Reconstructing the precontact Late Woodland archaeology of site 20LU115 and the landscape history of Sleeping Bear Point, Great Lakes, USA

Abstract

A multifaceted, multidisciplinary research strategy was employed to reconstruct the taphonomy and environmental history of a late Holocene coastal archaeological site (20LU115) at Sleeping Bear Point on the northeast coast of Lake Michigan, USA. Our case study shows how interdisciplinary examination of coastal processes that impact archaeological site preservation and destruction can beneficially integrate human settlement into an evolving landscape. We contextualize coastal site taphonomy into an environmental framework that includes changing Lake Michigan lake levels and coastlines, vegetation regimes, and eolian activation and stabilization cycles during the past 2,000 years. Chronology for this framework derives from 10 radiocarbon and 12 optically stimulated luminescence dates from beach ridges, dunes, paleosols, and human occupation horizons at or near the site. Such research outcomes, however, are not possible without focusing on the site as part of a larger landscape history, and could not have been realized without a multidisciplinary design that integrates geologists, physical geographers, environmental archaeologists, and cultural resources managers.