New insights on Great Lakes pre-European monuments

New insights on Great Lakes pre-European monuments
Date:August 9, 2016 Source:University of New Hampshire

Merging an innovative modeling technique with old-fashioned sleuthing, researchers from the University of New Hampshire have shed new light on the mystery of pre-European archaeological monument sites in Michigan, even though 80 percent of the sites they're studying no longer exist. The study, published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides an important new geospatial approach for archaeologists and other cultural heritage professionals who have grappled with the fact that many significant ancient monuments have been lost forever to modern development.

Meghan Howey, associate professor of anthropology, and Michael Palace, associate professor of Earth and geospatial science, both of UNH, along with Crystal McMichael of the University of Amsterdam (formerly a UNH postdoctoral researcher), set out to better understand the roles of two different kinds of earthen monuments in Michigan that have been subject to high rates of modern destruction. Their focus was on burial mounds and circular earthwork mounds and enclosures dating to the Late Precontact period of 1,000 -- 1,600 A.D. Earthen mounds and enclosures are common across the eastern U.S. and they have long been subject to misguided and popular speculation. Because of this, it is important to study these monumental constructions systematically to understand their social significance in the lives of the past indigenous communities who built them.

"Our goal was to build a case study to help identify which spatial and environmental variables were important to the placement of these earthen monuments across Michigan's landscape," said Howey, who is the James H. Hayes and Claire Short Hayes Professor of the Humanities. "Understanding how monuments reconfigure landscapes and affect societal development is a grand challenge in archaeology."

Utilizing a modeling technique called Maximum Entropy, or MaxEnt, borrowed from landscape ecology, the researchers determined that the two types of monuments occupied distinct niches in the landscape. Burial mounds were located near inland lakes, probably to serve local needs like food, shelter, and community; while circular earthwork enclosures, some larger than football fields, were located near rivers.

More:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160809122721.htm