A listing of prehistoric references at 43N Latitude and 85W Longitude presented
from southeast corner to northwest corner
MAP
Kent Co.
Grand Rapids - at Grand Rapids on Grand River just above the rapids - Ottawa village
Ref. - 4
Ottawa Co.
Grand River - along the banks of Grand River - mounds
Ref. - 1
Tallmadge - in Tallmadge Township - 3 mounds
Ref. - 2
Crockery Lake - on Crockery Lake - 2 villages
Ref. - 2
Montcalm Co.
Home Township - caskets, tablets, etc., with cuneiform and hieroglyphic writing
from mounds
Ref. - 9
Cato Township - an acre or more of little mounds, perhaps 3 feet apart, 1 1/2 feet
in diameter, and 5 or 6 inches high; mounds - 8' to 10' in diameter and 3' to 5'
high; a number of pits several feet deep
Ref. - 10
Muskegon Co.
Half Moon - at Half Moon Lake in Casnovia Township - group of mounds
Ref. - 2,3
Newaygo Co.
Bridgeton Twsp - mound
Ref. - 11
Croton Twsp - 5 mounds, one over 3' high, two about 35' across, a child and a
sub-adult, a dog burial, a cremation with human, deer, and turtle bone,
an intrusive burial, a large copper spearpoint, stemmed points, scrapers, a
deer long bone scraper tool, polished bone fragment, 2 deer bone awls, a rolled
copper bead, pottery, projectile points, bifaces, copper needles, bone points,
2 sandstone grinding stones or abraders, 2 deer cannon bone tools, a large
quartzite chip, 2 small copper pins - one hafted in bone, a beaver incisor, a
chipped stone drill, hearths, scrapers, a piece of pyrite or marcasite, a
groundstone celt, a gorget, beveled antler drifts, red ochre, RC date of 540 B.C. on
a ground level hearth
Croton Bluff mound group, 5 mounds including Croton Dam A,B,C and Carrigan A,B,
at junction between Muskegon River and Little Muskegon River
Croton Dam A - about 35' diameter, without central burial pit, with a cache of
(stemmed base points, ovates, animal bone, burnt bone, burnt charcoal)
Croton Dam B mound (20NE112) - section 8, stemmed point base, with human
cremations, red ochre
Croton Dam C mound - with human cremations, red ochre, a rolled copper bead
Carrigan A (intrusive) - main burial radiocarbon dated to 1270+-120 BP (M-1759),
with 2 burials at center of mound - lower a sub-adult about 4' above the base
with a celt, gorget, antler drift, copper needles, bone points, a piece of pyrite
or marcasite, stemmed point, cornernotched points; upper - a child about 5'
above the base; dog burial about 4' away and at same level as the child; small
thin-walled, smoothed, cordmarked, and grit tempered shards throughout fill;
peripheral hearths
Carrigan B mound - about 150' west of Carrigan A, radiocarbon dated to 590 B.C.
+-150 on burnt charcoal from top of pit, about 35' diameter, over 3' high, cremation
in situ of multiple dessicated bodies in large central pit beneath mound
Ref. - 5,6,7,8,11,12,14
Newaygo-Croton area - with three fluted points found on the high outwash
plain bordering Muskegon River to north, also with Late Archaic birdstones
and broadstemmed points in local collections
Ref. - 6
Brooks Twsp
village - pottery, projectile points, blades, scrapers, RC date of 310 B.C. +-140
(M-1982)
midden - bones of beaver, otter, bear, turtle, wild turkey, wild goose, wolf, rabbit,
fish, elk, wild cat, porcupine, clam
heavy concentration of mound groups
Sections 22 and 23 with 25 mounds
mounds - blades, marine shell beads, an antler point, beaver teeth, turtle carapaces,
red ochre, copper celts - one showing fabric weave, copper axes, bone awls,
arrows, 2 pieces of hematite ore, charcoal, a stone celt, conch shells, 4 effigy
bear canines with drilled holes, single holed rectangular gorgets, copper
needles, a wedge shaped bone tool, copper beads, an antler bone tool, platform
pipes, pottery
earthwork - in Brooks Twsp
Woodland musk ox - in Brooks Twsp
Jancarich site (20NE113) - on Muskegon River flats south of Jancarich residence
toward river bank, pottery shards, chippage, corner notched points, Hopewell-
like rimshards, correlation of high phosphorus content with increase in
cultural material, site about 200' long, smoothed body shards, Havana style
pottery, post molds, remains of clams, fish, deer, and small mammals, near
Brooks Lake
Jancarich enclosure (20NE115) - on ridge surrounding Jancarich property, circular,
40' diameter, surrounded by moat, chippage, widened lip rimshard with
cordmarked impressions running across lip
Jancarich Ridge site (20NE141) - surface collection
Parsons mound group - in Newaygo Co., with Hopewell-like pottery, corner-
notched point, without cap construction
Palmetier mound group - in Newaygo Co., without cap construction
Brooks mound group - with probable Hopewell artifacts, inner caps, corner notched
points, pottery vessels, includes 3 smaller mounds north of larger mound A,
2 quadrilobate vessels
Brooks mound A - over 3' high, with Hopewell-like pottery, corner-notched point,
with probable intrusive Late Woodland pottery vessel associated with skeletal
material, subfloor burial, large classic Hopewell pottery shard, platform pipe
found near the surface of disturbed portion, with cap construction basket
loading evidence
Brunett mounds - two small mounds on high bluff just east of Newaygo and north
of the Muskegon River, with 2 cordmarked and decorated pottery vessels, point,
scraper, one pot with deer scapula inside and other with a complete vertebral
column inside
Brunett Mound A - largest of two mounds, less than 20' diameter
Mallon mound group - 25' or less diameters, with pottery vessel, intrusive burials,
8 mounds total, at least 3 without subfloor burials
Mallon mound A - with smoothed over cordmarked pottery vessel, only Mallon
mound with a known subfloor burial
Mallon mound B (20NE31) - 3 burials, pottery, charred logs
Mallon mound E - with intrusive burials, cremations, no subfloor burial
Mallon mound F (20NE31) - nearest of group to Brooks Lake, largest of group,
cornernotched points, a disarticulated 8 individual burial, a small quadrilobate
pot with a constricted neck and crosshatched rim and impressed decorations
on lobes, a set of copper pan pipes
Mallon mound H - no sub-floor burial, possibly intrusive
Schumaker mound group
Schumaker mound - with secondary burials seven and one half feet beneath the
base, upright charred logs surrounding burial, a biface blank
near Newaygo to south of Muskegon River - small campsite
Ref. - 5,6,8,11,13,14
Garfield Twsp - points
Ref. - 11
Big Prairie Twsp - mounds, fluted point
Hardy Dam mound - in Big Bend Park on Muskegon River, 8 miles north and 7 miles
east of Brooks component, 25' diameter, with burial pit, skeletal material, a
small quadra-lobate pot with crosshatched rim and dentated zones on body
(Hopewell-like design), corner-notched point
Ref. - 6,11
Everett Twsp - pipe, earthwork
Toft Lake site - north of Muskegon River valley about the same distance as the
Crystal Lake site, with Havana style pottery
Ref. - 6,13
Sherman Twsp
Crystal Lake site (20NE117) - village bordering former swamp area adjacent to
the north end of Crystal Lake, north of Muskegon River valley, over an acre in
extent, cordmark impressed widened flat lip rimshards, cornernotched points
Ref. - 6
Monroe Twsp - clovis-like point
Ref. - 11
Mecosta Co.
Porter mounds - near Paris, in Muskegon RIver valley
Ref. - 6
Osceola Co.
Osceola earthworks - on Muskegon River
Chase earthwork
Ref. - 6
References
1- Lillie, L.C., 1931, Historic Grand Haven and Ottawa County., p.85
2- Hinsdale, W.B., 1931, Archaeological Atlas of Michigan, p.31,34
3- Muskegon Chronicle, 4/19/35, p.24
4- Chrysler, D., 1975, The Story of Grand River. p.5
5- Fitting, J.E., 1975, The Archaeology of Michigan.
6- Prahl, E.J., 1966, The Muskegon R. Survey: 1965 and 1966., Michigan Archaeologist,
v.12, no.4, p.183-212
7- Crane, H.R., Griffin, J.B., 1962, Univ. of Mich. RC Dates VII, Radiocarbon, v.4, p.183-204
8- Crane, H.R., Griffin, J.B., 1963, U of M RC Dates VIII, Radiocarbon, v.5, p.228-53
9- Drier, R.W., 1961, Prehistoric Copper Mining in the L. Superior Region
10- Hinsdale, W.B., 1930, The First People of Michigan. p.142-3
11- Prahl, E.J., 1970, The Middle Woodland Period of the Lower Muskegon Valley and
the Northern Hopewellian Frontier, Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Mich., p.64
12- Frantz, C., 1967, Excavation of Croton Dam Md. B (20NE112), Mich. Arch., v.13, no.1,
p.11-12
13- Hinsdale, W.B., 1930, Reports of Arch. Fieldwork in the summer of 1928 in
Montmorency, Newaygo, and Lake Co.'s Mich., Papers of the Mich. Acad. of Sci.,
Arts, and Letters, v.12, p.127-35
14- Losey, T.C., 1968, Excavation of the Mallon Md. B (20NE31), MA, v.14, no.s 3-4,
p.135-42
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