Lake Michigan continues to have a major impact on the environment in the Chicago region, and changes in lake levels were a major driver of landscape evolution throughout the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Fluctuating lake levels reduced or increased the extent and character of terrestrial resources. The landscape has also been altered by erosional and aggradational processes from near-shore currents and wave action. Interpretation of archaeological site and settlement patterns in this region requires an understanding of the factors that have shaped and continue to shape this landscape. In the PaleoIndigenous and Archaic periods, foraging groups adapted to rapidly changing vegetation patterns and episodes of lake transgression and recession that opened or closed new habitats. In the Woodland and Upper Mississippian periods, lake levels stabilized, but the landscape continued to evolve, with erosion and deposition of sediments along Lake Michigan shorelines. Evidence for lake-level fluctuations over the last 12,000 years is available from a variety of data sets, including those for deep lacustrine sediments, ostracods, abandoned shorelines, and sand dunes. By synthesizing these data and utilizing GIS to reconstruct past lakeshores, we seek to better understand how people interacted with and adjusted to this dynamic landscape

Fluting is a technological and morphological hallmark of some of the most iconic North American Paleoindian stone points. Through decades of detailed artifact analyses and replication experiments, archaeologists have spent considerable effort reconstructing how flute removals were achieved, and they have explored possible explanations of why fluting was such an important aspect of early point technologies. However, the end of fluting has been less thoroughly researched. In southern North America, fluting is recognized as a diagnostic characteristic of Clovis points dating to approximately 13,000 cal yr BP, the earliest widespread use of fluting. One thousand years later, fluting occurs more variably in Dalton and is no longer useful as a diagnostic indicator. How did fluting change, and why did point makers eventually abandon fluting? In this article, we use traditional 2D measurements, geometric morphometric (GM) analysis of 3D models, and 2D GM of flute cross sections to compare Clovis and Dalton point flute and basal morphologies. The significant differences observed show that fluting in Clovis was highly standardized, suggesting that fluting may have functioned to improve projectile durability. Because Dalton points were used increasingly as knives and other types of tools, maximizing projectile functionality became less important. We propose that fluting in Dalton is a vestigial technological trait retained beyond its original functional usefulness.

Full-time occupation of recently deglaciated landscapes in the northwestern Great Lakes by late Paleoindian groups marks a key milestone in the colonization of the region, yet settlement-subsistence systems of these colonizing populations remains poorly understood. Here we apply geoarchaeological modeling and early Holocene environmental reconstruction to analyze environmental settings of known late Paleoindian sites in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Our results reveal significant settlement patterning associated with this early Holocene record, highlighting the spatial correlation between site locations and high ground adjacent to hilly terrain and inland lakes – prime locations for monitoring the movement of large game. The analysis highlights a core area with a high likelihood for undiscovered late Paleoindian sites in the northwest corner of Marquette County and suggests the possibility of a north-south travel corridor into the region from upper Wisconsin along the Michigamme River.

Census of avocational and public collections for Folsom and Midland artifacts from Illinois and Wisconsin signals a substantial Folsom occupation in the Upper Midwest. Over 200 points and preforms demonstrate a southwest–northeast pattern of point manufacture, use, discard, and loss across much of Illinois and the southern third of Wisconsin. The distribution of these artifacts overlaps to a large extent; however, most Midland points occur in Wisconsin. This non-fluted weaponry is interpreted as a techno-situational response to the intrinsic properties and distribution of regional toolstones, combined with the relatively high cost of fluting failure experienced during periods of focused hunting. Folsom mobility and land use are structured along major rivers, with southern Wisconsin most often functioning as a main destination of group movement. Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are the inferred focal prey and organizational driver of Folsom adaptations in the Upper Midwest.

Abstract This study examines a robust sample of lithic assemblages from east-central Wisconsin, including both early and late Paleoindian components and younger Archaic and Woodland material. Average transport distances exceed 200 km in both the early and late Paleoindian samples, but with an important shift from north-south to east-west movement. The Paleoindian/Archaic transition also marks a dramatic change in mobility and toolstone utilization, as Archaic and Woodland assemblages are composed almost entirely of local raw materials.