The Cultural Landscapes of Douglas Lake Archaeological Research Project (CLOD)

<p>The Cultural Landscapes of Douglas Lake Archaeological Research Program (CLOD) expands ongoing research on Late Prehistoric (AD 1200-1600) Native American occupation around Douglas Lake in Northern Michigan. It is a joint effort between the University of New Hampshire and the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS). CLOD will examine the diverse trajectories Late Prehistoric inland foragers developed for interacting with neighbors on the coasts of the Great Lakes who were becoming increasingly dependent on maize horticulture, developing villages, forming exclusive social identities and demarcating territories. Preliminary research suggests Late Prehistoric hunter-gatherer communities around Douglas Lake developed an intensive occupation of the inland, generating surplus from local resources, intensifying storage, developing multi-season occupations with substantial structures, and emphasizing local community without engaging in extensive external interaction with the coasts. This was a very different strategy than the one used by inland forager communities around Houghton and Higgins Lakes (inland lakes south of Douglas) who relied on formal interaction with coastal communities to secure access to their staple goods, materializing this in ceremonial monuments used for intersocietal ritual and trade.</p>