Innovative Research and Technology
Dartmouth-led researchers utilized drone-mounted to uncover an extensive ancient agricultural site in Michigan's , challenging previous assumptions about precolonial farming practices in .
The technology allowed for high-resolution mapping of approximately 330 acres of the site, revealing raised garden beds used for cultivating crops like corn, beans, and squash by ancestral Menominee communities.
Implications for Understanding Ancestral Menominee Societies
The scale of the agricultural system, estimated to be ten times larger than previous estimates, suggests a level of labor organization and societal complexity not previously associated with the region's smaller, egalitarian societies.
This discovery, part of the culturally significant Anaem Omot area, prompts a reconsideration of the historical land use and agricultural practices in the Upper Peninsula, as well as the broader implications for understanding indigenous agriculture across North America.