| The study of fossil pollen grains preserved in lake sediments tracks vegetation changes of the past. Typically, changes are interpreted as responses of former plant communities to paleoclimatic changes, thus ignoring possible impacts from prehistoric Native American land use. In Midwestern USA, there are few pollen records conducted at fine temporal resolution (multidecadal) near archaeological sites that detect anthropogenic signals, and none so far for small Native American agricultural sites. This thesis describes and interprets the pollen analysis of Hovey Lake, Indiana, which is adjacent to the Hovey Lake Village Site (12PO10), a small Caborn-Welborn (Upper Mississippian) settlement. The pollen record of this lake indicates a primarily stable forest dominated by Quercus, Carya, Acer, and other hardwoods in the area's uplands, and Taxodium, Fraxinus, Populus, and Salix in the lowlands over the past 1,300 years. However, small but significant changes in key taxa indicate possible impacts of Native American land use and prevailing climate. From 1,260 to 860 cal yrs BP, there was a slight increase of Ambrosia and other herbaceous plants, indicating possible, limited forest disturbance by people in addition to the effects of the warmer/drier climate of the Medieval Warm Anomaly. Between 860 and 650 cal yrs BP, there may have been limited farming in the region, as evidenced by the presence of Zea mays in the pollen record. There is a strong signal in the pollen record for the growing of Z. mays in the area from 650 to 340 cal yrs BP. The village was abandoned at 300 cal yrs BP and this is clearly seen in the pollen record. From 340 to 250 cal yrs BP, reforestation occurred in the uplands and Salix expanded in the lowlands, which were probably facilitated by the cool/moist climate of the Little Ice Age. Finally, the forests again were cleared and Ambrosia colonized open, disturbed areas starting at ~250 cal yrs BP, but this time by early Euro-Americans. |
