PhysOrg reports on an archaeological discovery in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, which seems to have been the site of a 1,000-year-old Native American farming complex more than 330 acres in size:
The site features a raised ridge field system that dates to around the 10th century to 1600, and much of it is still intact today.
The raised fields are comprised of clustered ridged garden beds that range from 4 to 12 inches in height and were used to grow corn, beans, squash, and other plants by ancestors of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.
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The researchers surveyed approximately 330 acres. However, they have yet to map the entire site because it extends beyond the edge of where they surveyed. They estimate that they surveyed approximately 40% of the site.
“When you look at the scale of farming, this would require the kind of labor organization that is typically associated with a much larger, state-level hierarchical society,” says [Dartmouth anthropologist Madeleine] McLeester. “Yet, everything we know about this area suggests smaller egalitarian societies lived in this region but, in fact, this may have been a rather large settlement.”
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The lidar uncovered sets of parallel ridges at the site that create quilt-like patterns stretching across the landscape. The ridges were constructed in various directions, illustrating that their locations may have been determined by individual farmers rather than the direction of the sun or other environmental factors.
The results also revealed a circular dance ring, a rectangular building foundation that may have been a colonial trading post, two 19th-century logging camps, looted burial mounds, previously unknown burial mounds that were thought to be destroyed in the 1970s, and a burial mound on privately owned land that is currently owned by a mining company.
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Through the excavations, charcoal, broken pieces of ceramics known as sherds, and artifacts were recovered, suggesting that remains from fires and household refuse were likely used as compost in the fields. The results also showed that wetland soils had been used to enrich the soil.
“Our work shows that the ancestral Menominee communities were modifying the soil to completely rework the topography in order to plant and harvest corn at the near northern extent of where this crop can grow,” says McLeester. “This farming system was a massive undertaking requiring a lot of organization, labor, and know-how to maximize agricultural productivity.”
“We’re seeing this kind of landscape alteration in a place where we wouldn’t expect it,” says McLeester.
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The findings have made the researchers consider if perhaps the majority of eastern North America was once covered with agricultural ridges.
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You can read more of the Dartmouth-led study here, in Science.