User:Joshualieto/sandbox

= Western Basin Tradition = The Western Basin Tradition is the name of a Late Woodland Native American culture that inhabited land around the western end of Lake Erie from roughly 500 AD - 1400 AD. Western Basin peoples were semi-nomadic horticulturalists and participated in a seasonal round, moving between the shores of local rivers and Lake Erie during the spring and summer and the wooded inlands of the region during fall and winter. Facing an invasion by peoples of the Sandusky Tradition, archaeologists have suggested that Western Basin Tradition peoples fled the Lake Erie region by around 1400 AD.

The Western Basin Tradition was formulated in the 1980's as an alternative to the Younge Tradition, a prehistoric sequence for southeastern Michigan postulated in 1965. Since then, these competing hypotheses have been the subject of debate within Great Lakes archaeology.

Chronology
Though various chronologies for the Western Basin Tradition have been put forward over the past thirty years, the most recent formulation defines four phases, each one marked by distinct trends in material culture (see Material Culture).

Material Culture
Western Basin Tradition peoples left behind a variety of artifacts, principal among them ceramic vessels. The dimensions and stylistic aspects of these artifacts change over time, and these sets of changes are defining characteristics of each phase of the Tradition.

Gibraltar Phase (500 AD - 700 AD)
Gibraltar Phase ceramic vessels are squat, globular, mostly undecorated and uncollared ware. Castellations are nearly absent, although cord-marking is common below the shoulder and may cover the entire exterior surface of the pot. Simple stab-and-drag trailing and similar decorative motifs may occur above the shoulder.

Riviere au Vase Phase (700 AD - 1000 AD)
During the Riviere au Vase Phase, vessel forms become somewhat more elongated and sub-conical, and castellations become more common. This phase also witnesses the appearance of weakly developed (or incipient) collars. Decorative motifs become much more elaborate, and dentate stamping is applied liberally in a variety of geometric patterns, including z-shaped linear dentates, rows of triangles, plaits, braids and horizontal linear motifs. Decoration always occurs above the shoulder and on the neck and rim, and cord-marking is still common below the shoulder.

Younge Phase (1000 AD - 1200 AD)
The Younge Phase witnesses a further lengthening of the vessel form, giving pots a somewhat conical appearance. Vessel collars develop further, and castellations are relatively common. Oblique tool-impression is the hallmark decorative motif of this phase, and increases in frequency at the expense of the linear dentate stamping typical of the Riviere au Vase phase. At the same time, some decoration (specifically, incision) occurs below the shoulder.

Springwells Phase (1200 AD - 1400 AD)
Springwells Phase pottery is marked by strongly developed collars and thick, castellated rims almost always decorated with horizontal bands of linear motifs. Elongated, bag-shaped vessels forms predominate.

Subsistence and Settlement Patterns
Floral and faunal remains collected at Western Basin sites suggest that these peoples were incipient horticulturists who took part in a seasonal round, moving between various local habitats to exploit seasonally abundant resources. During the spring and summer extended family and tribal groups (so-called "macro-bands") congregated near the shores of Lake Erie as well as local rivers to fish, collect wild plants and fruits, secure marriage partners and reestablish social bonds. In fact, the River Raisin (located in modern-day Monroe, Michigan) was so abundant with fish during the spring and summer months that the contact-period Potawatomi called it Nummasepee, meaning "river of sturgeon." During the spring and summer they also took advantage of the rich soils around the lake, growing garden plots near their warm season habitation sites. During the fall and winter these macro-bands split up into small family units and moved into the interior, relying on water from small inland streams, meat from woodland animals (such as white-tailed deer) and the abundance of wild nut species to support themselves. These subsistence patterns, though part of a Late Woodland tradition, are similar to those of Late Archaic and Early Woodland peoples in the region and throughout parts of prehistoric North America.

Post-mold patterns at habitation sites indicate that dwellings were most likely circular house structures, probably constructed like the wigwam of historic times. A summer macro-band habitation site covered an average of 1 - 1 1/2 acres and included at least two to three structures, while family-size winter sites in the interior were much smaller, usually only consisting of one house structure. As Western Basin peoples moved through different environments during different parts of the year, they also left behind many small, temporary base camps that may have only been occupied for a few days. These so-called "base camps" are exceedingly small, generally less than 1/8 acre.

Mortuary Patterns
Biocultural data collected from Western Basin sites demonstrates the use of various inhumation techniques. While single burials are occasionally found near house structures, suggesting quick interment of relatives near living spaces, larger cemeteries and ossuaries containing both flexed and bundle burials occur frequently throughout the region.

Archaeologists have hypothesized that these cemeteries were burial grounds established during the warm season. According to this hypothesis, families would coalesce into macro-bands near lacustrine and riverine environments each spring, burying those who had died during winter near their summer plots and interring the summer dead in the same plots before leaving in the fall. This burial of extended kin in the same designated area solidified bonds within macro-family bands and, as population grew during the Late Woodland, it is possible that these graveyards served as boundary markers between macro-bands. On analogy with later historic records of burial practices in the Great Lakes, some have also argued that people were buried in these cemeteries so that their bones could be exhumed at later dates and used in ritual and ceremonial practices.

Relationship to Modern Tribes
Some archaeologists have posited that Western Basin peoples were the ancestors of modern Algonquian-speaking peoples, principally the Ojibwe, Ottawa and Potawatomi. They argue that the invasion of the Sandusky Tradtiion into the western Lake Erie region forcibly dispersed these proto-Algonquians from western Lake Erie to their contact-period distribution, with the Ojibwe and Ottawa inhabiting the middle and upper parts of Michigan's peninsulas and the Potawatomi occupying the portions of Michigan and Indiana near the southern end of Lake Michigan. Correspondingly, these archaeologists see Sandusky Tradition peoples as the ancestors of historically attested Iroquoian peoples. The formulation of these tribal relationships has been hotly debated, with proponents of the alternate Younge Tradition seeing no such dispersal (see Relationship to Younge Tradition).

Relationship to the Younge Tradition
As the Western Basin Tradition arose as an alternative to the Younge Tradition sequence, both use much of the same notational and technical terminology (i.e., phase names, ceramic vessel types). However, both are radically different interpretations of Late Woodland prehistory around Lake Erie. Proponents of the Younge Tradition argue that Late Woodland peoples around Lake Erie emerged in situ from a Middle Woodland base population, while proponents of the Western Basin Tradition have most recently claimed that Lake Erie's Late Woodland residents were derived from the Princess Point Complex in Ontario, Canada. Meanwhile, supporters of the Younge Tradition see cultural continuity between Springwells Phase (1200 AD - 1400 AD) assemblages and Wolf Phase (1400 AD - 1500 AD) assemblages, while supporters of the Western Basin Tradition have interpreted Wolf Phase peoples as an intrusive Sandusky Tradition population, whose presence in the region forcibly dispersed Western Basin Tradition peoples from their Late Woodland home.

= Younge Tradition =

= Sandusky Tradition =