Petrographic and Elemental Analysis of Clays and Woodland Period Ceramics from Big Rice Lake, Superior National Forest, Minnesota: A Study in Technology And Provenance

Abstract

Petrographic and instrumental neutron activation analysis of ceramics, sediment, and granite from a multi-component Woodland Period site at Big Rice Lake, northeastern Minnesota, was undertaken to provide information regarding the technology and movement of pottery and the people who made the pottery as well as the source of raw materials. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, principal components analysis, and discriminant-function analysis. Differences in the percentages of inclusions in the pottery between the Initial Woodland Laurel and Terminal Woodland Blackduck, Selkirk, and Sandy Lake cultures imply a technological contrast between the two groups rather than the use of different raw materials. Petrographic analysis was found to be a poor indicator of provenance. Principal components and discriminant-function analysis of trace-element data showed that the pottery, sediment, clay, and granite excavated and collected at Big Rice Lake are chemically similar and may represent a single population. Pottery from Lake Winnibigoshish and clay from Deer River, Minnesota, analyzed to provide comparisons with the Big Rice Lake samples, were identified as a distinct group. Pottery is suggested to have been made at Big Rice Lake using local raw materials.