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Field Systems and Frost Drainage in the Prehistoric Agriculture of the Upper Great Lakes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Thomas J. Riley  and
Glen Freimuth
Thomas J. Riley
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801
Glen Freimuth
Affiliation:
Richland Community College, Decatur, IL 62523
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Abstract

Hypotheses regarding functions of prehistoric ridge-and furrow agricultural fields from Wisconsin and Michigan have been tested by resorting to data derived from experimental agricultural fields. The primary function of these fields was frost drainage in an area that was marginal to agriculture because of a minimal frost-free growing season. The time of introduction and disappearance of these features may correlate with climatic changes in North America from A.D. 1250 to 1550.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , April 1979 , pp. 271 - 285
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1979

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References

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