A Critical Analysis of the Adoption of Maize in Southern Ontario and Its
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A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ADOPTION OF MAIZE IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO AND ITS SPATIAL, DEMOGRAPHIC, AND ECOLOGICAL SIGNATURES A thesis submitted to the Committee of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Arts and Science. TRENT UNIVERSITY Peterborough, Ontario, Canada © Copyright by Eric Beales 2013 Anthropology M.A. Graduate Program January 2014 ABSTRACT: A Critical Analysis of the Adoption of Maize in Southern Ontario and its Spatial, Demographic, and Ecological Signatures Eric Beales This thesis centers on analyzing the spatial, temporal, and ecological patterns associated with the introduction of maize horticulture into Southern Ontario – contextualized against social and demographic models of agricultural transition. Two separate analyses are undertaken: a regional analysis of the spread of maize across the Northeast using linear regression of radiocarbon data and a standard Wave of Advance model; and a local analysis of village locational trends in Southern Ontario using a landscape ecological framework, environmental data and known village sites. Through the integration of these two spatial and temporal scales of analysis, this research finds strong support for both migration and local development. A third model of competition and coalescence is presented to describe the patterning in the data. Keywords: Ontario Archaeology, Spread of Agriculture, Maize, Geostastical Analysis, Geographic Information Systems, GIS, Environmental Modeling, Demographic Modeling, Middle Woodland, Late Woodland, Southern Ontario ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: This study would not have been possible without the generous support of several people and institutions. First and foremost, I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. James Conolly. James first suggested this topic to me three years ago and has provided me with a constant stream of research, ideas, and expertise in geostatistical modelling, people-plant interaction, and paleodemography ever since. James’ contagious enthusiasm for asking big questions sustained my resolve to conduct a research program of this magnitude over the last three years and, ultimately, made this thesis a much more cohesive piece of work. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee: Dr. Rodney Fitzsimons and William Fox. While a self-described “outsider” to Ontario archaeology, Rod provided many helpful comments, edits, and suggestions along the way and encouraged me to question entrenched beliefs and theories and to clarify my assumptions. Similarly, Bill was always willing to discuss my research with me and his encyclopedic knowledge of Ontario’s past was of immeasurable help as I developed ideas and collected data. Dr. Robert MacDonald graciously accepted to serve as my external examiner and provided many helpful suggestions that have been incorporated into this final draft. Thanks must also go to many other members of the Anthropology Graduate Program at Trent. I have had the pleasure of working with a number of fantastic people while here and their friendship and advice have helped me become a better researcher and student. iii This study would not have been possible without financial support from a number of sources. External funding was provided through an Ontario Graduate Scholarship by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities as well as a Canada Graduate Scholarship by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Scholarships were also provided by Trent University, the Sandi Carr Graduate Scholarship, the Richard B Johnston fund for Archaeology, and ESRI Canada. Similarly, many people and institutions were incredibly generous in providing data for this research. Special thanks to Dr. Matthew Betts at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Dr. Jonathan Lothrop at the New York State Museum, and Robert von Bitter at the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport for locational data. Additionally, I would like to express my thanks to the many researchers who provided site data and reports for those sites which slipped through the institutional cracks. Thanks also go to Dr. Lawrence Jackson, Dr. Helen Haines, Dr. Gary Crawford, and Dr. David Smith for providing maize samples from the Dawson Creek site and the Princess Point site for radiocarbon dating. To my family, I extend my heartfelt thanks for your unending support over this entire process. You always provided an ear when I needed to talk or encouragement when I thought that I would never be finished. To my wife and stalwart editor, Jenny, thank you for your unwavering support. Through all of the life changes we have seen over the past three years, you always made time for my research. Without your help, this thesis would not have been realized. Lastly, to our daughter Daphne, thank you for providing much-needed distraction and comic relief throughout this process. Hopefully Daddy will be able to play more often now that it is finished. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF FIGURES xii 1 A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ADOPTION OF MAIZE IN 1 SOUTHERN ONTARIO 1.1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.2 DATA AND METHODS 3 1.3 OUTLINE OF CHAPTERS IN THESIS 4 2 MAIZE AND CULTURE IN THE NORTHEAST 6 2.1 THE EARLIEST EVIDENCE FOR MAIZE CONSUMPTION IN THE 8 NORTHEAST 2.1.1 Earliest Evidence for the Introduction of Maize into the 8 Northeast 2.1.2 Stable Carbon Isotope Studies and the Initial 11 Introduction of Maize 2.1.3 Summary 13 2.2 WHERE DID MAIZE IN THE NORTHEAST COME FROM? 14 2.2.1 Northern Flint Maize and its Developmental History 14 2.2.2 Southwestern Origin for Northeastern Maize 16 2.2.3 Summary 19 2.3 DEMOGRAPHIC MODELS FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF MAIZE 21 INTO THE NORTHEAST 2.3.1 Origins and Emergence of Iroquoian Horticultural 21 Patterns v 2.3.2 In-Situ vs. Migration Theories of Iroquoian Origins 22 2.3.3 Summary 28 2.4 SUMMARY OF MAIZE AND CULTURE IN THE NORTHEAST 30 3 THEORETICAL MODELS FOR THE ADOPTION OF 32 AGRICULTURE 3.0.1 Origins of Agriculture in Neolithic Europe 33 3.1 MIGRATIONIST THEORIES OF AGRICULTURE ADOPTION 35 3.1.1 Demic Diffusion and the Wave of Advance 36 3.1.2 Long-Distance Migration, Chain Migration, and 41 Leapfrog Development 3.1.3 Summary 45 3.2 INDIGENIST THEORIES OF AGRICULTURAL ADOPTION AND 46 DEVELOPMENT 3.2.1 Socioeconomic Explanations for the Adoption of 47 Agriculture 3.2.2 Integrationist Models, Availability, and Agricultural 50 Frontiers 3.2.3 Summary 55 3.3 CONCLUSIONS 56 4 IDENTIFYING MIGRATION AND CULTURAL DIFFUSION 58 4.1 IDENTIFYING MIGRATION AND CULTURAL DIFFUSION 58 PROCESSES 4.1.1 Determining Migration in the Archaeological Record 58 4.1.2 Determining Cultural Diffusion in the Archaeological 60 Record 4.2 THE EFFECTS OF SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL RESOLUTION ON 63 IDENTIFYING MIGRATION AND CULTURAL DIFFUSION PROCESSES 4.2.1 Regional Analysis of the Spread of Maize Across the 64 Northeast 4.2.2 Local Analysis of the Spread of Maize into Southern 65 Ontario vi 4.3 SUMMARY 68 5 REGIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE SPREAD OF MAIZE INTO THE 69 NORTHEAST – DATA AND METHODS 5.1 DATASETS USED FOR TESTING DEMIC DIFFUSION IN THE NORTHEAST 5.1.1 Sampling Groups 74 5.2 POINT OF ORIGIN ANALYSIS 76 5.2.1 Point of Origin Methods 76 5.3 LINEAR REGRESSION OF ALL SITES FROM PROPOSED POINTS 79 OF ORIGIN 5.3.1 Linear Regression Methods 79 5.3.2 Evaluating a Demic Model for the Northeast 80 5.3.3 Hypothesis of Demic Diffusion in the Northeast 83 6 LOCAL ANALYSIS OF THE SPREAD OF MAIZE INTO 84 SOUTHERN ONTARIO – DATA AND METHODS 6.1 VILLAGE SITES AS A PROXY FOR SOCIOECONOMIC PATTERNS 85 6.1.1 Using Presence-only Data to Evaluate Settlement 85 Continuity / Discontinuity 6.1.2 Horticultural Site Selection Patterns in Southern 86 Ontario 6.2 ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF SETTLEMENT CHOICE THROUGH 88 TIME 6.3 DATASETS USED FOR TESTING MIGRATION AND CULTURAL 90 DIFFUSION PROCESSES IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO 6.3.1 Datasets Used 90 6.3.1.1 Site Data 90 6.3.1.2 Temporal Groups 93 6.3.1.3 Environmental Data 94 6.4 MAXIMUM ENTROPY ANALYSIS OF VILLAGE LOCATIONAL 97 CHOICES THROUGH TIME 6.4.1 MaxEnt Methods and Parameters 98 vii 6.4.2 Stepwise Reduction of Environmental Variables 99 6.5 TESTS OF INDEPENDENCE IN ECOLOGICAL VARIABLES 100 BETWEEN TEMPORAL GROUPS 6.5.1 Test of Independent Samples Methods and Parameters 102 6.6 SUMMARY 102 6.6.1 Hypotheses of Migration and Diffusion for Southern 103 Ontario 7 REGIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE SPREAD OF MAIZE INTO THE 104 NORTHEAST – RESULTS 7.1 GLOBAL REGRESSION OF ALL MAIZE-BEARING SITES 105 AGAINST DISTANCE FROM MEXICO 7.1.1 Global Regression Results 105 7.1.2 Summary 107 7.2 POINT OF ORIGIN ANALYSIS 108 7.2.1 Results for Most Probable Origin Areas for Groups A 108 to H 7.2.2 Internal Distance Matrices 110 7.2.3 Summary 112 7.3 LINEAR REGRESSION ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF A 114 DEMIC MODEL 7.3.1 Results for the Reduced Major Axis Regression for 114 Groups A to H 7.3.1.1 Dataset A (Earliest Uncontested Date) 115 7.3.1.2 Dataset B (Earliest Dates and Pooled Dates, where 116 Appropriate) 7.3.1.3 Dataset C (Earliest Direct Dates on Maize) 117 7.3.1.4 Dataset D (Pooled Direct Dates on Maize) 118 7.3.1.5 Dataset E (Earliest Dates by Sampling Grid) 119 7.3.1.6 Dataset F (Pooled Dates by Sampling Grid) 120 7.3.1.7 Dataset G (Earliest Direct Dates by Sampling 121 Grid) 7.3.1.8 Dataset H (Pooled Direct Dates by Sampling Grid) 122 viii 7.3.1.9 Reduced Datasets 123 7.3.2 Summary 125 7.4 CONCLUSIONS 129 8 LOCAL ANALYSIS OF THE SPREAD OF MAIZE INTO 130 SOUTHERN ONTARIO – RESULTS 8.1