North Shore Survey Report

The Minnesota Office of the State Archaeologist has posted the report completed by the Duluth Archaeology Center (DAC) for the Legacy Amendment funded archaeological survey of Minnesota Archaeological Region 9, the Lake Superior Shore.   Points and Pits: Archaeological Investigations in Minnesota’s Region 9, the Lake Superior Shore, Carlton, Cook, Lake and St. Louis Counties, Minnesota will be a firm foundation for future research in the region.  As with other areas chosen for survey by the Advisory Board, Region 9 was represented by a relatively small number of recorded archaeological sites (a total of 34 prior to this survey).  The hope was to gain a better understanding of the region’s archaeology by increasing the number of recorded sites to provide a better sample for researchers. 

The question has always been, are there few recorded sites in the region due simply to a lack of survey or is the lack of sites due to small numbers of prehistoric inhabitants?  This investigation suggests the latter.  DAC’s survey visited previously recorded sites and looked for new ones using a GIS based survey methodology.    Hampered somewhat by the time frame inherent in the Legacy Amendment projects, which limited survey to late fall and spring, DAC located 6 new sites during field survey and verified an additional 20 based on informant reports and museum collections.  The report documents the activities conducted for the investigation and provides a summary of prehistoric archaeological sites known in Region 9.  Check it out.