'An Upper Great Lakes Archaeological Odyssey' celebrates the career of Charles E. Cleland - Michigan State University emeritus professor and curator of anthropology - through a series of focused research papers by a sample of his friends, colleagues, and former students.

A collection of unusual research topics in Upper Great Lakes archaeology presented by notable scholars with important insights into new and standing areas of anthropological inquiry.

Essential overview of American Indian societies during the Archaic period across central North America.

Rising above the northern Michigan landscape, prehistoric burial mounds and impressive circular earthen enclosures bear witness to the deep history of the region’s ancient indigenous peoples. These mounds and earthworks have long been treated as isolated finds and have never been connected to the social dynamics of the time in which they were constructed, a period called Late Prehistory. In Mound Builders and Monument Makers of the Northern Great Lakes, 1200–1600, Meghan C. L. Howey uses archaeology to make this connection. She shows how indigenous communities of the northern Great Lakes used earthen structures as gathering places for ritual and social interaction, which maintained connected egalitarian societies in the process. Examining “every available ceramic sherd from every northern earthwork,” Howey combines regional archaeological investigations with ethnohistory, analysis of spatial relationships, and collaboration with tribal communities to explore changes in the area’s social setting from 1200 to 1600. During this time, cultural shifts, such as the adoption of maize horticulture, led to the creation of the earthen constructions. Burial mounds were erected, marking claims to resources and defining areas for local ritual gatherings, while massive circular enclosures were constructed as intersocietal ceremonial centers. Together, Howey shows, these structures made up part of an interconnected, purposefully designed cultural landscape. When societies incorporated the earthworks into their egalitarian social and ritual behaviors, the structures became something more: ceremonial monuments. The first systematic examination of earthen constructions in what is today Michigan, Mound Builders and Monument Makers of the Northern Great Lakes, 1200–1600 reveals complicated indigenous histories that played out in the area before European contact. Howey’s richly illustrated investigation increases our understanding of the diverse cultures and dynamic histories of the pre-Columbian ancestors of today’s Great Lake tribes.

Archaeology for whom? The dozen well-known contributors to this innovative volume suggest nothing less than a transformation of the discipline into a service-oriented, community-based endeavor. They wish to replace the primacy of meeting academic demands with meeting the needs and values of those outside the field who may benefit most from our work. They insist that we employ both rigorous scientific methods and an equally rigorous critique of those practices to ensure that our work addresses real-world social, environmental, and political problems. A transformed archaeology requires both personal engagement and a new toolkit. Thus, in addition to the theoretical grounding and case materials from around the world, each contributor offers a personal statement of their goals and an outline of collaborative methods that can be adopted by other archaeologists.