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Professor David Putnam's Research Interests and On-going Projects |
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My ongoing research investigates the relationship between human food foraging cultures and high latitude environments, particularly those adjacent to glaciers or sea ice. I am particularly interested in far northern Maine and adjacent Quebec where ice caps of Younger Dryas age persisted after regional deglaciation. I am attempting to develop a chronology of deglaciation and the colonization of plants, animals, and people in those areas associated with persistent Younger Dryas ice masses. The region that includes northern Maine, Quebec, and northwestern portions of New Brunswick south of the St. Lawrence River is of great significance to understanding the processes at play along the southeastern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and ocean and atmospheric currents in the North Atlantic Ocean. Biologic and cultural responses to climate change since deglaciation in this critical region fascinate me. Specific research projects include: Three years of field studies in the Deboullie Lakes Reserve in T15 R9, Aroostook County, Maine. We have been investigating several rock glaciers and evidence of persistent late glacial ice masses. We established transects of temperature data loggers on several ice cored talus slopes, created a digital elevation map, conducted ground penetrating radar traverses, and recovered a lake sediment core. The area hosts eleven species of relic arctic plants and animals, including an arctic char, Salvelinus oquassa. Each year I lead students on a systematic archaeological survey of a section of the St. John watershed. We identify and test archaeological sites and excavate specific sites to recover data regarding age, context, and cultural affinities. We have surveyed portions of the Aroostook, Meduxnekeag, Allagash, Fish, and St. John Rivers. This work is conducted in partnership with Wolastoqwiyik (Maliseet) and Mi’kmaq bands and First Nations. Tribal elders authorized by the Wabanaki Repatriation Committee instruct us in dealing with ceremonial or mortuary remains when they are identified. In August, 2006, I led an archaeological survey of the Grande and Petite Cascapedia Rivers in Gaspesie, Quebec at the request of the Gesgapegiag First Nation. Our team included an UMPI students and U Maine graduate student, and we worked with a crew from the University of Montreal led by Dr. Adrian Burke. I am working with a student, Jay Raymond, to record glacial striation orientations along a north-south transect spanning several late glacial ice margin positions in northern Maine. Jay is working with Dr. Chunzeng Wang to produce a GIS map of the features and possibly to conduct an analysis of orientation patterns as an independent data set indicating ice margin positions. I conduct archaeological and glacial geology field work with University of Maine at Presque Isle students and University of Maine Climate Change Institute graduate students in northern Maine and Quebec. I also work in Alaska and in the northern Rocky Mountains in Montana. I am developing research projects in Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. |
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Gardner Pond Rock Glacier, Deboullie Lakes Reserve, N Maine |
Mesa Site, North Slope of the Brooks Range, Alaska |
