Paleoethnobotanical Inquiry of Early Euro-American and Ojibwa Gardens on Grand Island, Michigan

Exploratory archaeobotanical analysis was conducted on Grand Island, Michigan, in concert with current botanical inventories and historic document research. Our goal was to synthesize these three forms of data in the study of early cultural-plant use. We describe indigenous and Euro-American plant relationships on Grand Island, and the patterning of plant remains between individual sites. Botanical materials in four of five samples showed greater correspondence to current flora than to historic accounts of plant representation. Still, from most samples we recovered a good depiction of historic food plants. A well-defined feature sample yielded the greatest quantity and diversity of culturally important botanical material. The results support integration of documentary with archaeological sources to identify plant remains with cultural meaning.