Glacial Lake Levels and Eastern Great Lakes Palaeo-Indians

This article investigates changing lake levels in the late Pleistocene eastern Great Lakes inorder to gain insights into the Early Palaeo-Indian occupations. Significant new informationbearing on lake level history is provided, notably the first well-documented deposits of a highwater level above modern in the ca. 11,000–10,300 B.P. period in the southern Lake Huronbasin. The lake level information, along with paleoenvironmental and site data, reinforcessite age estimates to the 11th millennium B.P.; suggests significant numbers of sites have beeninundated by rising water levels; provides specific informationonthe settingofarchaeologicalsites such as placing the Parkhill site adjacent to a large lake estuary; indicates reasons forthe attractiveness of shorelines to Palaeo-Indians including persistence of more open areasconducive to higher game productivity; and points to ideal areas for future archaeologicalsite survey, particularly in the Lake Erie drainage. 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.