2 days ago
Researchers Found Unnatural Patterns Beneath an Ancient Forest
Here's what you'll learn when you read this story:
Researchers surveying Michigan's Sixty Islands archaeological site have found ancient evidence of farming by the Indigenous Menominee people in the form of ridges in the earth.
The farming capability of the Menominee—who were previously assumed to be mostly hunter-gatherers—had been far underestimated until this recent evidence.
As more of the site is surveyed with LiDAR, it is possible that signs of even more extensive Menominee farming will surface.
At a glance, the Sixty Islands archaeological site—which reaches both sides of the Menominee River at the border of Michigan and Wisconsin—appears like any other patch of woods. But a closer look reveals ridges in the grass that nature could not have possibly made on its own.
This is the ancestral land of the Menominee people—an Indigenous tribe who had been farming the area since the 10th century. While the Menominee actually call themselves Mamaceqtaw (which translates to 'the people'), surrounding tribes called them Menominee as a reference to the Algonquin word for wild rice, manomin. This is because they heavily relied on wild rice as food source.
The land containing the ridges is part of a region known as Anaem Omot, or 'Dog's Belly,' which is known for Indigenous settlements that date to as far back as 10,000 years ago. And recently, as a team of researchers were studying the site using LiDAR, they realized that the ridges were part of an agricultural system involving raised ridge fields. This indicates that the Menominee had engaged in much more extensive farming than previously assumed.
Sometimes the lack of evidence for what ancient people accomplished robs us of an accurate understanding of what they actually managed to do. There had been previous evidence of ancient Menominee farming in the area, but it was thought that they farmed on a much smaller scale than the newly discovered buried farmland would imply.
The Menominee eventually began the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. Despite the foreboding cold of Michigan winters, they were still able to cultivate maize, squash, beans, and other crops, as Madeleine McLeester (an anthropologist from Dartmouth) found out when she and her research team surveyed around 330 acres of land. The raised fields that had been reinforced over thousands of years are still remarkably intact, and indicate a scale of farming that is ten times greater than what was previously accounted for. This new evidence is now disproving theories that the Menominee were mostly hunter-gatherers who may have done some farming for sustenance.
'Our results demonstrate a rich anthropogenic landscape created by small-scale ancestral Menominee communities, located near the northern limits of maize agriculture,' McLeester said in a study recently published in the journal Science. Evidently, Menominee farming was carried out at a scale that would require sophisticated labor organization—something predominantly seen in larger hierarchical societies.
It was Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) that made it possible to see just how advanced Menominee agriculture was. Topographic LiDAR carried out by drone (like the one that was used to survey Anaem Omot) uses near-infrared laser light pulses to measure topographical features of the land below. When all of the the data collected by these drones is analyzed, it can create hyperreal 3D images of Earth's surface. Without grasses or trees in they way, the LiDAR map of Sixty Islands revealed the extent to which the agricultural ridges sprawled across the site.
Among the revelations provided by the LiDAR mapping was the fact that the ridges had been dug in different directions—something that could mean individual farmers determined which way to plant their crops without relying on outside influences (such as the direction of the Sun). Many ancient peoples who farmed allowed signs in nature (such as star alignment or where the wind was blowing from) to guide them. The farmers at this site might have relied on unknown signs or none at all.
Additionally, through their survey of the area, the Dartmouth team observed burial mounds, a dance ring, and the remnants of logging camps from the 19th century. Excavations also unearthed artifacts such as ceramic fragments and charcoal, which McLeester thinks could mean that the Menominee made compost out of the dregs of firesand other household waste. Only 40% of the site has been surveyed so far, so the extensive agricultural system may still be even larger than we know.
'The excellent preservation of this site is exceptional in eastern North America,' McLeester said, 'and suggests that the precolonial landscape was more anthropogenically influenced than currently recognized.'
You Might Also Like
The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape
The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere
Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
