Paleoethnobotanical inquiry of early euro-American and Ojibwa Gardens on Grand Island, Michigan

Northeastern Naturalist, 1998 by Silbernagel, Janet, Martin, Susan R, Landon, David B, Gale, Margaret R

METHODS

Ethnohistoric Research

When available, historic documents are useful sources on conditions that are no longer apparent on the site. Both primary sources (first hand accounts, maps, photos, or observations made at the time period they describe), and secondary sources (descriptions of an earlier time period not actually observed by the authors) were examined. Three ethnohistoric/ethnobotanic references provided a good background to aboriginal land and plant uses in the Upper Great Lakes region: Yarnell (1964), Densmore (1974), and Martin (1985). The history of Grand Island is captured by Castle (1987) and Roberts (1991), both of whom cited many of the early travelers' writings describing vegetation, cultivation, and food products.

Few detailed accounts of Ojibwa life on Grand Island exist. Early historic accounts were predominantly told by Euro-American travelers, reflecting their first-hand impression. Many of these documents were found at the J.M. Longyear Research Library, Marquette County Historical Society and Peter White Library, Marquette. Some of the early writers included Schoolcraft (1821, 1851, 1853), Gilman (1836), Copway (1890), Johnston (1890), Masson (1890) and Wheeler (1844). Longyear Research Library also holds historic photographs of Grand Island and mid-1800s census records for the study area. A list of culturally important taxa was generated from accounts of this sort, and served as the basis upon which we measured the degree to which archaeobotanical remains reflected ethnobotanical accounts.

Field Recovery and Analysis

In June 1993, meander searches were run within the study areas to assess current vascular plant taxa and their respective coverage. Many taxa were identified to genus in the field, then collected and pressed for later identification to species. Information from this inventory was used to supplement previous botanical inventories for the island (WWA 1991). Plants found during the inventory were checked against ethnohistoric, ethnobotanic, and historic documents to identify those with cultural associations.

Archaeobotanical Recovery and Analysis

In August 1992, five soil samples from four previously excavated test unit profiles were collected for archaeobotanical analysis. Archaeological inventory of portions of Grand Island was conducted by Commonwealth Cultural Resources Group (CCRG) in 1990 and by Leech Lake Tribal Council (Leech Lake) in 1991. CCRG and Leech Lake reports were examined to find sites with the greatest potential for prehistoric or historic botanical remains. Four units were selected from three sites along William's Landing (WL) and Murray Bay (MB) which contained evidence of Late Woodland and historic period Ojibwa, and of l9th century Euro-American habitation (site labels: WLl, WLI, WL1, WLl-F, MB1, and MB2) (Fig. 1). Late Woodland, in the Upper Great Lakes region, refers to a loosely related group of hunter-gatherer-fisher societies who inhabited the region from about AD 800-1650. The historic Ojibwa-fur trade era reflects the years from 1650-1840 AD, and the early Euro-American phase refers to the years 1840-1900 AD.