Aerial view of the Mississippi River in the Headwaters area. Early loggers also built temporary dams or made other facilities to manage the capture and flow of water. As a result of the many water-level fluctuations since the time of deglaciation, some cultural remains now are flooded and others lie on old beach ridges or terraces some distance from open water. Logging dam on Mississippi River at Itasca State Park. John and Francis Allen Collection courtesy of Douglas Birk.
Loggers drive logs down river.
Minnesota Historical Society photo. Precontact Archaeology Archaeologists are attempting to learn how early people adapted to the changing climate and vegetation patterns of a dynamic postglacial environment in the Northern Headwaters area. The Williams Narrows site , the Knutson Dam site , the Horseshoe Bay site , and the Pamida Burial Salvage Project site all appear to contain some Paleo-Indian components. The postglacial climate in the Minnesota area reached its maximum warmth and aridity during the Archaic cultural period. Archaic peoples were still semi-nomadic, but they began to develop greater regional cultural differences as their populations grew and they adapted to diverse environmental conditions.