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Farming Was Extensive in Ancient North America, Study Finds

Posted on June 07, 2025 by Franz Lidz, The New York Times

A milleniums-old settlement in Michigan has archaeologists rethinking the rise of agriculture on the continent.

  • Michigan's Upper Peninsula

    An overview flight of the Anaem Omot landscape of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula during leaf off in May. Sixty Islands, as well as dozens of ancestral Menominee sites, are preserved under the canopy. Photo: Jesse Casana

An article in The New York Times describes research by a team of Dartmouth anthropologists that reveals the most complete ancient agricultural location in the eastern United States.

"This may force scholars to rethink some ideas that are foundational to archaeological theory and to archaeology generally," says Madeleine McLeester, an environmental archaeologist and lead author of the study.

Read the full article here.