MIDDLE WOODLAND FISHING METHODS AT THE BLUE WATER BRIDGE SOUTH SITE (AfHo-7) By Shari L. Prowse MA Abstract This thesis examines the fishing methods used by the pre-contact Native inhabitants of the Blue Water Bridge South site (AfHo-7) through ethnographic and archaeological research, the fish fauna remains and the fishing related artifacts excavated from the site. From these lines of evidence it was determined that spring spawning fish species such as lake sturgeon and walleye were being harvested with the use of harpoons and spears for the former, and fish nets and leisters for the latter. Evidence also strongly suggests the existence of an intensive summer fishery that used nets for the capture of spawning freshwater drum as well as a spring and summer opportunistic fishery that employed fish- hooks and nets. This site was inferred to have followed a spring early-summer macroband settlement pattern with perhaps a minor fall occupation that may have involved fishing for spawning lake whitefish. Based on the overall pattern of settlement and subsistence inferred for the Blue Water Bridge South site and comparisons with other Middle Woodland sites within the central Great Lakes region, it was concluded that the Middle Woodland pattern of settlement and subsistence was highly variable and influenced by both environmental variables and human choice. Chapter 1 Introduction Statement of Goal of Study The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the fishing methods employed by the Native peoples at the Blue Water Bridge South (AfHo-7) site, and by extension, other Middle Woodland peoples. Data will be derived from the fish remains and fishing related artifacts excavated from the Blue Water Bridge South site and will be interpreted in light of information obtained from ethnographic and ethnohistoric sources, archaeological fish research, and fish biology and behaviour. A broader understanding of Middle Woodland fishing strategies will be gained by comparing the conclusions derived from the analysis of the Blue Water Bridge South site with other Middle Woodland sites located within the central Great Lakes region. Middle Woodland Fishing Strategies Most of what we know about the general trends concerning fishing methods employed by prehistoric cultures has come from Cleland’s (1982) synthesis on the development and importance of this fishery which focussed on the upper Great Lakes Region. Here he presents an evolutionary model outlining the cumulative adoption of various fishing technologies through time where new innovations were added to those already utilized. Paramount to this model is the suggestion that by the Late Woodland period (ca A.D. 1000) no new fishing technologies were adopted but rather there was a change in the application of existing technologies resulting in an increase in the complexity and efficiency of taking fish (ibid. 1982:773). This model presents the Middle Woodland period as a time when true harpoons and seine nets were added to the earlier Archaic tool kit of simple spears and hooks. Although other fishing equipment was employed, they are noted as playing a minor role in the Middle Woodland fishery in comparison to netting technology. Cleland (1982:774) 1 proposed that it was the larger temporary working groups required for, as well as maintained by, the seine net fishery that can be credited for leading to significant changes in the Middle Woodland settlement system involving larger and more numerous lakeshore habitation sites. Cleland’s (1982) model has been criticised for being applied too broadly, not taking into consideration fish availability (Molnar 1997:41-44) and lacking clear cut archaeological evidence (Colley 1990:231-233). Overall, this model has not been widely evaluated. Less than a handful of studies have examined Cleland’s model using archaeological fish assemblages and of those carried out, they pertain solely to the Late Woodland period (see Martin 1985; Molnar 1997; Smith 2002). Because of the large number of fish remains and fishing artifacts excavated from the Blue Water Bridge South site, this site has the potential to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of fishing strategies within the Middle Woodland period. The Blue Water Bridge South Site (AfHo-7) Located near the present bank of the St. Clair River within Point Edward, Ontario, the Blue Water Bridge South (BWBS) site was excavated in 1994 as part of a salvage excavation carried out in advance of construction activities related to the twinning of the Blue Water Bridge (Mayer Heritage Consultants 1996). The excavations resulted in the recovery of one of the largest faunal assemblages of any Middle Woodland site within the Great Lakes region. Of the over 410,000 items recovered, over 200,000 are fish remains which suggests, along with the roughly 320 fishing related artifacts, that fish were an important component of subsistence (Mayer Heritage Consultants 1996:50-51). Excavations of the BWBS site were carried-out at the location of two bridge foundation piers, referred to as K2 and K3. The prehistoric deposits found within K2 were over 50% disturbed by historic activities and, given such, will not be the focus of this current study except as they can round out our knowledge of the fishing related artifacts found at the site. However, with the exception of an uppermost historic fill layer, K3's prehistoric deposits were intact with up to 12 stratigraphic levels being visible (Mayer Heritage 2 Consultants 1996; O’Neal 2002:29). Due to variability in excavation strategies and data recording and the small sample sizes in some stratigraphic layers, for analytical purposes the stratigraphic levels were subdivided into relatively discrete “occupational levels” defined from top (latest dating) to bottom (earliest) as Component 1, Fish Layer, and Component 2. The calibrated radiocarbon dates of charcoal from hearths and pit features from K3 indicate that the occupations date between A.D. 140 and A.D. 660, an age estimate reinforced by the styles of artifacts recovered, such as the projectile points and harpoons. Given the short time range of the K3 occupation as a whole and the limitations in the precision of radiocarbon dating, individual date ranges could not be assigned to the above noted cultural levels (O’Neal 2002:29-30) and, as such, relative dating will be employed when discussing temporal differences between levels. In order to maintain stratigraphic control, artifacts and fish remains for analysis were taken only from those squares, 13 in total, where all three occupational levels were represented. The fish sample size totalled 38,582 individual specimens which is sufficient for the purposes of this study. The Middle Woodland Period and the Blue Water Bridge South Site The Middle Woodland period in southern Ontario spans from approximately 400 B.C. to A.D. 700. Previous syntheses have distinguished three cultural complexes within southern Ontario during this period that include the Point Peninsula in southcentral and eastern Ontario; Couture, in southwestern Ontario; and the Saugeen within central Ontario to the Niagara Peninsula and along the eastern shore of Lake Huron (Finlayson 1977; Spence et al. 1990; Spence and Fox 1986; Wright 1967). Based on a preliminary examination of artifacts recovered from the BWBS site as well as spatial location, it was thought to be representative of the Couture Complex (Chris J. Ellis, personal communication 1997). However, O’Neal’s (2002) subsequent MA research on the BWBS site ceramic assemblage indicated that this site had both Saugeen and Couture Complex characteristics, as well as previously unreported ceramic trends that could not be strictly assigned to either. As with most new large Middle Woodland sites reported from 3 previously little known areas, the site has its own unique characteristics. Thesis Organization This thesis will concentrate on inferring the fishing methods employed by the Native Peoples at the BWBS site and will provide a discussion on how the patterns observed here compare to those described for other Middle Woodland sites within the central Great Lake region. Chapter 2 will discuss the BWBS site and the sample of fish remains and artifacts excavated from this site. In order to provide a context within which inferences about fishing methods used at this site can be made Chapter 3 will provide a discussion of what is known about aboriginal fishing methods historically. Chapter 4 will provide a discussion concerning the fishing artifacts recovered from the site and what they suggest about the fishing methods used. Chapter 5 presents the methodology that will be used for the analysis of the fish remains as well as a discussion on the taphonomic factors that can bias fish assemblages. Chapter 6 will present the results of this analysis as well as the inferences that can be drawn about fishing methods employed at the site from the fish faunal remains in combination with those inferences derived from the fishing related artifacts within Chapter 6. Chapter 7 will compare the inferences drawn about the fishing methods used by the inhabitants of the BWBS site with other Middle Woodland sites within this region. Finally, Chapter 8 will summarize the conclusions made within this thesis. 4 Chapter 2 The Blue Water Bridge South Site (AfHo-7) The Blue Water Bridge South Site (AfHo-7) Location The Blue Water Bridge South (BWBS) site is located within Point Edward, Ontario along the St. Clair River just south of the river’s narrowest point where Lake Huron flows into it (Figure 1). The BWBS site was discovered during an archaeological assessment of an area proposed to be impacted by the construction of a bridge that was to be built alongside the already existing Blue Water Bridge that spans the St. Clair River from Point Edward, Ontario to Port Huron, Michigan (Mayer Heritage Consultants 1996). Local Environment The site is located in the Huron Fringe physiographic region which is characterised as a 320 kilometre strip of wave-cut terraces along the glacial and post- glacial Lakes Nipissing and Algonquin (Chapman and Putnam 1984:161-162).