Indigenous Life around the Great Lakes: War, Climate, and Culture

During the eleventh through fifteenth centuries AD, the Eastern Woodlands area experienced significant changes, including the aggregation of Oneota groups, adoption of new material culture and food technology, and increased intergroup violence. Richard W. Edwards' book explores how the inhabitants of the western Great Lakes region responded to these challenges, focusing on a group living in the Koshkonong Locality in southeastern Wisconsin. Using a canine surrogacy approach, Edwards analyzes the nature of groups subsistence systems, agriculture, and risk-management strategies and proposes how the inhabitants organized themselves and interacted with neighboring groups. The book demonstrates that the Oneota groups were far more agricultural than previously thought and how their maize agriculture was related to the structure of their societies.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 302 pages
Publication date: 30 September 2020
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press

The inhabitants of the Eastern Woodlands experienced significant transformations throughout the eleventh to fifteenth centuries AD. During this period, numerous groups within the region, collectively referred to as Oneota by archaeologists, came together and embraced new material culture and food technology. Simultaneously, there was a rise in intergroup violence and a heightened level of climatic volatility marked by the onset of the Little Ice Age. In his book, Indigenous Life around the Great Lakes, Richard W. Edwards delves into the responses of the people living in the western Great Lakes region to these challenges.

Edwards selects the Koshkonong Locality in present-day southeastern Wisconsin as a case study to examine how the inhabitants of this region navigated climate change, social change, and the increasingly violent physical landscape. By contextualizing Koshkonong within the broader Oneota framework and its relationships with other groups in the western Great Lakes and surrounding regions, Edwards provides a comprehensive analysis.

Edwards employs a canine surrogacy approach, which avoids the destruction of human remains, to examine the nature of groups' subsistence systems, the role of agriculture, and the risk-management strategies developed to face the challenges of their day. Through this analysis, Edwards proposes how the inhabitants of this region organized themselves and interacted with neighboring groups.

One of the key findings of Edwards' book is that the Oneota groups were far more agricultural than previously believed. He demonstrates how the cultivation of maize played a crucial role in the structure of these societies. By synthesizing various lines of archaeological evidence, Indigenous Life around the Great Lakes offers a fresh perspective on the cultural and economic developments of the Midwest during this period.

The book will appeal to archaeologists who specialize in the Midwest, as well as those interested in broader issues of cultural adaptation and resilience in response to environmental change. It provides valuable insights into the complex relationships between indigenous peoples, their environments, and the broader social and political landscapes of the time.

Weight: 450g
Dimension: 152 x 229 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780268108182