| Capability for repeatable measures of landscape structure is expanding through methods and concepts of landscape ecology. At the same time, anthropologists are applying regional approaches to the study of human settlement patterns. Yet, there has been little research using methods that consider both landscape and human settlement patterns to understand land use evolution and its effect on landscape variability. This study addressed the quantitative assessment of landscape structure to an area of over 1.7 million hectares, and applied a 3000 year overlay of human settlement to identify broad landscape trends. Prehistoric (ca. 3000-300 years before present), historic (approx. 150 years before present), and present (1992) settlement data of the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan were used to compare land occupation through time and to identify physiographic land types selected for habitation. Historic and present land cover data of the same region were compared, using relative landscape metrics, to estimate landscape changes.; High proportions of northern hardwoods and mixed conifer in both historic and present landscapes, and in all groups were found. While these types were most dominant in the moraine group, a greater proportion of pine was found in the outwash group, more wetlands, mixed pine, and cedar occurred in the lowland group, and cedar was more prevalent in the bedrock group. Composition of the current landscape was similar to the historic composition but the pattern of those types, measured by relative patch density and relative patch size coefficient of variation, was quite different between time periods. Changes followed similar trends between the bedrock, moraine, and outwash landtype association groups but the lowland group changed differently based on the directional change of indices calculated on each cover type.; Prehistoric to present settlement pattern analysis results indicated that human population decreased between prehistoric and historic times within the study area, then dramatically increased to present population levels. Early inhabitants (prehistoric and historic) selected the bedrock and lowland landscapes for settlement, as did contemporary populations. But, in historic times there were a greater percentage of people living inland, away from Great Lakes shorelines than in prehistoric or present times. These data may represent an actual decline in native populations resulting from contact with European traders.; This study demonstrated integration of cultural geography and landscape ecology. It tackled examination of multi-scalar data, applying new approaches to estimation of broad land cover and settlement change over a large geographic extent. Furthermore, the study set the stage for additional hypotheses that may be posed for this region. |
