Northeast Subsistence-Settlement Change: A.D. 700 –1300

Figure 6.7. Meyer site terrace, view to the north. The
excavated area is in the background near the trees.
Figure 6.8. Meyer site excavation showing linear plow
scars, features, and posts.
relatively low headland at the tip of the promontory,
and covers roughly 2,500 sq. m. Artifacts are few, and
no Princess Point hearths or middens have been discovered.
Post molds may be either later Iroquoian or
Princess Point.
In 2000, excavations shifted to the Princess Point
type site, which had not undergone systematic investigation
since 1969 (Stothers 1977). The site is on the
northern half of a low promontory at the southeastern
corner of the marsh. The site area consists of an upper
area (about 5 m above the current water level) and a
lower area (about 1 m above the present water level) at
the tip of the headland. Middle Woodland through to
historic Neutral Iroquoian components are represented
at Princess Point. Diagnostic Middle Woodland pottery
is limited to the upper area. Princess Point artifacts are
also found in the upper area, but in an area distinct
from that where the Middle Woodland artifacts are
found. The Middle Woodland occupation appears to
be discrete. Midden deposits containing Princess Point,
as well as Early, Middle, and Late Ontario Iroquoian
artifacts cover much of the lower area. Princess Point
material is distributed over roughly 3,500 sq. m,
including both upper and lower areas.
EARLY LATE WOODLAND IN
SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO
In 2000, the scope of our research program expanded
to include the region of southwestern Ontario,
immediately to the west of the Princess Point area
(Figures 6.1 and 6.11). This region includes the southeastern
shore of Lake Huron, the eastern shores of Lake
St. Clair, the northern shore of Lake Erie west of Long
Point, the eastern portions of the St. Clair and Detroit
River systems, and the entire Thames and Sydenham
River drainage basins. Our knowledge of early Late
Woodland societies in this region is extremely poor.
Some systematic work was conducted in the 1970s
(e.g., Keenlyside 1978; Reid 1979; Stothers 1972), but
most site information has been recovered as the result
of avocational interest and cultural resource management.
By the 1980s, roughly 35 early Late Woodland
components had been identified in southwestern
Ontario. The data from these components are highly
variable in quantity and quality, and many are from
multicomponent sites. Nonetheless, the early Late
Woodland of southwestern Ontario has figured in a
number of interpretive frameworks and recently, two
competing models have emerged.
Stothers (1977) included the early Late Woodland of
southwestern Ontario as one of three regional foci (the
Point Pelee Focus) in his initial definition of the
Princess Point Complex. Fox (1982) subsequently separated
the Point Pelee Focus from Princess Point, subsuming
it in the Riviere au Vase phase of the southern
Michigan Younge Tradition (Fitting 1965). At the same
time, Stothers and his associates renamed and redefined
the Younge Tradition as the Western Basin
Tradition (Stothers 1978; Stothers and Graves 1983).
They argued that it was ethnically Iroquoian and
claimed that food production in the form of maize cultivation
was practiced in the Western Basin region as
early as A.D. 650.
Murphy and Ferris (1990) rejected Stothers’
Chapter 6 Early Late Woodland in Southern Ontario: An Update (1996–2000) 125