Charles E. Cleland

This 294 page scholarly work outlines the ecological sequence of the Upper Great Lakes and describes the ways that cultures utilized food resources. The time periods and labels for groupings are:
- Paleo-Indian (12000 to 9000 BC), climate cold, caribou staple element
- Early Archaic (9000 to 7000 BC), climate still cool, dense coniferous forests; moose, woodland caribou, beaver and hare hunted by small populations in north, deer hunted by larger populations in the south
- Middle Archaic (7000 to 3000 BC), moderating climate, gradual appearance of deciduous trees; hunting in north as in earlier period, hunting in south more diffuse but based on deer hunting; ground stone technology develops in south where plant resources start to be used
- Late Archaic (3000 to 1000 BC), climate warmer than present; Old Copper people in north hunt in winter and fish in summer; Red Ochre and Glacial Kame people in the south hunt bdeer in winter and fish in spring and fall but now undertake more collecting of plants, become familiar with local resources and establish movement patterns to acquire the plant resources; tribal territories established with resources as loci, widespread intergroup and intragroup exchange because of differentials in some resource distribution
- Early Woodland (1000 to 300 BC), climate and biotic distribution similar to present, hunting/fishing economy, introduction of some domestic plant species, pottery appears
- Middle Woodland (300 BC to 400 AD), climate similar to present; in the north lakeside villages appear in north because of spring and summer fishing, fish nets appear; winter hunting for moose, woodland caribou, bear, beaver and hare; in the south sites are in alluvial bottoms where seeds (wild and domestic) becomes the principal subsistence activity, storage especially of corn; breakdown of earlier territories since social control over broad landscape was no longer necessary, less intragroup interaction, neutral or competetive relationships replace earlier thriving reciprocal trade networks
- Late Woodland and Upper Mississipian (400 AD to 1650 AD); climatic variation, 3 groups based on biotic province - in the north - fishers/hunters, in the middle- predominantly agricultural but not 100%, in the south strong agricultural societies but transition zones and varied zone boundaries as climate varies, all the time with a strong "inland fishing complex", cold resistent species of corn develop. Agricultural techiques became more sophisticated (including clearing forest and burning), bean was introduced, hunting only when it would not interfere with the agricultural cycle… (altro)