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In 1959, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission contracted with Michigan State University to carry out a season of excavation at Michilimackinac. Thus began an archaeological project that has continued every summer since, one of the longest ongoing projects of its kind. Much of the west half of the fort was excavated and rebuilt during the 1960s. By 1969, it was apparent that overseeing archaeology at Michilimackinac was a full-time job, and Dr. Lyle Stone was hired as the commission’s first staff archaeologist. Excavation moved outside the walls in the early 1970s, when three rowhouses from the suburbs of the fort were discovered prior to building the Visitor’s Center under the Mackinac Bridge. In 1974, excavation resumed inside the fort walls. Leaving the west side behind, archaeologists began to work on the powder magazine, which turned out to be the most intact building ruin at Michilimackinac. Work continued in the southeast corner of the fort for the next two decades, including the excavation of multiple rowhouse units, most notably the home of Ezekiel Solomon, Michigan’s first Jewish settler. In 1998, archaeologists returned to the southwest corner of the fort to tie together current results with excavations done in the 1960s. This project resulted in the reconstruction of the South Southwest Rowhouse in 2013. We are now excavating House E of the Southeast Rowhouse.
Evans, Lynn L.M.
– 2001 House D of the Southeast Row House: Excavations at Fort Michilimackinac, 1989-1997. Archaeological Completion Report Series No. 17. MSHP.
Evans, Lynn L.M. and Todd M. Reck
– 2021 House 7 of the South Southwest Rowhouse: Excavations at Fort Michilimackinac, 1998-2007. Archaeological Completion Report Series No. 19. MSHP
Halchin, Jill Y.
– 1985 Excavations at Fort Michilimackinac, 1983-1985: House C of the Southeast Rowhouse, The Solomon-Levy-Parant House. Archaeological Completion Report Series No.11. MISPC.
Heldman, Donald P.
– 1977 Excavations at Fort Michilimackinac, 1976: The Southeast and South Southeast Row Houses. Archaeological Completion Report Series No. 1. MISPC.
– 1978 Excavations at Fort Michilimackinac, 1977: House One of the South Southeast Row House. Archaeological Completion Report Series No. 2. MISPC.
– 1984 East Side, West Side, All Around the Town: Stratigraphic Alignment and Resulting Settlement Patterns at Fort Michilimackinac, 1715-1781. Paper presented at the 17th Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology, Williamsburg, Virginia. On file, Widder Library.
– 1986 Michigan’s First Jewish Settlers: A View from the Solomon-Levy Trading House at Fort Michilimackinac, 1765-1781. Journal of New World Archaeology 6(4):21-33.
– 1991 The French in Michigan and Beyond: An Archaeological View from Fort Michilimackinac Toward the West. In French Colonial Archaeology: The Illinois Country and the Western Great Lakes, edited by John A. Walthall, pp.201-217. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
Heldman, Donald P. and Roger T. Grange, Jr.
– 1981 Excavations at Fort Michilimackinac 1978-79: The Rue de la Babillarde. Archaeological Completion Report Series No. 3. MISPC.
Heldman, Donald P. and William L. Minnerly
– 1977 The Powder Magazine at Fort Michilimackinac: Excavation Report. Reports in Mackinac History and Archaeology No. 6. MISPC.
Maxwell, Moreau S. And Lewis Binford
– 1961 Excavations at Fort Michilimackinac, Mackinac City, Michigan, 1959 Season. Publications of the Museum, Michigan State University, Cultural Series Vol. 1, No. 1. Lansing.
Reck, Todd M.
– 2004 Re-excavting Michilimackinac: Use of Harris Matrices to Analyze Stratigraphy for the Purpose of Studying French Canadians Living in the South Southwest Rowhouse of Fort Michilimackinac. Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Archaeology, Boston University.
Stone, Lyle M.
– 1973 Fort Michilimackinac Parking Lot Area: Summary of Excavations and Structural Evidence, 1970-73. Unpublished report on file, Petersen Center.
– 1974 Fort Michilimackinac, 1715-1781: An Archaeological Perspective on the Revolutionary Frontier. Anthropological Series, Vol. 2. Michigan State University, East Lansing, in cooperation with MISPC.
House E of the Southeast Rowhouse.
Mackinac State Historic Parks’ archaeologists have been excavating the site of House E of the Southeast Rowhouse since 2007. This is the unit west of House D. The Southeast Rowhouse was built in the 1730s. It was owned by Charles Gonneville, who traded at Michilimackinac from 1727 through 1754, and owned the house at least through 1758. By 1765 the house was in the hands of an English trader. The archaeology indicates he continued to occupy the house until it was demolished in 1781 when the community moved to Mackinac Island.
Our main research question when we began excavating was “How does a British trader’s house look different archaeologically from a French fur trader’s house?” While we still have several more seasons of work to do, we have some initial answers.
Food remains, especially animal bones, are the most common item found while excavating at Michilimackinac. Everyone ate fish – it was plentiful, readily available and delicious! Beyond that the French and British had different diets. The French, many whom had married into nearby Indian families, ate locally available foods, such as deer, waterfowl and berries. The British tried to maintain their traditional diet as best they could. They ate a lot of imported salted meat and raised some farm animals.
Missionaries were the first Europeans to live in the Straits of Mackinac region. The Roman Catholic faith was an integral part of daily life for French inhabitants of Michilimackinac throughout its history.
Object ID
MS2.58.9, MS2.1217.2, MS2.1655.19
Location
Colonial Michilimackinac
Fort Michilimackinac was a hub of the Great Lakes Fur Trade. As such, items from around the world made its way there.
Object ID
MS2.8765.38, MS2.9390.4, MS2.8474.4, MS2.10333.2
Location
Colonial Michilimackinac
Guns were critical for survival on the Great Lakes frontier for hunting food and furs as well as defense. Gun parts are useful to archaeologists because they can help identify an area as French or British and military or civilian.
Object ID
MS2.3026.2, MS2.2980.3
Location
Colonial Michilimackinac
The Clothing Warrant of 1768 specified that the buttons on British army coats bear the regimental number. Since we know when various regiments were stationed at Michilimackinac, their regimental buttons serve as excellent time markers.
Object ID
MS2.1244.20, MS2.2457.6, MS2.2781.4
Location
Colonial Michilimackinac
Object ID
MS2.5755.1, MS2.11410.23, MS2.2007.5
Location
Colonial Michilimackinac
Ceramics are a favorite artifact type of archaeologists because their changing materials and styles can be dated.
The Anishnabeg (the Odawa and Ojibwe) continued to live at the Straits of Mackinac in the eighteenth century and continue to live there today.
Object ID
MS2.11028.39
Location
Colonial Michilimackinac
Object ID
MS2.10922.19
Location
Colonial Michilimackinac
Object ID
MS2.6702.25
Location
Colonial Michilimackinac
New ideas flowed into Michilimackinac along with British and European fashions and trade goods.
Object ID
MS2.6143.1
Location
Colonial Michilimackinac
Object ID
MS2.2704.2
Location
Colonial Michilimackinac
Life at Michilimackinac wasn’t all work; there was time for fun and relaxation too.
In addition to artifacts used in daily life, we find pieces of the buildings in which they were used.
From 1989 through 1997 Mackinac State Historic Parks’ archaeologists excavated the site of the third unit of the Southeast Rowhouse, adjacent to the Solomon-Levy house.
The Southeast rowhouse was built in the 1730s. The family of Gabriel and Suzanne Bolon lived in this unit during the summer trading season in the 1730s and 1740s. The structure was rebuilt slightly larger in the 1760s and occupied by British foot soldiers until the completion of the soldiers’ barracks. Analysis of the artifacts and food remains suggest that Surgeon’s Mate David Mitchell and his wife, Elizabeth, lived here in the 1770’s. The house was demolished when the garrison moved to Fort Mackinac.
From 1998 to 2007 Mackinac State Historic Parks’ archaeologists excavated the easternmost unit of the South Southwest Rowhouse. The remainder of the rowhouse was excavated in the 1960s.
The original structure was built in the 1730s. A map drawn in 1749 indicates that a person named Des Riviere lived in this unit. This probably was Jean Noel Desrivieres, who held trade licenses for Michilimackinac from 1747 through 1750. The structure was rebuilt in the 1760s. This house was occupied by British foot soldiers for a time prior to completion of the soldiers’ barracks. Early analysis of the artifacts discovered suggests that French Canadian traders lived here in the late British era. The house appears to have been dismantled and moved to Mackinac Island around 1780.
Object ID
MS2.14327.10
Location
Colonial Michilimackinac
Object ID
MS2.12365.6, MS2.14494.2
Location
Colonial Michilimackinac
Object ID
MS2.13306.9
Location
Colonial Michilimackinac
