| Summary: | This thesis represents the first example of a pre-agricultural, pre-colonial land disturbance event in the archaeological record of North America. It demonstrates the critical importance of multivariate analysis and µ-XRF core scanning in determining precise chronologies for episodes of heightened clastic input from soil erosion, enhanced by human occupation, shellfish harvesting, and burial mound construction. Serpent Mounds is a prehistoric (Middle Woodland Period, ca. 2000--1000 BP) burial mound complex located on the north shore of Rice Lake, in southern Ontario, Canada. The complex includes a 60m long and 10m wide sinuous earthwork ridge interpreted as a serpent effigy and eight smaller oval mound structures. Archaeological excavations determined seasonal site occupation for harvesting wild rice and shellfish and conducting mortuary rites. The timing of mound construction and site occupation is poorly constrained by limited radiocarbon dates, restricted to burials. The site is of high cultural importance as the only known effigy mound structure in Canada and is a sacred First Nations burial ground; thus all investigation must employ non-invasive techniques. High-resolution XRF Core Scanning and micropaleontologic analysis (testate amoebae) of 12 lake sediment cores was employed to investigate the timing of mound construction, and assess geochemical records of prehistoric land disturbance. Land disturbance is indicated by increased sediment flux, by rising abundance of minerogenic elements (K, Ti, Zr, Si, Fe) within a distinctive silt-rich gyttja unit. The event is also recorded in the thecamoebian assemblage, which is dominated by indicators of a eutrophic, turbid lake environment. Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis of µ-XRF data identify distinctive chemofacies across several cores. AMS 14C dates for the prehistoric land disturbance episode correspond with the Point Peninsula occupation, indicating a protracted occupation period of \textasciitilde 750 years (2050 - 1300 cal BP) with two ...
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