Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Impact Of Agriculture On Social Complexity

University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee WI

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Robert Jeske, Mr. Richard Edwards will investigate the relationship between subsistence strategies and the development of cultural complexity among early agricultural populations. Traditional literature suggests a close relationship between the development of agriculture with stratified social systems and cultural institutions. Archaeology is well suited to investigate this question by examining prehistoric societies that seem to have taken more egalitarian approaches. The deep historical view of archaeology allows researchers to understand the long-term trajectory of changes in subsistence strategies. Within this broad framework, this project provides concrete benefits for archaeologists, students, and the public. This project will help to understand the effects of changing subsistence strategies during a time of environmental change - the shift from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age. The additional knowledge about the effects of climate change on subsistence and societies will prove beneficial to science in general. This analysis will not require the destruction of human remains, reducing tension between archaeologists and Native Americans. A publicly available online database will include raw data, facilitating future research by other scholars. Finally, this project provides educational opportunities for other graduate and undergraduate students at multiple universities during the data-collection and reporting phases The researchers will investigate the role of maize (corn) agriculture and the development of social/political complexity in the Eastern US and Canada from AD1000-1600. As people increased the use of maize in their diet at this time, a variety of transformations in other cultural institutions occurred. Middle Mississippian groups in the southern parts of the region saw a significant rise in social and political stratification. However, Oneota groups near the Great Lakes maintained remarkably egalitarian social structures. Crucially, archaeologists do not know how maize utilization varied between Middle Mississippian and Oneota populations. Traditional subsistence analyses can identify important crops, but cannot accurately measure the relative importance of one food source to another. Isotopic analysis of bones can accurately determine the proportion of maize to other foods eaten by an individual. Unfortunately, these analyses are destructive, and few have been undertaken on human remains in the region. Current data suggest that Oneota and Middle Mississippian groups may have consumed roughly equal amounts of maize but with significant regional variation. This study uses isotopes to understand the dietary makeup of Oneota groups in Wisconsin. To avoid destroying human bone, this project uses the Canine Surrogacy Approach. CSA is premised on the idea that dogs can act a proxy for humans. Dogs often eat human food and feces, and therefore have similar isotopic signatures to their owners. This project will test all dogs recovered from Oneota sites in Wisconsin and Illinois to determine the relative importance of maize agriculture to hunting and fishing. Combined with other datasets, this analysis will contextualize the role of subsistence practices with the social and political systems used by Oneota groups relative to their neighbors during a time of shifting climate.