An Archeological Overview and Assessment of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana
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An Archeological Overview and Assessment of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana By Dawn Bringelson and Jay T. Sturdevant Midwest Archeological Center Technical Report No. 97 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Midwest Archeological Center This report has been reviewed against the criteria contained in 43CFR Part 7, Subpart A, Section 7.18 (a) (1) and, upon recommendation of the Midwest Regional Office and the Midwest Archeological Center, has been classified as Available Making the report available meets the criteria of 43CFR Part 7, Subpart A, Section 7.18 (a) (1). AN ARCHEOLOGICAL OVERVIEW AND ASSESSMENT OF INDIANA DUNES NaTIONAL LaKESHORE, INDIANA By Dawn Bringelson and Jay T. Sturdevant Midwest Archeological Center Technical Report No. 97 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Midwest Archeological Center United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Midwest Archeological Center Lincoln, Nebraska 2007 INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE ABSTRACT The Indana Dunes area along the southern Lake Mchgan shore holds a unque and unsurpassed set of natural resources. The exceptonal nature of ths area’s topography and resultng bologcal dversty attracted the attenton of scentfc and conservaton communtes by the turn of the 20th century. Ths apprecaton, coupled wth severe and ongong impact by industry to the southern Lake Mchgan dunes, sparked actvsm that ultmately contrbuted to the formaton of Indana Dunes Natonal Lakeshore (INDU) at the end of the 1960s. Today, INDU contans most of the last remanng intact duneland of the larger area. Archeologcal investgatons of the dunes area, startng wth avocatonal observatons some 100 years ago, have intensfed over recent decades as a result of park actvtes and research. Informaton about the archeologcal record at INDU derves from a wde varety of crcumstances, includng intensve and systematc inventory, testng and data recovery projects, but also from ncdental dscoveres and numerous montorng projects. Data indcate that human use of the INDU area has occurred over much of the last 10,000 years. Archeologcal materals are dstrbuted across INDU and suggest that some areas in the park were occuped and reoccuped over thousands of years. The intact topography at INDU offers a rare opportunty to learn more about prehstorc and hstorc land use and cultural relatons around Lake Mchgan and the md-contnent. INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Ths project has benefted greatly from the assstance of many ndvduals and several organzatons. Frst and foremost, the staff of Indana Dunes Natonal Lakeshore have gven ther unwaverng support for and interest in the development of knowledge about the archeologcal record. Wthout ths, much of the informaton used wthn the followng document would not have been avalable. Thanks especally to former Superntendent Dale Engqust, Assstant Superntendent Garry Traynham, Landscape Archtect Erc Ehn, Hstoran Jance Slupsk, Resource Manager Bob Daum, and Hstorc Archtect Judy Collns for the commtment and partnerng sprt they have fostered through the years. Several members of the Mdwest Archeologcal Center staff have contrbuted as well. Center Manager Mark Lynott has supported ths project from its start. Former Park Program Manager Tom Thessen and Actng Park Program Manager Jeffrey Rchner provded structural and substantal gudance throughout the research, wrtng, and revsons phases. Feld work projects headed by Mark Lynott, Forest Frost, and Scott Stadler formed the bass for much of what s wrtten here. Ern Dempsey read and offered edtoral comments on a fnal draft of ths paper. The MWAC GIS team, led by Anne Vawser, also lent invaluable help. Matt Dooley, Melssa Kruse, and Rcc Soto all added to the development and management of the spatal database. Molly Boeka Cannon guded these efforts and contrbuted throughout. The Indana Dvson of Hstorc Preservaton and Archaeology provded access to ste forms and regonal reports central to the research phase of ths project. Specal apprecaton goes to Wllam Mangold of that organzaton, who has shown interest and provded support for ths project. Thanks also to Noel Justce of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Anthropology. Hs assstance in accessng the resources of that faclty and hs expertse regardng the Indana Dunes projectle pont assemblage are qute apprecated. Fnally, grattude is due to the anonymous contrbutors, knowledgeable archeologsts from varous organzatons wth n-depth understandng of northwest Indana culture hstory, who gave ther tme and thoughtful comments regardng the INDU prehstorc pottery assemblage. iii INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................................. Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... Lst of Tables ................................................................................................................... v Lst of Fgures ..................................................................................................................x 1. Introducton ..................................................................................................................1 2. Envronment and Resources ........................................................................................5 Quaternary Geology and Physography ....................................................................5 Vegetaton Through Tme .........................................................................................9 Area Resources and Recent Poltcal Hstory ..........................................................14 Industry versus Conservaton ...................................................................................17 3. Culture Hstory of Southern Lake Mchgan, Northern Indana, and The Indana Dunes Natonal Lakeshore ...........................................................................19 Precontact Culture Hstory .......................................................................................19 Hstorc Era .............................................................................................................51 Twenteth Century Land Use ...................................................................................56 4. Hstory of Archeologcal Research .............................................................................57 Hstory of Archeology n Northwest Indana ...........................................................57 Avocatonal Research and Collectons .....................................................................57 Regonal Archeologcal Syntheses ...........................................................................61 Buldng Culture Hstory..........................................................................................63 Work wthn the Lakeshore Boundares ...................................................................64 INDU Work to Date .................................................................................................71 5. Assessng Archeology at INDU ..................................................................................73 INDU Ste Summary ................................................................................................73 Age and Cultural Affiliation of INDU Precontact Archeology ................................77 Dstrbuton of Archeology at INDU .......................................................................77 v INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE The Artfact Record and Interpretaton at INDU .....................................................81 Summary ..................................................................................................................89 6. Recommendatons .......................................................................................................91 Archeologcal Resource Studes ..............................................................................91 Archeologcal Informaton Management .................................................................92 Specal Research Topcs and Interpretaton .............................................................93 References Cted ..............................................................................................................95 Appendx 1: Late Woodland Pottery Typologes Surroundng Lake Mchgan .............145 v LiST OF TABLES Table 1. Pottery ware nomenclature n the Lake Mchgan area.. .................................119 Table 2. Radocarbon dates derved from INDU samples.. ..........................................121 Table 3. Summary of nformaton collected durng INDU Archeologcal Photography Project, 1979-1983.. ...........................................................122 Table 4. Archeologcal project summary for INDU. ......................................................123 Table 5. Ste Summary: all stes, INDU. ........................................................................129 Table 6. Specific precontact site components: period by general landform ..........................................................................................................................142 Table 7. All ste components: level of culture-hstorcal detal by general landform. ............................................................................................................142 Table 8. All ste components: general landform by most ntensve nvestgaton. ...................................................................................................................142