

tl(

1

._ ._

~

VJ

a ._

::r:

(j

~ VJ

12

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

20SA2 include them as charcoal and nut shell, the nut bearing hardwoods were not represented at all among the pollen (Appendixes A, B). Moreover, the pollen count suggests that conifers were more prominent in the local forest complex than might be expected from the culturally selected paleoethnobotanical specimen. The pollen assemblage records the presence of chenopod (Lamb's-quarters) or amaranth, Ambrosia (ragweed) or Iva (marsh elder) and other composites. These weedy plants pioneer on disturbed soil. Thus their very presence is evidence that somewhere in the area of 20SA1 and 20SA2, an expanse of open, dry, loose soil existed at 530 B. C. Such a situation would be required for planting squash. Allowing for the recognized degree of damage to the pollen which occurred during the millennia of preservation and for the effects of season and wind direction, the pollen sample has demonstrated the complementary nature of pollen identification and ethnobotanical identification. More information about the Early Woodland environment at the Schultz site has come from the analysis of gastropods (Brose 1972) recovered during excavation of 20SA2. Gastropods divide readily into those of aquatic or terrestrial habit (Appendix D). There are three groups of aquatic gastropods reflecting the swamp and riverine conditions around the levee on which the Schultz site was developed. Wherever small concentrations of these were found in the excavations, they were relics of a flooding episode. These three groups together equalled 25% of the mollusc remains during the earliest Early Woodland occupation, and thereafter they comprised only 15% or less of the mollusc total (Brose 1972:129). Of the two groups of terrestrial gastropods, Group 4 outnumbered all groups of gastropods throughout the entire site history. Group 4 included snails "occurring in damp deciduous forests (generally river valleys) of elm and hickory" (ibid. 127-28). One species in Group 4 is Anguispera alternata (Say), the familiar flat spiral snail with orange markings on a white shell, whose numbers equal 7244-nearly 50% of the total of all gastropods identified (16, 089; Brose 1972). A distant second in numbers is another Group 4 gastropod, Triodopsis albolabris (Say). Group 5 is composed of" terrestrial gastropods occurring in dry shady deciduous forests with maple and oak or beech-maple" (ibid. :128). All but two individuals of Group 5 are Succinea ovalis (Say). Group 5 gastropods remain a very small proportion of the total throughout the site history. Group 4 gastropods accounted for less than 50% of the gastropod total at the beginning of Early Woodland occupation and thereafter rose rapidly to reach 80% by the time of the transitional Late Early Woodland. Altogether, the gastropod molluscs indicated a riverine setting with some permanent wetlands near a deciduous forest dominated by hardwood and nut-bearing trees. Brose found that the gastropod counts indicated that this forest cover increased on the Schultz site during the major Early Woodland occupation.

THE SCHULTZ SITE

13

Groups 4 and 5 snails in addition to being forest dwellers are scavengers, for the most part, of omniverous proclivity and are capable of leaving the forest for nearby sources of decaying organic matter such as those provided by the debris of human occupation. A. alternata, T. albolabris, and S. ovalis are typically encountered in Early Woodland features and floors. Their presence is usually in conjunction with evidence of organic remains such as bone and bivalve shell fragments. Parmalee (1972:3) suggests that such snails were attracted by the bivalve debris as a source of calcium. These characteristic behavior patterns suggest close proximity of the forest to the Early Woodland campsite in a clearing not far removed from the river bank. There is a comment on the Schultz site made by Fred Dustin, an amateur archaeologist and longtime resident of the Saginaw area (who died at the age of 91 in 1959) about a phenomenon that still existed in early historic times and may have been operating as early as the 6th century B. C. Dustin (1929a) observed a deer lick near what is i:J.ow 20SAl. This oozing salt brine may have added to the attractiveness of the area to deer. Human populations would have valued both deer and salt source. Further commentary on the character of the Schultz site has been recently offered by Art Graves, a member of the Saginaw Valley Chapter of the Michigan Archaeological Society, who has shared some pertinent recollections from a lifetime spent in the vicinity of the Schultz farm. There have been years of low water when the Tittabawassee shrank to 50 feet in width and scarcely 8 feet in depth, and times when strong winds have blown the water completely out of the Saginaw River. During floods, the high waters scour the riverbed opposite 20SA1 (see Fig. 3) and reveal the nearest source of stone for the fire cracked rock at Schultz. The riverbed elsewhere is predominantly stiff clay like much of the soil of the Shiawassee Flats.

THE SCHULTZ SITE 20SA2 is the excavated portion of an occupation area that is known from surface collections to extend nearly a mile (at least) along the north (left) bank of the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers. Excavations (Fig. 4) were undertaken by the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology on a levee on farm land owned by Mr. Reuben Schultz. The levee elevation rose from about 581 feet at the river surface to 590 feet. Elevation of the major portion of the excavated area lay between 587 feet and 589 feet. The Early Woodland occupation lay for the greater part beneath the land enclosed by the 588 foot contour line. (This contour line will be on occasion used as a

14

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

t N II Bl

We

lli

Figure 3. Schultz site soil types. The kawkawlin (kj, k£ and kl) soils are the better drained heavy soils found in the Moraine area. The Brookston (Bl) loam, the Wisner (We) clay loam, the Griffin (Gc, Gm) loams, and the Genessee (Gv, Ge) soils are subject to overflow. The Gv soil of the levee area is agriculturally the best of the soils subject to overflow. It has good natural drainage and aeration, neither plastic when wet nor hard when drv. Mel indicates made land (from Moon et a!. 1938).

1964

1965

Datum

1111

s

1963

1962

1:>3

D D

*

*

Soil columns

EW Radiocarbon

dotes

460 Line of !962 test pits

LEGEND

-·-·-

Concentration

N.W. Shell

koo·O·O·O·OO·.o,o,oo·o,o,ol

20 SA 2

THE SCHULTZ SITE

Figure 4.

Schultz Site Excavations.

scale 40FT.

~

0

C/1.

f-.
~

Oo

THE SCHULTZ SITE

19

every map opposite 20SA2) that makes Green Point an island was not there prior to lumbering days. This channel was cut by early loggers, and the removed soil which was removed was hauled by horse and wagon to be dumped in mounds at Green Point. In his youth, Art Graves thought these mounds were of Indian origin until his investigation revealed the layers of bark and shell fragments. He has also pointed out the location of an old survey stake at the eastern end of Green Point and the location described as "gathering grounds" of early historic Indians.

HISTORY OF INVESTIGATION AND PUBLICATION The Saginaw Valley was well populated by Indian groups in prehistoric and historic times until shortly after the Cass Treaty ofl819. Since that date, the white replacement population has not succeeded entirely in obliterating the traces of prehistoric inhabitants (Hinsdale 1931). Collectors of artifacts were active in the 19th century to the extent that a Michigan archaeologist, Harlan I. Smith (1901), was able to assemble an exhibit of Saginaw Valley archaeology that occupied 60 square feet at the World's Columbian Exhibition in 1893. There have been and are now a number of diligent amateur archaeologists in the Saginaw Valley and Saginaw County in particular. Among them was Fred Dustin, who wrote many papers about the sites and trails of the aborigines of the Saginaw Valley. The single most impressive village site he described was the area sampled by 20SA2 and known to Dustin as the Green Point Mounds Village (Dustin 1929a, 1929b, 1932). Both Fred Dustin and his friend Ralph Stroebel made surface collections from the areas of the Green Point Mounds Village. In the collections which they later presented to the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology were projectile points and sherds diagnostic of all the past cultural periods known during the 1960s. Although Early Woodland projectile points were present, it was the inclusion of Middle Woodland points and sherds that led to recognition of Green Point Mounds Village as a Middle Woodland site. It was this recognition that led eventually to the Museum's program of excavation. The name Green Point deserves some commentary. Fred Dustin (1932) has explained that the point of land between the Tittabawassee and Shiawassee rivers, shown in Figure 2, was originally given an Indian name meaning Green Point. However, in historic times the name has been misapplied to what has become approximately the area of the Schultz farm, that "land which forms the south boundary of Saginaw West Side." Dustin himself gave the name Green Point Mound Village. More recently the

20

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

name Green Point has been given to the site numbered 20SA1 (Wright 1964). In the present study when the term Green Point is used, it refers to the latter archaeological site. In more recent years, Arthur H. Graves has continued surface collecting along the levee in the old village area and to the east. In these collections which he has generously given to the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology are a number of Early Woodland projectile points and sherds as well as artifacts of Middle and Late Woodland derivation. Fitting has recounted the preliminary testing of the Schultz site and the following four years of excavation (1972). The Schultz site has deservedly become a well-known site due to an extensive excavation program maintained by the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology during the 1960s and the publication in 1972 of Museum ofAnthropology Memoir No.4 entitled The Schultz Site at Green Point: A Stratified Occupation Area in the Saginaw Valley of Michigan (Fitting 1972). Papers in this multi-authored volume present the background of investigation into the potential of this site, the history of excavation, the environmental setting, the major categories of organic and inorganic cultural material recovered in the four years of excavation, results of the subsequent years oflaboratory study, and an interpretive history of the site. Prior to publication of the site report, however, several studies had informed the profession about this site. An article by Wright (1964) on the Green Point site was followed by major studies in the ethnobotany (Yarnell 1964) and ethnozoology (Cleland 1966) of the Great Lakes region which included floral and faunal material from the first two years of excavation at Schultz. While the Memoir was being assembled, The Archaeology of Michigan (Fitting 1970) was published, in which the Schultz site received considerable attention. This volume provided valuable information about Middle and Late Woodland periods and made available the only details known at that time on Early Woodland culture in Michigan. The paucity of Early Woodland data emphasized the unique position of the Schultz site as an extensive Early Woodland occupation stratified beneath Middle and Late Woodland deposits. The wealth of material from the Schultz site has superbly justified the resources invested in its excavation. This is emphatically the case, in spite of the lack of a clear statement of a unified problem orientation for the program of excavation and analysis. The program objective seemed to shift from the search for a Middle Woodland site to investigation of the stratigraphy of a deeply stratified site, a rarity in Michigan, to elucidation of the function of the Middle Woodland enclosure and its relationship to the site as a whole in time and space. The papers published in Fitting's 1972 report are either background preparation or analyses of cultural material, presenting categories as they change through time in a

THE SHULTZ SITE

21

chronological perspective and emphasizing their relationship to the Middle Woodland circle of post molds.

Chapter 3

STRATIGRAPHY OF THE SCHULTZ SITE

An understanding of the Early Woodland adaptation at the Schultz site depends in large part upon the stratigraphic separation of this occupation from later cultural horizons and upon the spatial extent of this occupation over the site. As most of the excavations containing Early Woodland material were units that had been carried down to the basal sands, the soil profiles of certain trenches and squares have been useful in answering the questions of separation and the spatial extent of this occupation. The site is a levee that developed as the lake level dropped toward the elevation of modern Lake Huron at 580 feet. Paralleling the levee on the south side was a river channel that has shifted progressively south until the present channel of the modern Tittabawassee formed. As the river shifted, the levee expanded. To the north of this levee a back swamp extended toward the Saginaw Moraine. The levee in the area of 20SA1 and 20SA2, now part of the Schultz farm, varies in width 200 to 700 feet. Wright (1973) has described the geology and environment of the Green Point site at 20SA1 half a mile to the east of 20SA2, and his comments apply in a general sense to 20SA2. Both sites existed on the same levee at slightly different elevations and were reasonably contemporary, as attested by their radiocarbon dates. The vertical contour of the levee was sculptured by seasonal Roods that also carved channels through the levee to the lower back swamps. This cutting and filling has made it difficult to align the strata exposed by the 20SA2 north-south trench with the strata of the various cuts made at 20SA1. However, it is certain that 20SA1 at its lower elevation at 581 feet could have been available as a campsite only in a very dry season. In contrast, the higher elevation of the Schultz site offered more living space. The vertical definition of the Early Woodland surfaces were clearly estab-

23

24

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

lished by the profiles of the machine trenches dug in the 1963 season (Taggart 1963). Later John Speth analyzed the soil profile on the east wall of the major north-south trench connecting the series ofl964 20x20 foot excavation units (1972). This analysis follows the development of the levee from the earliest deposit, Unit 1, a lake bed, up through the latest depositional Unit 11, the modern plow zone. The levee has had five phases of depositions, each separated from the other by: a) disconformities representing periods of erosion; or b) a wide-spread sterile deposit between occupations. The phases comprise eleven depositional units differentiated by soil color and content, reflecting the distinct processes of their formation. Three depositional units enclose the Early Woodland occupation. These units (Speth's 2, 3, 4) unconformably overlie Unit 1 which is composed of bedded lake sands. Unit 2 changes from light grayish brown sandy loam to a mottled darker sandy loam in the north and to a mottled gray sandy loam in the south. Unit 3, conformably overlying Unit 2, consists of darker sandy loam and darker sandy clay loam with a heavy organic content indicating "prolonged periods of ponded water or swampy conditions at the site" (Speth 1972:64). In the period of Depositional Unit 3, the environment permitted some seasonal occupation on the knoll or levee site. Unit 4 continues the evidence for swampy conditions, which were decreasing in extent. Visual evidence is the grayish brown to dark grayish brown loam. During the deposition of Unit 4, the major Early Woodland occupation took place. Speth places the elevation of the Early Woodland surface as at least 584.4 feet. The later part of Unit 4 corresponds to Wright's Zone III which encloses the level of Early Woodland component at 20SA1, Green Point. Unit 5 marks a change toward increasing dryness and a southerly shift of the channel and consequent filling of the earlier stream bed. The soil of Unit 5 varied from brown loam in the north to a light sandy clay loam in the channel area. No evidence of Early Woodland occupation has been found in this unit. The subsequent Depositional Unit 6 is of limited extent in a north-south direction; it was primarily a filling in of the early channel abandoned during the Unit 5 episode. Later Early Woodland units were found in the overlying channel fill that constitutes Unit 6. The soil samples available to Speth were taken from points along the east wall of the north-south trench: 520E590, 563E590, 711E590 (Fig. 4). Although texture, pH and alkali-soluble organic content were determined for each of the depositional units, it was the soil color that was most useful in guiding excavators in the field. These color distinctions were characterized by reference to Munsell Soil Color Charts (1954). Listed in Table 1 are the

STRATIGRAPHY

25

Table l. Soil Samples Soil Sample at 7llE590 (North)

Soil Sample at 563E590 (South)

Unit

Depth Munsell Color Name (feet)

Depth Munsell Color Name (feet)

Sa

0.3 0.4 0.8 0.4

0.8 0.2 0.3 0.7 3.5

4

3 2 lb

10YR3/3 dark brown 10YR3/2 very dark gray brown 10YR2/2 very dark brown lOYRS/3 brown lOYRS/3 brown

10YR3/2 very dark gray brown 10YR2/2 very dark brown 10YR2/2 very dark brown lOYRS/3 brown lOYRS/3 brown

Munsell readings for those samples of Speth's depositional units that concern the Early Woodland occupation: 563E590 and 711E590. These color changes were noted by David Taggart in his field summary of the 1963 season (n. d.) and were apparent to the excavators as they troweled. Square sheets note the change of color and coincidence of Early Woodland material within "dark brown areas" or "dark brown friable silts" in contrast with "medium brown silts" which enclosed sparse Middle Woodland material in lower Unit 7. The appearance of dark brown silts breaking through the medium brown signaled the appearance of Early Woodland levels. Taggart's symbols for the four major cultural periods at Schultz are related on Figure 6 to Speth's phases of deposition. Within the major phases, the actual levels of deposition are numbered 1 through 11. Excavation levels refer to these numbers. Unit 4, for example, is Excavation Level 4 which contains the major Early Woodland component. Taggart's symbol I represents the entire period before there was evidence ofhuman occupation at the Schultz site. His symbols IIa, b, c, d indicate the Early Woodland components. Symbol III represents the Middle Woodland and IV represents the Late Woodland component. The vertical position of the major Early Woodland component has been located in Depositional Unit 4. Radiocarbon readings were obtained that place the upper level of Depositional Unit 4 within the last half of the 6th century B.C. Charcoal from Feature 62 in Excavation Unit 20x20B provided a radiocarbon date of 2480 ± 150 years ago (M -1525). A second date of 2490 ± 130 (M-1524) was made on charcoal from Feature 48 in 20x20D. At the nearby Green Point site (20SA1), a date of 2480 ± 120 years ago was obtained for the Early Woodland component there. The vertical position of the Early Woodland component at Schultz has been examined in the preceding paragraphs and summarized in Figure 6.

26

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

The horizontal or spatial extent of the Early Woodland is to be described in the following section. All locations refer to the numbered units shown in Figure 5. Surface contour of the section (20SA2) of the Schultz farm reflects in a general way the underlying contour of the site during the early centuries of occupation. The area lying within the modern 588 foot contour was, during the 6th century B.C., as it is now, the highest surface. The early surface of Unit 4 parallels the present surface but at a depth varying ca. 2. 0 feet below the 588 foot elevation. Within this line, the complete sequence of depositional strata is preserved so that Units 2 and 5 enclose the Early Woodland occupations that occur in Units 3 and 4. This area, shaded on the site map, Figure 5, will be designated Area I. The area west and south of the 588 foot contour will be designated Area II. The modern contour is used as a dividing line between Areas I and II because it conveniently coincides with the division in distribution of the Early Woodland and Late Early Woodland cultural material. Between 550E590 and 700E590, Units 2, 3, 4, 5 parallel the modern surface without interruption. Between these points, Units 3 and 4 formed the surface of the levee in the 6th century B.C. At about 530E590, these units drop below the then active channel. Speth's study has determined the north-south extent of Unit 4. The southern limit of Unit 4 was bounded by the early channel whose northern bank cut across the trench at 540E570-590. Profiles drawn for outlying excavation units help define the east-west extent of the Early Woodland. Depositional Unit 4 survives as far east as square 590E700 where a complete depositional sequence remains. This excavation unit will be regarded as peripheral to Area I in the east. A remnant of Unit 4 is recorded deep under channel fill in Machine Trench 2, between 500 feet north and the southern terminus. Trench 2, a narrow 30 inch trench, dug by machine in 1963, provided a north-south profile which shows that depositional Unit 4 is directly overlaid by Unit 5 from the northern terminus to 50 feet from the southern terminus. At 50 feet north where all the sediments follow a sharp decline, the remnant of Unit 4 intervenes between Units 3 and 5. The upper surface of Unit 3 is maintained at a fairly level depth, l. 0 feet to l. 5 feet below the surface from 270 feet north to 58 feet north. Here the Unit 3 surface drops to 4.25 feet below the surface and continues to drop to more than 6 feet below the surface at 40 feet north. From this point it drops below the excavation and beyond trench limits. There are scatters of cultural material in Depositional Unit 3 ofTrench 2 at the following points: 268-270 feet N-a charcoal concentration (lower Unit 3) 257 feet N-4 chert flakes (upper Unit 3)

STRATIGRAPHY

Old 563E 700E Channel 590 590 Symbol

Phase

Area 11

v

Culture

27

Ceramic Ware

Radiocarbon Date

South North 11

11

IV

Plow Zone

IV

Late Woodland

9

Illb

8c

Illb

8b

Illb

Sa

Ilia

Late Middle Woodland Late Middle Woodland Late Middle Woodland Early Middle Woodland

lO

Mixed A.D. 1180

Cordmarked

Disconformity IV

n 0

c h a n n e

A.D. 450A.D. 390

Ruben Linear Green Point Green Point Tittabawassee

I Disconformity III

2nd

7

(7?)

Tittabawassee Shiawassee

lid

c h a n n e

I

6

lid

Late Early Woodland

Shiawassee

f 0

II

r m s

5b

5a

5a

c h a n n e

a c t i v e

4

4

lie

3

3

lib

2

2

II a

Sterile Early Woodland

530 B.C. 540 B.C.

Schultz Thick

Traces of Occupation Levee Development Begins ca. 550B.C.

I Disconformity I

Lake Level Drop lb

I

la

I

Lacustrine Sands

Algoma Lake Stage

Swamp Deposit

3100 B.C. 2300 B.C.

Figure 6. Correlation of Speth's depositional units, cultural period, and ceramic ware.

28

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

214 feet 216-200 feet 106-105 feet 89 feet

N-charcoal and fire cracked rock concentration N -scatters of sherds, fire cracked rock and charcoal N-charcoal in depression at base of Unit 3 N-concentration of charcoal, bone, chert

Based on the trench's profile, it is possible to state that Unit 4 may have reached its easternmost extent along the line of Trench 2, but was eroded away long ago, perhaps by Hood water. Unit 3 attests to a sparse occupation in a level earlier than Level4. In the west wall extension of Trench 2, well within Unit 3, were the remains of a large hearth with fire reddened soil in a profile at least 5 feet long, from 56 feet north to 61 feet north. This feature is among the earliest at Schultz. This feature was covered by later silt deposits of Units 3 and 4, and later water action swirled around it and left the hearth area as a higher erosional element subsequently covered by Depositional Unit 5. A Late Early Woodland manifestation found just above the fill of the old channel occurs in sediments of Depositional Unit 6. As shown in the east profile (Speth 1972:59) the latter unit dwindles and disappears before reaching the excavated squares of Area I where Depositional Unit 7 bearing Middle Woodland materials directly overlies Unit 5b, a culturally sterile stratum. These Late Early Woodland features or floors of Area II are found in Excavation Units 490E630, 500E600, 510E570, 510E500, Trench 7, 580E360, Trench 6 Northwest and Trench 6 East Extension, Northwest Shell Concentration, and Test Pit 4. The only radiocarbon date for Area II was obtained on a sample of walnuts and butternuts within a hearth, Feature 64-74. Unfortunately the date obtained was unacceptable: A.D. 380± 120 (M-1644). This date was absolutely too late because Feature (Hearth) 64-7 4 was built within Depositional Unit 6 well below Unit 7, according to the south wall profile. Speth (1972:65) attributes the late date to rodents bringing Middle Woodland material into the feature. There is no doubt as to the position of Feature 64-74 in Depositional Unit 6, which is limited to the channel area. Unit 7 conformably follows on Unit 6. A disconformity in depositional activity intervenes between Units 7 and 8. Late in Unit 8, a feature provided material for a radiocarbon date of A.D. 310 ± 120 (M-1646) that was entirely compatible with the associated later Middle Woodland material. Therefore, the later Early Woodland with Shiawassee ware remains undated but appears from the depositional record to be somewhat later than the major Early Woodland occupation and earlier than the typical Middle Woodland. Speth's study of the geological evidence for land forms at the Schultz sit~ makes two references to the position of the river channel that flowed near by. The channel's position early in the history of the Schultz site levee was far enough north that the channel north bank crossed the north-south 1964

STRATIGRAPHY

29

trench at 540E590. The south bank crossed the trench at about 490E590. The low point in the channel lay between 510E590 and 514E590 (Fig. 5). During the history of the site, the channel gradually shifted further toward the south. While Depositional Unit 5 was in progress, the channel north bank shifted to a new position between 515 and 510E590. Examination of the square sheets and Trench 2 profile makes it possible to discern the eastern and western continuance of the earlier channel north bank. To the east, the Trench 2 profile has placed the north bank at 55 feet north, just south of Feature 44. To the west, Excavation Unit 580E360 was taken down through channel fill to 5. 2 feet below surface to the top of the inclined beds of the river channel. These beds first were noted as concentric strata curving away from the northeast corner. The probable northern bank of the early Tittabawassee is indicated in Figure 5. More evidence of the early channel's course is found in Excavation Unit 500E600 which has a north-south profile, showing that the unit was positioned somewhat to the north of the south bank as indicated by the two lowest levels of deposits that tilt up from north to south. The upper 3 feet of deposits are laid horizontally, representing channel fill. A sterile layer separates two late Early Woodland hearths from upper levels containing Middle Woodland material in the channel fill. In the old filled channel, late Early Woodland levels are distinctly isolated from later occupations. The compiled evidence is for an early river channel south of Area I and south of 55 feet north as measured on Machine Trench 2.The early channel seems to have curved from the northwest to the southeast. As it filled in, a later Early Woodland occupation was built upon the fill, followed by a period of deposition without cultural debris, and of undetermined duration. The filled-in channel was later capped by strata of deposits containing Middle and Late Woodland cultural debris. It was during the deposition of Unit 3 that land surfaces at the Schultz site were first available for occupation. Evidence that some occasional occupation did occur has been presented. Such seasonal campsites could not have long preceded, in terms of human generations, the Unit 4 occupation; perhaps they preceded it by only a decade or two, if the dis conformity separating Units 1 and 2 can be approximately dated to the mid-6th century B.C. (Speth 1972:61). The duration of Early Woodland at Schultz terminated at the upper limit of Depositional Unit 4. Over all the site, the sterile Unit 5 indicates a break in continuity between the major Early Woodland and the late Early Woodland. The latter phase may be both late and brief, or it may be better represented in unexcavated parts of the site to the west, below the aborted machine stripping. Stratigraphic separation of the Early Woodland horizon occupation is clear in the excavation units of Area I. The geological and visual separation

30

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

is accompanied by differential vertical distribution of artifacts, including debitage. In Area II where late Early Woodland features and floors were recovered just above channel fill, the separation from Middle Woodland is fairly clear in all units except Trench 6 where the silts bearing Middle Woodland artifacts cut irregularly into sediments bearing Early Woodland material. The cultural inventory to be presented in following sections will clarifY the difference between Areas I and II.

Chapter4

PALEOETHNOBOTANY

Floral remains from the 6th century B. C. have provided valuable knowledge of the environment that Early Woodland inhabitants drew upon for material and subsistence resources. While preservation by carbonization accounts for most of the identifiable plant remains from the past, preservation by inclusion in an anaerobic vegetal layer and by impression upon plastic clay have also occurred. Recovery methods followed up by laboratory identification and analysis are necessary to capitalize on these remains (Ford 1972). Recovery methods include a research goal and careful observation. Although collection methods aimed at recovery of archaeological flora were still fairly new in the early 1960s, a sufficient number of features and amount of midden were fine screened or saved to provide a rather large inventory of carbonized remains from the Schultz site. Identification of these plant remains has expanded our knowledge of the ecology of 20SA2 and has helped explicate the site's position in a hypothesized seasonal round. Additionally, the differential distribution of plant remains has aided in defining activity areas. Collection of floral remains during the first two seasons proceeded by hand screening levels and features by one-quarter inch screen and window screen. During the 1964 season, upon the initiative of crew members, soil samples were taken from features as they were excavated. Results of analysis of Schultz site floral remains have appeared in three papers, Yarnell (1964), Allison (1972), and Brunett (1972), but none of these investigators had the privilege of working with all the recovered material. Yarnell's fine study of ethnobotanical relationships in the Great Lakes area included only the earliest excavated material of the 1962 Schultz site season. He could survey only walnut and acorn remains from the Middle Woodland and nothing from earlier levels because of the limited exposure of the site in the season to which he had access. 31

32

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

April Allison's paper on the plant remains is limited to remains from all the levels of one square, 510E570, and most of the features recovered in the 1964 season. There was little Early Woodland material in this square. The total recovered material that she was able to report as Early Woodland (combining her Tables 20 and 22) was 3. 05 grams of walnut, 7. 2 grams of butternut, 0.8 grams of hickory, 0.1 grams of acorn, and no seeds. Fel Brunett's paper reports identification of wood charcoal from 21 hearths. Among these were two Early Woodland hearths yielding charcoal of maple, northern red oak, and eastern hemlock. All but maple were found in one hearth, 64-16, in 510E570. The second hearth (64-72, in 510E570) provided the sample of maple. Allison and Brunett both had hand-sorted specimens to identifY. Since none of these previous studies of Schultz site floral material summarized the total floral remains, it is necessary here to collate and analyze all charred remains from the Early Woodland levels. In addition to augmenting identification, such an approach also permits study of any significant spatial difference in distribution, particularly with reference to Areas I and II. Accordingly, all the soil samples, feature samples and ethnobotanical specimens were sorted for those with Early Woodland proveniences. In the files of the Ethnobotany Range (UMMA) were macroscopically selected samples of nut and charcoal from the 1962 and 1963 seasons, April Allison's 1964 season identifications, Fel Brunett's charcoal identification, soil samples obtained by Wright and used in Speth's geological study, and the samples of soil from 21 features and wall profiles excavated in 1964. All these sources, plus field notes, were assembled for a consolidated analysis of plants utilized by the Early Woodland population of the Schultz site. In essence, the project was viewed as an opportunity to complete unfinished identifications and apply flotation methods to the extant geological and feature samples. Our efforts were aimed at identification of the entire extant Early Woodland floral assemblage. Underneath the stated goal was a desire to overlook no possible evidence of cultigens. The author undertook flotation and microscopic examination of the geological samples and features in autumn 1975. Only the geological samples at the 560E590' position (Speth 1972:55) have provenience in the relevant levels at depths of -1. 9, - 2.1, - 2.5, -2.7 feet. None of these yielded plant material. Tiny snails and univalve fragments ranging in size down from 1.2 centimeters in length (Helisoma campanulatum and Campeloma dicisum) and a few tiny bivalve shells no more than 0. 5 centimeters in size together comprised the light float at - 2. 7 feet. At - 2. 5 and - 2.1 feet, there were successively fewer shells, and at -1.9 feet there were no snails, only a few fragments of bivalve nacre. This succession of molluscs corres-

33

PALEOETHNOBOTANY

ponds to the drying of the site and the southward withdrawal of the river's edge (Brose 1972). Twenty-three samples were passed through flotation process, and only three yielded charred plant remains other than charcoal. These samples contained fragments ofhickory, walnut, butternut, and nut shell fragments too small for identification. Added to the fine screen samples of feature contents, these brought to nine the total number of features known to contain charred nuts. The combined inventory of charred nut/seed fragments is presented in Appendix A. The total weights of recovered nut remains are: hickory-7. 77 grams, butternut-14.11 grams, walnut-9.13 grams, and unidentified nut fragments-1.41 grams. The ratio of nut species collected for the total inventory is roughly 1:2:1.3 for hickory, butternut, walnut. When divided by area, the nut harvests break down as: Hickory

Butternut

Walnut

Total

Area I Area II

4.88 2.89

3.38 10.73

3.37 5.76

11.63 19.38

Total

7.77

14.11

9.13

31.01 grams

A definite selective preference for nuts of ]uglans and Carya is strongly indicated by the very small amount of charred acorn in view of the number of instances that Quercus was included in hearth fuel. It is also apparent from charred wood identifications that oak was prominent in the forested area familiar to the Schultz people. Area II proveniences are later in temporal sequence, but the species availability of nut harvests was the same, with differences in proportion possibly attributable to fluctuating nut harvests, or possibly due to some micro-environmental change favoring ]uglans cinerea (butternut) and ]uglans nigra (walnut) over Carya ovata (shagbark hickory). These differences can only be suggestive due to the absence of a comprehensive sampling program during the several years of investigation. Nevertheless, it was informative to map the horizontal distribution of nut proveniences over the Early Woodland as shown in Figure 7. Charred plant remains occur with a distinct areal distribution. Some control for the reliability of this distribution pattern is offered by the position of provenience for the soil samples obtained during the 1964 excavation, indicated by ( +) in Figure 4. Charred nut remains have a southern placement on the site which, when combined with other artifact distributions, will indicate activity areas distinct from those in squares to the north. (This will be more fully explored in a later section.)

34

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

1

670E570

D

630E570

580E360

D

c

3

K5~6

East ext.

590E700

590E570 6

B

A

4

550E570

\) Tr. 7

D

1

D

510E500

&

3

510E570

Tr. 2 ext.

2

D 50 0ED 600 490E630

Figure 7.

Distribution of nut lots.

PALEOETHNOBOTANY

35

All the nut species have similar habitat requirements and these are satisfied in the Schultz site locality. In his chapter on native plant utilization, Yarnell (1964) provides the following data on nut species found in the Saginaw Valley. All thrive in rich woods and on river banks. The three that are available in early autumn but have some variation in good crop years are Carya ovata, with good crops every 1-3 years; ]uglans cinerea, with good crops every 2 or 3 years; and]uglans nigra, with irregular good crops. All three occur in mixed stands so that crop irregularity may balance to maintain their dependability as a regular resource.

PROCESSING OF THE NUT HARVEST The distribution of recovered nut lots includes the channel area (Area II) and the southern half of Area I. Numerous campsites and several temporal periods were the scene of nut harvesting. There is no evidence for storage. The low elevation and threat of flooding would make the Schultz site a poor location for storage pits. Juglans and Carya are bulky, although not impossible-to store. The Michigan climate would make difficult the preservation of nuts stored above ground by the hunter-gatherers; therefore underground storage, if employed at all, would have required transporting the nuts to some more suitable location. However, if the nut meats were converted to oil, a bulky resource could be reduced to a more easily manageable concentrate. Another aspect of converting these hard shelled nuts to a food resource is the very hard shell buttressed by complex interior sections. To retrieve nut meat from within these hard shells is a painstaking task (even if assigned to children), taking more time than the quantity may have been worth relative to other available resources. Nut shell in Salts Cave feces is mute evidence that nut meats and small pieces of shell were swallowed indiscriminately (Watson 1969); however, the human digestive system probably has a limited tolerance for this degree of roughage. A more palatable way to consume these hard shelled nuts in quantity is in the form of nut oil. The abundance of evidence at Schultz is for the processing of nuts in a way that requires crushing, and it associates hearths and sherds. Battle (1922) has gathered ethnographic reports concerning the manufacture and use of nut oil by settled agricultural Indians. Oil of walnut and hickory was highly valued among Indians visited by early Spanish explorers, by the explorers themselves, and by 18th century colonials on the eastern seaboard both for their own consumption and export. These accounts cover briefly the steps in processing beginning with cracking nuts between stones and then:

36

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

boiling cracked portions without separating the meats from the shells, in a suitable pot which had also been made by the women. This caused separation of the oil ... it rose rapidly to the top and was skimmed off and stored in pots of suitable size provided with covers. [Battle 1927:176]

And from C. C. Jones, Jr. quoted by Battle: ... walnuts and hickory nuts were diligently collected, cracked and boiled in vessels, when the oil, which rose to the surface, was skimmed off ... [ ibid.]

Still another quote by Battle from Bartram: I have seen above an hundred bushels of these nuts, shell barked hiccory ... stored up by one family (of the Creeks). They pound them to pieces, and then cast them into boiling water, which often passing through strainers, preserves the most oily part of the liquid; this they call by a name which signifies hiccory milk. It is as sweet and rich as fresh cream, and is an ingredient in most of their cookery, especially homony and corn cakes. [Battle 1922:177]

Essentially the method of preparation appears to be a simple one, but requiring skill in handling the materials. 1he quantity of charred nut shell remains is not a satisfactory gauge of the quantity of nuts harvested, since there is no way to determine how much of the processed nut shells were consumed by fire (assuming that after processing the shells were burned as fuel or trash). The number of nut lots recovered (30, see Appendix A) might possibly be taken as the maximum number of nut processing episodes detected. However, there are several references that can provide a glimpse of the quantity of nuts involved in nut processing. Battle (1922) provides an ethnohistoric account of storage oflarge amounts of nuts by agricultural Indians of the Southeast. Asch, Ford, and Asch (1972) in considering the nut harvest of hickory trees from a forested environment allowed one-half bushel per mature tree. Battle (1922) reported that 100 pounds of hickory nuts might produce 1.2 gallons of oil by modern methods of extraction and black walnut by the same method would produce 0.625 gallons per 100 pounds of whole nuts. 1he tiny weight of charred nut shells that survived in the archaeological record is not as useful a gauge of the quantity of nut processing at Schultz site as is the number of nut shell lots as representative of nut processing episodes. 1hese are a measure of the considerable importance accorded to nut oil by the Early Woodland people at 20SA2. This importance may have been been attributed to the high nutritive value of these hard shelled nuts. 1he following chart of the nutritional content of three nut species has been abstracted from Asch, Ford, and Asch (1972):

PALEOETHNOBOTANY

Hickory

Black Walnut Butternut

37

Calories 100 Grams

Percent Protein

Percent Fat

Percent Ash

Percent Carbohydrate

715 or 673

13.9

67.4

2.0

13.2

13.2

68.7

2.0

12.8

672 or 623

18.3

58.2

2.1

18.7

20.5

59.3

2.3

14.8

23.7

61.2

2.9

8.4

23.7

61.2

2.9

8.4

679 or 629

At the Schultz site are found crushed nuts, hearths, and sherds of open heavy pots suitable for boiling (simmering?) but not for storage. What is there suitable for storage? From various caves and rock shelters (Appendix C) comes evidence of the use of squash as containers. At the Schultz site itself as well as at Green Point (really an extension of Schultz) there is evidence of squash. Again, relying upon Battle, we find an observation from the 17th century Spaniards: There was an abundance oflard in calabashes drawn like olive oil, which the inhabitants said was the fat of the bear. There was found likewise much oil of walnuts, which like the lard was clear and of good taste .... [Battle 1922:174]

This reference indicates the use of a cucurbit for storage of oils. Although in this case the calabash may have been a Lagenaria, it is clear, together with the rock shelter evidence, that cucurbits were suited to contain fats. It is postulated from the accumulated evidence that nuts, sherds, and squash are associated in a food processing system during the fall season of the Early Woodland subsistence cycle.

IDENTIFICATION OF WOOD CHARCOAL Wood charcoal identified from 10 proveniences fills out the inventory of deciduous hard wood forest from which Schultz people drew their firewood and construction material. Appendix B presents the 11 species identified together with their proveniences. Charcoal for identification taken from 4 of the 11 post molds includedJugZans spp. in Features 64-109 and 64-105

38

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

and Plantanus in 64-108 and F-60. Fuel for hearth features tended to be a mixture of species, which suggests casual gathering of wood for burning. Two hearths, both oval basin-shaped features, Type I, 64-25 and 64-66, contained only oak as fuel. Figure 8 indicates distribution of species over the site. All species identified, except two, are common to fairly frequent in southern half of Lower Michigan (Otis 1926) and prefer rich, moist, welldrained soils and bottom lands including river banks. Only Ostrya and Tsuga, if correctly identified, are derived from environments other than that of the Schultz site. Ostrya (hornbeam) prefers gravelly slopes and ridges. Tsuga (hemlock) prefers well drained lands. Edaphic conditions for both these species may have been satisfied at the 600 foot elevation (moraine) a mile north of the site. These two species could have been driftwood as well. The environment preferred by the fuel woods used suggests that the local forests were mixed deciduous hardwoods. Little preference in fuel is demonstrated. Only one hearth contained one species of wood charcoal. In all others there was a mixture of species used as fuel. In other words, all convenient forest litter was gathered, including driftwood. Table 2.

Charcoal Identified from Features

Tree Species Used as Post Molds ]uglans (butternut, walnut)

Plantanus (sycamore) Occurrence ofldentified Species as Fuel in Hearths Acer (maple) Carya (hickory) Fraxinus (ash) ]uglans (butternut, walnut) Ostrya (hornbeam) Plantanus (sycamore) Populus (poplar) Quercus (oak) Tsuga (hemlock) Prunus (cherry) Ulmus(elm) Alnus (alder) Salix (willow)

Location 64-109 64-105 64-108 F-60 Number 2 5 4 3 1 1 4 8 1 2 3 1 2

SQUASH The most interesting evidence for plants utilized by the Early Woodland inhabitants of the Schultz site was not among the charred plant remains but

39

PALEOETHNOBOTANY

_j Quercus Juglans Populus Salix Juglans Quercus

Ulmus Juglans Quercus

Quercus Cary a Salix Ulmus Prunus (Cherry) Fraxinus Ulmus Quercus Cary a Salix Juglans

Platanus Quercus Alnus Acer Populus Juglans Cary a Quercus Betula Tsuqa

Ostrya Fraxinus Populus

Celtis

Platanus Conifer Acer

Figure 8.

Distribution of wood charcoal (tree species).

40

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

was preserved by a sherd. This miracle of preservation is the mold of a squash seed that had been rolled into the clay coil as the potter worked. Perhaps the potter was munching on squash seeds while at work constructing a clay vessel. Later the discarded pot broke into sherds. One sherd broke across the interior of the coil at the weak point created by the seed mold. The sherd, #68802, was found in the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of square 630E570, Level 4/5, securely within the midden of the major Early Woodland occupation. The sherd itself is a specimen of cordmarked Schultz Thick ware. The mold was a clear impression of the pericarp of Cucurbita pepo var ovifera, identified by Dr. Richard I. Ford. This is a small variety of squash with a hard rind, bearing edible seeds maturing in the late fall. The significance of this evidence for squash is threefold. Most importantly, it confirms the evidence of cultivated squash in the Saginaw Valley which was first reported by Volney Jones from samples taken from the 6th century B.C. levels of the nearby Green Point site (H.T. Wright 1964). Secondly, the Schultz and Green Point sites have afforded evidence of two varieties of squash being cultivated in the central Saginaw Valley during the 6th century B.C. The Green Point (20SA1) specimen is actually two seeds of Cucurbita pepo, a larger variety producing larger seeds. Thirdly, the very presence of two varieties of squash enhance the likelihood of squash cultivation at Schultz itself, because Green Point (20SA1) lies downstream from Schultz. Radiocarbon dates for the Schultz site's major Early Woodland occupation are 530 B.C. and 540 B.C. The con·esponding occupation at Green Point is radiocarbon dated 530 B.C. It is axiomatic that Cucurbita, being an early cultigen in Mexico-its native habitat-is here so far from its natural range that its presence in Michigan can only be the result of human intervention. Abundant archaeological occurrence of a plant well outside its range is good evidence for cultivation (Yarnelll964:79). Appendix C summarizes archaeological evidence for prehistoric squash in the eastern United States, as well as specific and nutritional data. Since squash was present at the Schultz site and down river at Green Point, its presence must be accounted for by cultivation in the vicinity of Schultz. There is no evidence for exchange. If squash were cultivated at Schultz by this essentially hunter-gatherer Early Woodland population, there would have been a need for two seasons of occupation on the Schultz levee: an early summer visit for planting and a fall visit for harvest. Evidence for two seasonal visits lends greater credibility to the likelihood of cultivation of squash at Schultz, and conversely the presence of squash seeds helps to establish the seasons of occupation at this location. We expeqt to demonstrate conclusively in the chapter on seasonality a concatenation of archaeological evidence for two temporally

PALEOETHNOBOTANY

41

distinct visits to this site-that is, that the mollusc harvest coincides with the planting season of squash and the squash harvest coincides with nut harvests. Cucurbita pepo var. ovifera matures in the fall. Carya ovata, ]uglans cinerea, and]. nigra are fully ripe in October. Possibly they may have been harvested earlier. The harvest would have been scheduled when the nut kernels were at their best with reference to both palatability and the processing method selected. These three nuts are consumed by squirrels while still green and long after the nuts have fallen. Green walnuts are delectable, but possibly their oil content is at a maximum only when the kernel has fully matured. C. pepo var. ovifera is the small, hard-shelled squash-like vegetable that is still sold for ornamental purpose in the late fall. For the Early Woodland period the Salts Cave, Kentucky, report contains the most extensive discussion of squash and evidence of its uses (Watson 1969). That squash was eaten is confirmed by the contents of two human feces: one included squash pollen, the other contained 12 squash seeds in addition to other seeds. These feces dated respectively 400 ± 140 B.C. and 290 ± 200 B.C. From these feces comes confirmation that seeds were eaten, and squash blossoms, too. (The latter dipped in batter and fried is still a delicacy.) That immature squash may have been eaten prehistorically is suggested by the definition of the word: Webster'S New International Dictionary gives the derivation of the word "squash" as of Algonkian origin meaning literally "eaten-green." The flesh of cucurbits according to Driver (1969) averages 10% protein. Squash seeds are definitely tasty as well as nutritious: they are high in fat and protein with an oil content of 45%. Wilson (1968) cites an example of C. Pepo seed having 46% fat, 34% protein, and 10% carbohydrate. Squash plants provide a certain amount of food in the blossom stage, in the immature fruit stage, and finally as seeds when the fruit has matured in the fall to a hard rind and dried flesh. The cultivation of cucurbits, however useful as food (seeds primarily), was equally likely for use as containers. The Ozark Bluff shelters (Gilmore 1931) and Salts Cave both yielded squash vessels made from the thickwalled, thin-fleshed C. pepo var. ovifera. In the Salts Cave collection were ten squash vessels having diameters ranging from 12 to 25 centimeters. All but one were "warty" squash (C. pepo). Gilmore (1931) mentions that among the Ozark Bluff dwellers C. pepo var. ovifera, called "egg-gourd" for its smooth shape, was used as containers for several functions from bottle to ladle. For containers, fruits matured on the vine were dried, probably most efficiently off the vine. It is possible that immature fruits, which are edible, too, were culled to encourage greater size in the remaining fruits. It is evident that the cultivation of squash for seed harvest and container mate-

42

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

rial would optimize one plant procurement system and would mesh with another procurement system centered on nut harvest. Like all cultivated squash, C. pepo is an annual, thereby implying the storage of seeds for cultivation in another year. In the case of this species with its tough rind, the fruit itself may have been an adequate storage container for seeds over the cold season. Storage could have posed no great challenge, since a single squash vessel could contain enough seeds for the next summer's planting.

Chapter 5

ARCHAEOZOOLOGY

PART I. FRESHWATER MUSSELS The freshwater mussels, Unionidae, of the Schultz site merit special attention because the Early Woodland levels contain the earliest campsite in Michigan from which a large portion of the faunal inventory is molluscan. The Schultz site is the first and thus far the only site in Michigan where mussels fill a significant role in the subsistence base. The ecology of the dominant bivalve species is therefore of considerable importance not only in relation to the resources available to the Early Woodland inhabitants of the site, but also as an aid to determining the season of occupation. David Brose (1972) identified the gastropods and pelecypods which formed so large a part of the total Schultz faunal remains. A summary of his study of the environmental information supplied by analysis of the ecology of the gastropods has been presented in an earlier chapter. None of the univalve molluscs were considered to have been food species at the Schultz site. In contrast, riverine bivalve species are known to have been important subsistence resources in states south of Michigan for several thousand years earlier. Since Brose's paper was published, the fauna of Apple Creek site in the Illinois Valley (Parmalee, Paloumpis, and Wilson 1972) has been analyzed which, together with Parmalee's study of the freshwater mussels of Illinois (1967), describes a similar freshwater mussel assemblage for the Illinois Valley. Brose identified 14 species of bivalves (1972:118) of which one alone accounts for over 66% of bivalve fragments. This shellfish (Amblema coslata) is among those species that "prefer and reach their greatest abundance in clear streams with some current and a bottom composed of coarse sand and gravel" (Parmalee, Paloumpis, and Wilson 1972:4). The three mussel

43

44

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

species next in importance (but much less significant) are Fusconaiajlava, Elliptio dilatatus, and Quadrula pustulosa. These also suggest a small stream environment. In Early Woodland times, such an environment was provided by the Tittabawassee on which the Schultz site is located and by the Saginaw River which conjoins nearby. Clearly these mussels were a convenient local resource. Through the entire site history, Amblema costata alone provided nearly 50% of the total bivalves, and in the Early Woodland 66%. Altogether, A. costata, E. dilatatus, F. jlava, and Q. pustulosa provide over 95% of the identified mussels (see Appendix D). Bivalve distribution over the Early Woodland levels is recorded in Table E of Appendix D. There is a scattering ofbivalves over all Early Woodland excavation units through time, with minor exceptions of 590E700, Tr2 Extension, 500E600, and the N -S Trench south of 510E570. In squares 650E540 and Trench 8 (among the first squares opened in 1962) a little shell was noted but not counted. It is curious that Area II excavation units are very low or totally lacking in mussels. Figure 9 maps the major count of bivalves and the excavation level in which they occurred. Mussels were counted by pairs of bivalves determined by counting a right and left beak as one complete mussel. (The beak is the dorsally inflated area of a mussel shell valve.) The resulting count is a minimal one, and the tally sheets for the 1964 season included a count of fragments identified as to species as well. Figure 9 maps the distribution of individual mussels (pairs of beaks) recovered for each square and indicates the level of most numerous occurrences (see also Appendix E). For the 1964 squares, the number of individuals should be recognized as minimal. The number of individual mussels in squares 20x20B, C and D should, however, be regarded as maximal because the tally sheets for these squares do not make clear whether the numbers represent whole individuals or half-shells. The latter is more likely according to the field notes. There is no doubt that mussels were an important part of subsistence. Their occurrence on floors and in features confirms this statement with several interesting associations. In addition to the generally light scatter of debris over Area I, bivalves tend to concentrate in small areas within those squares and levels where their number is greatest. In Level 5/6 of 20x20D there are several features and much activity centered around mussels. Along the north boundary of this square, Feature 53 is a refuse pit (a pit without signs of in situ fire) containing bone fragments, scavenger snails and 128 halves of the mussel Amblema costata. Many of these shells were stacked like saucers one upon the other, and many of the valves of these mussels were still joined. This pit was 4 feet to the east of a hearth and over the floor were many more mussels. Features 45, 47, and 59 in 20x20C and 20x20B are concentrations of cultural debris including mussels.

ARCHAEOZOOLOGY

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Distribution of mussels.

46

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

The Hoor at Level4 of square 550E570 was heavily littered with mussel shell, fire cracked rock and clay lumps. Noted in 630E570 was a concentration of fire cracked rock, charcoal, and untempered clay lumps. This clay considerably lightened the color of the entire level throughout which it was found, and this color change was marked in the areas of concentration. This feature (64-112) lacks precise boundaries yet accentuates the observation that in all the squares where bivalve count is very high there are also noticeable quantities of amorphous untempered clay lumps. It is possible that Feature 64-112 remains from an episode of baking clams in a clay "jacket" or oven. As mentioned, over the site high numbers of mussel shell coincide with the occurrence of clay lumps. The manner of preparation of mussels would be of considerable interest in explaining this coincidence. Boiling mussels toughens them, so other methods are preferable. Consumption raw is, of course, possible. However, other cooking methods were available, such as steaming and baking. Brose has mentioned that mussel shell at Schultz showed no sign of burning, yet mussels are associated with so many hearth features (see feature list) and concentrations of fire cracked rock that a method of steaming mussels was considered most feasible (after rejecting for lack of evidence the possibility of small earthen ovens). We believe the association of mussel shell and clay lumps, especially in F64-ll2, offers some evidence for the use of a clay jacket or oven for the baking of mussels. The following excerpt from Baker (1941) provides an interesting description of a facility for cooking mussels similar to that which may well have been constructed at Schultz. This example affords an explanation for the association of mussel shell and clay lumps because the clay jacket would have been broken up to remove the cooked shellfish. In this excerpt Baker is actually quoting at length the field notes of H. H. Simpson of the Peoria Academy of Science who excavated most of the pits at the Kingston site in the Illinois Valley, not far from Peoria. Simpson describes two pits both comparable with Schultz Early Woodland features: One small rounded pit, 14xl4 inches in diameter, was filled with 9 pairs of clam shells, the valves in their natural position. The shells were of the washboard type, Megalonaias gigantea. The shells were covered with 3 inches of clay burnt to a brick red and the shells were partly calcined. I have called this a forgotten, or unused clam bake. Another pit 14 x 20 inches in diameter contained 7 pairs of clam shells in natural position, in fact, so tightly closed that little dirt had penetrated the closed cavity. These were also of the washboard type of mussel, but there was no indication of fire. [Baker 1941:54]

Harvest, Season, and Availability of Mussels The interactions of several classes of fauna within the web of biological relationships affect the resource base of the Early Woodland adaptation,

ARCHAEOZOOLOGY

47

and several curious facts about freshwater mussels enrich our understanding of the ecology of the Schultz site. Freshwater mussels have a complex relationship with several vertebrates. The following remarks draw upon Van der Schalie (1938, 1944, 1960), Parmalee (1967), Parmalee et al. (1972) and Hart and Fuller (1974) and are limited in specific application to the fauna of the Schultz site environment. Next to man, the muskrat is the principal mammalian predator of freshwater mussels. The muskrat (Parmalee 1967:12) has a partially aquatic adaptation, and around the entrances to his burrow discarded mussels may be seen. To a lesser degree raccoon, otters, and mink also feed upon mussels. With fish, mussels have a peculiar two-way relationship: certain fish such as drum and sheepshead feed almost exclusively on mussels and, on the other hand, freshwater mussels ofNorth America have a life cycle that requires a brief sojourn parasitizing fish. Each mussel species has a specific host fish, which may sometimes be host to several mussel species. The host does not necessarily need to be one that feeds upon mussels. The mussels most frequently harvested at Schultz have as hosts certain fish species reported among the Schultz site faunal inventory. Fuller (1974) says the mussels and their hosts are: Amblema costata (channel catfish, northern pike, largemouth bass), Quadrula pustulosa (channel catfish), Fusconaia jlava (host fish are not represented in the 20SA2 faunal list), Elliptio dilatatus (host fish are not represented in 20SA2 faunal list). The drum, although not named as a host for these mussels, is one of the most important host species. Freshwater mussels must have a fish host in order to reproduce. Only by means of this host may a mussel species move into a drainage system and spread throughout the confluences of the system, depending on the necessary physical parameters (character of river bottom, depth) being present. Fish that move over mussel beds during mussel spawning season are particularly important in respect to movement of mussel species. Loss of the host species may seriously affect a mussel population. The point of this digression into the mussel life cycle requirements is to delineate the background for an observation on resources available in the Saginaw Valley drainage in the Late Archaic and Early Woodland periods. It is suggested here that mussels did not become available as a food resource until sometime around the 6th century B. C. Thus, Early Woodland people at the Schultz site were the first to feed upon mussels in the Saginaw Valley. Obviously, we are hampered in pressing this point by the shortage of Late Archaic sites (and Early Woodland, too, for that matter) at this time, but the best known Late Archaic habitation sites do not report the presence of mussels. Such sites as Feehely and Schmidt contrast sharply in the matter of mussels with Late Archaic sites to the south of Michigan, as for example the Riverton group (Winters 1969). Saginaw sites

48

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

falling within the period 1500 to 600 B.C. are few, and their burial aspect rather than habitation is known. In any case, mussel remains are not recorded for Late Archaic sites in the Saginaw Valley, and there are no shell mound sites. It is further postulated here that Saginaw Late Archaic and Early Woodland differ with respect to the role of mussels in subsistence not merely due to accidents of excavation or cultural preference but rather because there was a real difference, due to the absence of mussel beds caused by the severe fluctuations in Lake Huron levels which affected the development of Saginaw Valley river system. Vander Schalie has noted in at least two studies (1938, 1947) that a mussel species is limited to a stream and its confluences. That is, a mussel species cannot move from one river system to another under its own power. He noted (1938), for example, the absence of Amblema costata from the Huron River system, although this species was in the Clinton, Rouge, and Raisin River systems which neighbor the Huron to the north and south. Van der Schalie concluded that conditions for propagation of A. costata were suitable in the Huron and that therefore it may have been a matter of fish distribution which determined the presence or absence of this species in the different river basins. As the lake level stabilized about the 6th century B.C., suitable river bottoms were established, and as host fish species moved upstream carrying their accidental burden of glochidia, they provided the necessary concatenation of conditions for mussel beds that were exploited first among human populations by the Early Woodland people. The character of a particular mussel's habitat and breeding season places certain constraints upon the mode and season of harvest. The four mussels most frequently gathered at the Schultz site require the following optimum conditions: Amblema costata (Three-ridge)-hard gravel and sand bottom, water depth 1-3 feet in streams and shallow water oflarger rivers. Fusconaiaflava (pig-toe)-hard gravel and sand bottom, water depth few inches to 2 feet in quiet water and below ripples in small to medium sized streams. Elliptio dilatatus (Spike Ladyfinger)-gravel and sand bottom in riffles, or in rivers with strong current. Depth of shallow water not more than 8 feet. Quadrula pustulosa (Pimple back)-adaptable to bottoms of coarse gravel to sand and mud, in small streams or large rivers in water depth several inches to more than 10 feet (Parmalee 1967).

Amblema costata and Fusconaia fiava both could have been harvested by Schultz site inhabitants in the Tittabawassee River close to Area I. Here the river bottom is composed of hard gravel and sand at the shallow depth necessary to these mussels' requirements. A low grade and slow current characterizes the Tittabawassee as it passes around the Schultz site near its

ARCHAEOZOOLOGY

49

confluence with the still slower Saginaw River. It is therefore reasonable to assume that these mussels were located by sight and possibly by feel underfoot and then gathered by hand. Any age group could have managed this task in shallow water. Speculation about the season for mussel gathering follows two lines of reasoning. One concerns the season in which the resource is itself in prime condition; the second concerns hunter-gatherers' priorities among procurement systems. It is commonly stated that there is no "season" for mussels and that Mollusca used for food are obtainable all year (Brose 1972:121). These statements are at the very least debatable and, further, tend to be contradicted by data derived from the life cycle of the freshwater mussel (Unionidae) provided by Vander Schalie (1938, 1960), by the environmental situation at the Schultz site, and by observation on the procurement systems ofhunter-gatherers generally. Freshwater mussels are sexually separate and seldom exhibit dimorphism to any degree. During the breeding season the gonadal tissues enlarge and eggs are stored (incubated) by the female in one gill adapted to this purpose. The incubation period varies among the species, with a greater number being "long-breeders" storing the eggs over winter for springtime or later release, while "short-breeders" have a midsummer breeding season of perhaps two months (Van der Schalie 1938:73). During incubation, the eggs have developed into a larval stage called glochidia. Incubation terminates with the ejection of glochidia into the water where, if fortune permits, they encounter the gill membranes of certain fish. Freshwater mussels require a period of parsitization on host fish specific to the mussel species. A mussel may be able to use several fish species as host, and some fishes may host more than one mussel species. Nevertheless, the range of selection for host and parasitic glochidia is limited but absolutely necessary for mussel propagation. This parasitism is brief, is not harmful to the host, and even confers an immunity that may also protect the host against copepod attack (Fuller 1974). While a parasite, the glochidia matures into a tiny adult bivalve, and then breaks out of the gill membrane to drift with the current until it reaches the river bottom. On the bottom, the adult travels little, becomes sexually mature in 2 to 3 years and may live to 20 and more years. These latter traits make for a long-lived mussel bed-a dependable resource as long as bottom conditions are stable and host fish are available. To return to the question of a "season" for mussels, it is evident that the breeding season provides an answer because at the beginning of this season all animals are in their "prime"-their optimum physical condition-even mussels. One look at a chart of the breeding periods of 28 naiads prepared by Van der Schalie (1938) discloses the information that a few mussels do

50

AN EARLY WOODLAND COMMUNITY

indeed exhibit a "season" while most mussels are without a season. Table 3 reproduces this chart. All the mussels (except the Sphaeriidae) identified at the Schultz site are included in this chart. It is an immediately striking fact that 6 of the total of 28 mussel species have a breeding season startlingly different from most species, which have nearly a year long breeding season. The latter group appears to have no season, but of the six species with the short breeding season, five are identified as part of the Schultz faunal assemblage. Of these, four are the most common bivalves in the Schultz inventory. That is, A. costata, F.jlava, E. dilatatus and Q. pustulosa were harvested at Schultz coincident with the beginning of their breeding season. Amblema costata, the most frequently harvested species, has the shortest breeding season-June to mid-July. The first two species also prefer a shallow water habitat, and mussel beds with such long-lived members are a permanent reliable resource conveniently close to the camp site. Environmental events at the Schultz site bring more factors to bear upon the question of availability of mussels. Van der Schalie (1938) recounts an experiment which determined that mussels become inactive during winter months, burrowing to the depth of their siphons and do not resume activity until water temperature returns to woe (50°F). Van der Schalie briefly describes the availability of mussels in terms of visibility during the cold seasons: ... with ice push and water in the early spring, small quantities of silt cover them completely, so that when one attempts to find them before they again resume activity, there is no clue as to where to look for them. When the water reaches a temperature which is favorable to the resumption of their activity, (in this experiment it was about l0°C) the shoal which on one day may not show a sign of a single mussel will have many hundreds of them the next day. [Vander Schalie 1938:77]

Data regarding water temperature for the Tittabawassee were difficult to locate. Several people in Great Lakes Resource Management (at the University of Michigan) and the U.S. Geological Survey (Department of Water Resources, Lansing) most kindly tried to help with this problem. Finally, Dr. Erwin A. Seibel, Sea Grant Program, Great Lakes Resource Management, was able to provide temperature information from a station on the Saginaw River near the junction with the Tittabawassee. The earliest months in which the Saginaw River water temperature reached woe were: April1964, early May 1965, April1966, mid-April1967. This information can reasonably be applied to the Tittabawassee at the Schultz site. It is clear from the preceding information that in the late fall months, as water temperature drops, mussels become less attractive as a convenient resource. During winter months (then as now) the Tittabawassee freezes

*species identified at the Shultz Site by Brose. tspecies Dustin mentioned as collected in historic period.

tPtychobranchus fasciolare ..... tMicromya iris . ............... Micromyafabalis .............. t Ligumia nasuta .............. "Long " *Ligumia recta latissima ........ breeders Carunculina parva ........... Lampsilis fasciola ............. *Lampsilis siliquoidea .......... Lampsilis ventricosa .......... *Actinonaias carinata .......... *Obovaria subrotunda ......... Truncilla truncata ............ Dysnomia triquetra ..........

"Short" breeders tAnodonta grandis ............ Anodonta imbecillis . .......... Lasmigona compressa ......... *Lasmigona costata ............ tLasmigona complanata ........ A nodontoides ferussacianus .... *Strophitus rugosus ........... Alasmidonta calceolus ......... tAlasmidonta marginata .. .......

*Quadrula pustulosa . .......... *Amblema costata ............. *Elliptio dilatatus ............. *Fusconaia jl.ava .............. Pleurobema oordatum oocoineum.

C yclonaias tuberoulata ........

Species JAN. FEB. MAR. APR. MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT. NOV. DEC.

Table 3. Breeding Periods of Mussels in the Huron Drainage (from Vander Schalie 1938)

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