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Holocene paleoecology of a wild rice (Zizania sp.) lake in Northwestern Ontario, Canada

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Abstract

Whitefish Lake is a large (11-km-long), shallow, basin in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The presence of extensive stands of wild rice (Zizania sp.) in combination with high archaeological site density suggests that this lake was ecologically important to regional precontact populations. Collection and analysis of sediment from Whitefish Lake was initiated in 2008 in order to reconstruct changes in lake depth, climate, and vegetation throughout the Holocene. In general, the upper 4.5 m of basinal sediment is composed of ~1.5+ m of varves, which is overlain by a 1.5-m-thick unit with ped-like structures, and ~1.5 m of lacustrine sediment. This sequence documents an early proglacial lake phase, followed by a dry interval before 4,300 (4,900 cal) BP when the lake was significantly shallower, and the establishment of the modern lake during the late Holocene. Plant microfossil (phytolith) evidence indicates that wild rice had colonized the basin ~5,300 (6,100 cal) BP as the lake level rose in response to climate change. Beginning ~4,000 (4,500 cal) BP, changes in elemental data suggest a sharp increase in lake productivity and a switch to anaerobic depositional conditions as the rate of organic sedimentation increased. Recent archaeological research confirms that wild rice was locally processed and consumed during the Middle and Late Woodland periods (~300 BC–AD 1700) although it was evidently growing in the lake well before this time.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by a SSHRC Standard Research Grant to MB and SH. We are grateful to the McGillivray and Smiley families for allowing access to the Martin-Bird site over two field seasons. Sincere thanks are also owed to Christine Shultis and Lesley Kingsmill for their help with lake coring in 2008 and 2009; Jill Taylor-Hollings and Lakehead University graduate and undergraduate students for their assistance with the archaeological excavations; and Megan Wady for her help with phytolith sample processing. We also wish to thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Rd., Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 5E1, Canada

    M. Boyd, C. Surette, J. Surette & S. Hamilton

  2. School of Applied Sciences, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB, UK

    I. Therriault

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  1. M. Boyd
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  2. C. Surette
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  3. J. Surette
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  4. I. Therriault
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  5. S. Hamilton
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Correspondence to M. Boyd.

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Boyd, M., Surette, C., Surette, J. et al. Holocene paleoecology of a wild rice (Zizania sp.) lake in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. J Paleolimnol 50, 365–377 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-013-9731-9

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