Glottochronological data suggest that there may have been two waves of Proto-Algonquian expansion, from a homeland north of Lake Ontario. Micmac may be a remnant outlier of the first wave, ca. 600–200 B.C. This initial expansion may be represented archaeologically by the widely distributed Early Point Peninsula culture group (or “Lake Forest Middle Woodland”). The second expansion seems to have occurred ca. A.D. 600, based on calculated divergence times for Eastern vs. Central Algonquian languages. The initial linguistic unity of the Eastern Algonquians may account for the existence of late Middle Woodland exchange networks that linked the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
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