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Finding Fields: Locating Archaeological Agricultural Landscapes Using Historical Aerial Photographs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2021

Madeleine McLeester  and
Jesse Casana
Madeleine McLeester*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Silsby Hall, 3 Tuck Drive, Hanover, NH03755, USA
Jesse Casana
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Silsby Hall, 3 Tuck Drive, Hanover, NH03755, USA
*
(madeleine.mcleester@dartmouth.edu, corresponding author)
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Abstract

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, over 450 precolumbian and historic Indigenous agricultural fields were documented across the state of Wisconsin. Today, the vast majority of these features are generally assumed to have been destroyed. Focusing on the Wisconsin River basin, which has the highest concentration of known archaeological field systems in the Midwest, this study explores the potential of using historical aerial photographs to identify and interpret archaeological agricultural features. Relying on state site records, an archive of high-resolution 1930s aerial images, and modern lidar data, we carefully examine the region surrounding 59 sites where fields had previously been documented. At a quarter of the sites we investigated, we successfully identified both known and unrecorded archaeological features—including agricultural fields, effigy mounds, earthworks, and house basins—most of which have been destroyed by recent land use practices. Our analysis sheds light on the complexity and richness of the archaeological landscape, with vast agricultural spaces situated beyond traditional site boundaries, and suggests that precolumbian and historic Indigenous agricultural fields may have been much larger and more widespread than conventionally understood.

Durante los siglos 19 y 20, más de 450 sistemas de campos agrícolas de data pre-contacto e históricos fueron documentados en el Estado de Wisconsin. Actualmente, se ha asumido que la gran mayoría de estos registros han sido destruídos. Centrándonos en la cuenca del río Wisconsin, que posee la mayor concentración de sistemas de campos agrícolas arqueológicos conocidos, este estudio explora el potencial de uso de fotografías aéreas históricas para identificar e interpretar sistemas agrícolas arqueológicos en el Medio Oeste Superior de Estados Unidos. Basándonos en registros estatales, un archivo de imágenes aéreas de alta resolución de la década de 1930 y datos LIDAR modernos, examinamos la región que rodea 59 sitios donde se han identificados campos agrícolas. En una cuarta parte de los sitios que investigamos, identificamos exitosamente características arqueológicas conocidas y no registradas, incluidos campos agrícolas, montículos-efigie, movimientos de tierras y casas pozo, la mayoría de las cuales fueron destruidas por prácticas recientes de uso del suelo. Nuestro análisis otorga evidencia sobre la complejidad y la riqueza del paisaje arqueológico, con vastos espacios agrícolas situados más allá de los límites tradicionales del sitio, y sugiere que los campos agrícolas indígenas precolombinos e históricos pueden haber sido mucho más grandes y extensos que lo tradicionalmente reconocido.

Keywords

agriculturefieldsaerial imageryremote sensingAmerican Midwestmaize agricultureWisconsinagriculturacampos agrícolasfotografías aéreasteledetecciónMedio Oeste Superior de Estados Unidosagricultura del maízEstado de Wisconsin
Type
Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 86 , Issue 2 , April 2021 , pp. 283 - 304
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology

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