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The Inland Shore Fishery of the Northern Great Lakes: Its Development and Importance in Prehistory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Charles E. Cleland*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824

Abstract

Despite a great many references in the historic and ethnographic records to the importance of fishing by natives of the northern Great Lakes, anthropologists and archaeologists have failed to appreciate the uniqueness and significance of the inland shore fishery. A review of the archaeological evidence for the evolution of the fishery from Late Archaic to historic times indicates that the fishery can provide an organizing concept for understanding the cultural evolution of the region. Further, this record provides a means of examining the process of adaptation as it reflects a long series of technological and social adjustments to a specific set of environmental conditions over time.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1982

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References

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