The Head Waters Lake aspect is a part of the Late Woodland pattern and the Lake Michigan Phase.
The Headwaters Lake Aspect is associated with pottery of the Blackduck focus. Similar artifacts have been found at the Smith and McKinstry mounds, and at White Oak Point. The Headwaters Lake Aspect appears later than the Mille Lacs Aspect, possibly having temporarily displaced them along the upper Mississippi and later withdrew to the north. Lloyd A. Wilford thought it is possible, through similarities in burial practices, that the Headwaters Lake Aspect represents the culture of the Assiniboin in the seventeenth century.
The Blackduck Focus is located on the southwestern bay of Blackduck Lake in north central Minnesota. The discovery was reported by Mr. William Shocker who had plowed up much pottery, a copper spearhead, human bones and other objects in 1929, which led to an investigation by Dr. A.E. Jenks and Lloyd A. Wilford in 1932. Stone lithics found included one complete arrowhead, a drill, scrapers, and knives. Bone and antler objects found were barbed harpoons, bone awls, and antler tip flakers. There were many fireplaces (hollowed out pits) found which produced two restorable pottery cooking vessels. Blackduck decorative markings on the pottery exhibit cord wrapped, combed, and net or textile patterns. Four primary burials were found, of which only one was undisturbed.
Another site of the Headwaters Lake Aspect in Minnesota is located on the property of Mr. William Osufson where the Bowstring River enters Rice lake. The main features of this site were seven skeletons found in circular pits. Each was a fully flexed burial, two were accompanied by small pottery vessels, one found with a pair of bone awls, and another completely covered with a sheet of birch bark. It was clearly a habitation site, with an elongated fire hearth, and rich in village debris. Seven complete pottery mortuary vessels were found at the Osufson site.
Other sites where similar sherds have been found are in Cass, Hubbard, and Clearwater counties.
Wilford, Lloyd A. The Headwaters Lakes Aspect, Minnesota Archaeologist, Vol. 18 No. 1, 1952