- What is an archaeological predictive model?
- Modeling theory and assumptions
- Overview of predictive modeling
- Project Phases
- Woodland Tradition
- Minnesota Archaeology
- Archaeology Survey Manual
- A Brief History of Archaeology in Minnesota
- Site / Environmental Correlations in Northeastern Minnesota
Any archaeological predictive model must be informed by the history of the environment and culture being modeled. Even though an inductive research design is used in Mn/Model, expert knowledge and theory are incorporated into the model through the selection of the sites included in the archaeological database and the independent environmental variables used for modeling.
Minnesota's Changing Environment
Mn/Model's methodology assumes that hunter/gatherers focused their activities in places that had the resources they needed - water, food, and shelter are chief among these. Previous archaeological investigations in Minnesota have shown that sites are often concentrated near lakes and rivers, particularly on landforms such as river terraces and beach ridges. Some predictive models restrict the environmental variables based on previous survey results, for instance using a variable like "within 500 feet of water" or "on a river terrace." In contrast, Mn/Model used continuous variables, such as "distance to water" and "height above surroundings," to find combinations of terrain and other factors associated with site locations. This allows the models to predict uncommon site types or sites in locations that might not otherwise have been selected. For example, in Mn/Model, high and medium site potential areas sometimes surround flat terrain in a place where there is no modern surface water nearby. On closer examination, it becomes apparent that the location is a drained lake bed.
Minnesota's Native American Culture History
Minnesota has been occupied for approximately 12,000, since glaciers retreated from the landscape. Chapter 3 of the Mn/Model Final Report (2002) summarizes Minnesota's Native American cultural history, in the context of its changing environment. More specific reports published by MnDOT include the East Terrace Site and the Minnesota Statewide Multiple Properties Documentation Form for the Woodland Tradition, which includes context studies for the following complexes in Minnesota: Brainerd; Southeast Minnesota Early Woodland; Havana Related; Laurel; Fox Lake; Lake Benton; Central Minnesota Transitional Woodland; Southeast Minnesota Late Woodland; Blackduck-Kathio and Rainy River Late Woodland; and Psinomani.
Archaeological data are a necessary input in the development of an archaeological predictive model. In Minnesota, with the exception of the Red Wing area, archaeological sites are rather sparse in the landscape. This provided challenges in developing and testing the models. In some parts of the state, the number of known sites was so low that models developed from the database cannot be considered truly representative of archaeological potential. Archaeologists' biases in deciding where to survey have added to this problem. Mn/Model is the only archaeological predictive model that has made this bias explicit in the final results so that the model's value for any given place can be assessed.
Moreover, the sparseness of the sample and paucity of information on site periods and contexts required that sites from all time periods (12,000 BP through 1836) be combined to create the archaeological database. Mn/Model's Phase 3 archaeological database included both site and survey locations. Chapter 5 of the Mn/Model Final Report (2002) describes the development of the archaeological database used in Phases 1 through 3 of the project. Since the completion of Phase 3, new sites have been added to the database and a considerable amount of quality control has been done on the data.
Archaeological Field Survey
The first two phases of Mn/Model included archaeological field surveys. In the first summer of surveys (1995), four counties were surveyed using a stratified sampling design to provide data that could be compared to that gathered by the Minnesota Statewide Archaeological Survey (MnSAS), conducted by the Minnesota Historical Society between 1977 and 1980. In the second summer (1996), three additional counties were surveyed using a simple random sample. The intent of this survey was to estimate the a priori probability of finding sites in different regions of Minnesota and to improve model testing. Mn/Model survey standards and procedures for these two surveys are described in Appendix C of the Mn/Model Final Report (2002). Appendix D details the survey results.
Deeply Buried Sites
Most known archaeological sites in Minnesota are at or near the surface. Because these dominated the archaeological database, and because the environmental variables described surface conditions, the predictive models are used only to assess the potential for surface sites. However, there are many environments in Minnesota, particularly in river valleys, that have the potential to contain sites buried more than one meter below the surface. Subsurface survey is expensive, so Mn/Model required a component to help determine where such surveys are needed. To achieve that goal, Mn/Model Phases 1 through 3 included extensive geomorphic mapping of selected parts of the state thought to have high potential for deeply buried sites. From this mapping, models were developed that indicate the suitability of the landform sediment assemblage to have both captured and preserved archaeological artifacts in situ. Details of the mapping project and resulting models can be found in Chapter 12 of the Mn/Model Final Report (2002).
Subsequently, additional parts of the state have been mapped. These can be accessed from the Geomorphology portion of this site. In addition, MnDOT conducted a study comparing several standard methods for locating deeply buried archaeological sites for their cost and effectiveness (Deep Site Testing Protocol, 2006). Based on this research, a field protocol was developed to guide field work when deeply buried sites might be present.
Mn/Model was financed by the Minnesota Department of Transportation using funds set aside by the Federal Highway Administration's Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act.
The Mn/Model process and the predictive models it produced are copyrighted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), 2000. They may not be used without MnDOT's Consent.