Modeling Archaeological Site Burial in Southern Michigan

Book excerpt: Modeling Archaeological Site Burial in Southern Michigan is the first volume in the Environmental Research Series. The product of more than two decades of research, it examines relationships between regional and local scale fluvial system evolution and the processes that result in the deep burial of archaeological sites--primarily in floodplain and coastal contexts. This multidisciplinary study incorporates findings from earth and social sciences, discussing regional scale processes of environmental change that are necessary to understand relationships between human economic needs, social adaptation, and changing paleoenvironment. Monaghan and Lovis have compiled and synthesized available data on deeply buried archaeological sites in southern Lower Michigan; the result is the most comprehensive single compendium of such data available for any region of the Great Lakes. Since the processes and contexts present in southern Lower Michigan are comparable to those in the larger region, research modes presented here also have applicability across northeastern North America. This is one of the most important pieces of research to be produced on Michigan archeology.