North American Archaeologist

This article is an update to an article published under the same title by the senior author, in Man in the Northeast (1982). It is an attempt to resynthesize, reintegrate, and interpret new data and theoretical concepts pertaining to the first 8,000 years of human occupation in the western Lake Erie drainage basin. While the nature of the database has changed little, these new interpretations are derived from a much greater database than what existed in 1982, as well as new regional overview interpretations which have appeared in the literature of the past ten years. A new interpretation of the Western Lake Erie Basin Early Archaic sequence is also proposed, which abandons the traditional tri-partite taxonomy in favor of a bi-partite taxonomy. It is proposed that this interpretation better fits the archaeological phenomena as observed during the first 5,000 years of the Archaic sequence in this region of the Northeast.

Excavation of an agave-roasting site in southern Arizona disclosed an unexpectedly large collection of sherds. Sherd aggregation and use-alteration analyses were undertaken to determine the role of the ceramics in agave processing. Results indicate that sherds and not vessels were brought to the site, and that sherds may have been used as scoops and possibly as nonflammable covers or receptacles during agave processing. These findings underscore the point that analyses of assemblages of sherds that are not refitted may disregard important information about the nature and organization of prehistoric processing technologies.

Two of the petroglyphs at the Elliott Site on the east bank of Grand Lake Stream, Maine, seem to indicate who the inhabitants were during the post plague years. The author believes these two glyphs were drawn by an evangelistic member of the Midewiwin Society for the benefit of his fellow Ojibwas and marshals evidence in support. With the exception of three other glyphs drawn on the rocks at this site, there is no attempt to describe or interpret the remaining ones. The use of symbols next to several of the glyphs described in this article was startling to find in Maine. The author thinks these symbols are Kekeewin writing used by Algonkian people from the Atlantic Coast to the Mississippi River, according to Schoolcraft, used by Ojibwas for teaching purposes (Schoolcraft, 1856:119–120) and possibly for communication. A gap in Maine Indian history will have been filled, if the argument proves convincing.