Laserfiche WebLink
Woodland there is a marked increase in the use of harvested and <br />fdomesticated plants, including wild rice and corn. <br />This more sedentary lifestyle is matched by the <br />appearance of villages. Ojibwa movement into <br />� Minnesota begins in this period. <br />E <br />3 A.D 1680-1800 Early € Ceramic and stone tool technologies begin to <br />Euroamerican disappear and be replaced with metal trade goods. <br />A.D. 1800- Euroamerican I Euroamerican settlements begin and Euroamerican <br />E present ! material culture becomes dominant. <br />This periodization scheme is, of course, an oversimplification, and during the Initial and <br />especially Terminal Woodland period extensive and intricate local and regional cultures <br />developed within Minnesota, some with their own unique ceramic and lithic traditions. The <br />lack of previous archaeological research in the Elk River area, however, prevents any <br />conjectures about such developments in and around Elk River. <br />Of particular interest is the period from AD 1000-AD 1300. In the woodlands and <br />prairies of southern and central Minnesota the archaeological record indicates this was a <br />period of strong cultural changes, marked by changing ceramic types and agricultural <br />practices. Clustered villages appear in this period, and there is some evidence for defensive <br />palisades, all indicating that tensions were high and safety and protection were a strong <br />cultural concern. These tensions and changes reach more northern parts of Minnesota by <br />A.D. 1300, with similar village clusters being formed and intensification in the use and <br />storage of wild rice.' <br />At the height of these tensions c. A.D. 1300 Elk River may have fallen become a "no <br />man's land." There is evidence for a sharp cultural divide between northern and southern <br />Minnesota that accompanied the evidence of increasing tension and violence. During such <br />periods it is not uncommon for buffer zones to develop, as happened during the historic <br />Dakota -Ojibwa conflict.3 It may be that as a buffer zone, the Elk River area was not <br />inhabited in this period. <br />Slightly more is known about the Native Americans of Minnesota in the Early <br />EuroAmerican period after 1680, but specifics about the Elk River region remain unknown. <br />This was a period of great change and fragmentation of Native American groups caused by <br />numerous internal and external factors, not the least of which was the widespread effect of <br />10 <br />