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| ## THE EARLIEST AMERICANS         | ## Ar                             |
|                                   | cheology and Ethnography Program  |
| ## \<[**http://www.cr.            |                                   |
| nps.gov/aad/eam/**](http://www.cr | ## National Park Service          |
| .nps.gov/aad/eam/landmarks.htm)\> |                                   |
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#  The Midwest

# The Great Lakes

Fed by damp wood and burning fitfully, the fire lights the recesses of
the rock shelter where a group of people wrapped in furs huddles for
warmth. Outside, a freezing rain falls. They are on the southern edge of
an immense glacier, in what today is Wisconsin. The glacial sheet also
grips much of Minnesota and Michigan, but it is melting, and the rivers
roar with chunks of ice and debris.

The glacier's demise shapes everything they will encounter in the time
to come. The Midwest is a work in progress, scoured by small continents
of ice, flooded by runoff that fills gorges and depressions. The region
is at the mercy of a fluctuating climate, ruled by an ice cap at the top
of the globe. The Great Lakes are mercurial inland seas, swelling,
shrinking, and sculpting the land.

From the rock shelter's entrance, two men read the landscape, forming
topography and climate into mental roadmaps and almanacs that help them
decide whether to continue. They will need to remember this shelter in
case the journey goes badly. The trek is slower with the elders along,
but their knowledge is invaluable. They speak of a time when a body of
water covered this very place.

Outside the sleet fades, leaving a glistening coat on budding branches.
The men examine their spear points, touching up dulled edges by striking
them with hammers made of animal horn and re-securing the sinew binding
around the wooden hafts. They keep an eye to the ground for chert, stone
for their weapons and tools. With a murmured agreement that the time has
come, the small group douses the fire, gathers the children, and moves
on.

# Environmental Tumult

The Midwest was a place of environmental tumult, forming and reforming
in shifting equations of ice and water, climate and topography. Before
people arrived, hundreds of thousands of years of advancing and
retreating glaciers scoured the land---until a warming trend loosened
the cold's grip. The first midwesterners likely arrived by 13,500 years
ago, probably from the northwest or west. Roughly the northern half of
Minnesota was under a mantle of ice, as was upper Wisconsin and much of
Michigan.

Further south, the Great Lakes overflowed with glacial melt. Occasional
bouts of frigid, dry weather would temporarily reverse the process, and
the shore expanded. The topography was in near-constant flux, with what
has been called an "accordion of habitats." Some witnessed this ebb and
flow in their lifetimes.

# Complex Record

The Midwest, with its changing traditions, has long been considered the
crossroads of North America. The many types of projectile points suggest
similar diversity in Paleoindian times.

Artifacts reflect patterns of activity in the landscape, but caution is
the byword in deciphering what they mean. That certainly is the case
with stone tools, the most frequently found evidence from the period.
Archeologists examine the characteristics of tools as well as the how
they are scattered across a region.

The primary material for tools, chert, was abundant in the Midwest.
However, few quarry workshops have been found. Near the mouth of the
Illinois River lies the Ready-Lincoln Hills site, the region's best
known early workshop.

Because Midwestern soils and climate act against preservation, there are
few known sites where there is evidence that animals were killed,
although the Kimmswick site near St. Louis yielded projectile points
with mastodon bones. At such places, meticulous studies of cut marks on
bone--and of animal remains that may have been deliberately
buried--suggest hunting. Certainly the midwesterners hunted many
species, but the only clear evidence is a caribou bone found at
southeastern Michigan's Holcombe Beach site.

Residential areas are rarely documented well. No doubt dozens, likelier
hundreds, exist but few are known and even fewer may survive into the
next century.

# Lost Legacy

Like geology and astronomy, archeology is a science to which lay people
often make great contributions. The Midwest's vast agricultural expanse
offers better prospects for amateur collectors than elsewhere. Over the
last century people have seized this opportunity, accumulating large
caches of artifacts that now reside in trunks, cigar boxes, or display
cases in homes, basements, and sometimes county museums.

Tragically many such collections are lost to study---dispersed as
curiosities or commodities---once they fall into the hands of heirs or
others who lack the original collector's passion.

Imagine the pages of Gutenberg bibles torn out and sold for a few
dollars each. Something similar is the fate of many collections. Once
lost, they can never be restored. The gain to the few is small and
fleeting, while the collective loss to us all is irreparable.

Walter Schmidt, a long-time collector in the Saginaw Bay area of
Michigan and a charter member of the Michigan Archaeological Society,
was a responsible student of his area's past. Yet Schmidt, like many,
made mistakes that he later regretted. In 1937, he wrote to W.B.
Hinsdale of the University of Michigan: "A couple of years ago \[I\]
found an arrow much different than the usual but as it was broken off
\[I\] gave it to Jr. and he traded it off . . . The other day a man told
me that this type is called Folsomite and is the oldest type of
implement known."

No one knows how many variations of this sad story there are, but it
illustrates the alarming and prolonged attrition of the archeological
record. Without doubt, many collections amassed in past decades have
been lost, discarded, or destroyed, and the priceless information they
contained lost with them.

# On the Record

National Historic Landmarks and sites on the National Register of
Historic Places. Stars indicate landmarks.

1.  ![](media/image1.jpeg){width="3.7916666666666665in"
    height="3.9166666666666665in"}**Graham Cave:** At this
    well-preserved habitation site, projectile points---along with an
    extensive collection of other artifacts---were found with plant and
    animal remains radiocarbon dated to 9,700 years ago. Designated a
    National Historic Landmark 1979.

2.  **Modoc Rock Shelter:** Samples from the shelter date to 9,000 years
    ago. Designated a National Historic Landmark 1978.

3.  **Kimmswick Bone Bed:** A host of projectile points and other stone
    tools were discovered with mastodon bones. Listed on the National
    Register of Historic Places 1980.

4.  **Rodgers Shelter Archeological Site:** Archeologists found many
    artifacts in the deepest of four culture-bearing strata at the
    site-in a 17-foot-thick layer of clay and gravel. Listed on the
    National Register of Historic Places 1969.date?.

5.  **Montgomery Archeological Site:** A variety of late Paleoindian
    projectile points were recovered from river-terrace deposits. Listed
    on the National Register of Historic Places 1978.

6.  **Prairie Creek Site:** Archeologists found stone tools among the
    bones of mastodon, giant beaver, and other extinct animals. Listed
    on the National Register of Historic Places 1975.

7.  **Adams County Archeological District:** Surface surveys recovered
    projectile points from all Paleoindian periods. Listed on the
    National Register of Historic Places 1974.

8.  **Flint Ridge State Memorial:** Distinctive chert from quarries in
    and around Flint Ridge has been found in Paleoindian sites
    throughout eastern North America. Listed on the National Register of
    Historic Places 1975.

9.  **Paleo Crossing-Old Dague Farm Site:** The site has pits, dated
    post-hole fill, and undisturbed strata with collections of tools
    including numerous scrapers and projectile points resembling those
    found at nearby Nobles Pond. Listed on the National Register of
    Historic Places 1992.

10. **Burrill Orchard Site:** Best known for its fortified village from
    the Late Woodland period (A.D. 1300-1500), this peninsula site also
    featured deep, sealed pits containing late Paleoindian projectile
    points, drills, and other tools. Listed on the National Register of
    Historic Places 1977.

11. **Holcombe Beach Site:** Intensively analyzed, the site yielded one
    of the few pieces of animal remains clearly linked to the Midwest\'s
    first people- a charred caribou bone fragment. Listed on the
    National Register of Historic Places 1970.

12. **Pewangoing Quarry:** A major source of Eastport flint, used widely
    throughout the midwest by Paleoindian and later peoples. Listed on
    the National Register of Historic Places 1972.

13. **Chesrow Site:** The many projectile points found during surface
    reconnaissance at this site,near the shores of Lake Michigan, offer
    clues to a variety of uses. Listed on the National Register of
    Historic Places 1977.

14. **Lucas Site** Small habitation that yielded a collection of
    artifacts similar to that found at the nearby Chesrow site. Listed
    on the National Register of Historic Places 1995.

15. **Aebischer Site:** Archeologists found a number of early artifacts
    at this small habitation , primarily crafted from nearby Moline
    chert. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places 1985.

16. **Kamrath Site:** Projectile points of Hixton Quartzite from Silver
    Mound (see number 18) were recovered at this small, open site.
    Listed on the National Register of Historic Places 1975.

17. **Metzig Garden Site:** Radiocarbon assays of charred remains
    suggest occupation between 10,500 to 8,500 years ago at this small,
    late Paleoindian site containing many shallow hearths or roasting
    pits. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places 1988.

18. **Silver Mound Archeological District:** Source of Hixton quartzite,
    used widely throughout the midwest in the Paleoindian period. The
    site, an isolated outcrop covering approximately 200 acres, yielded
    many tools and much stone debris. Listed on the National Register of
    Historic Places 1975.

19. **Deadman Slough:** Along a ridge, archeologists found late
    Paleoindian projectile points, scrapers, stone debris, a cremation
    burial, and charred plant and animal remains. Listed on the National
    Register of Historic Places 1993.

20. **White Oak Point Site:** Late Paleoindian projectile points were
    discovered at the site, used for a host of purposes. Listed on the
    National Register of Historic Places 1972.