A Critique of the Case for Paleoindian Caribou Hunting on the Submerged Alpena-Amberley Ridge

Abstract

A series of papers has developed the claim that stone features on the submerged Alpena-Amberley Ridge (AAR) in Lake Huron provides unique insight into the Paleoindian caribou-hunting economies of the Great Lakes. The documented human occupation of the AAR dates to the late Early Holocene (about 9000 calendar years ago): however, a time when glacial ice was far to the north and the region was occupied by hunting-gathering societies with ties to the western Great Plains and the deciduous forests of the Eastern Woodlands. Key elements of the caribou-hunting scenario as presented are poorly explained, contradictory, and/or ecologically unsound. Ethnographic and archaeological data demonstrate the use of structures for hunting other kinds of large game, presenting possibilities for alternative explanations. Constructing a satisfying explanation of the AAR features will require expanding the scope of investigation to develop and test multiple hypotheses that engage with the terrestrial archaeological record.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 4 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.