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Award-winning archaeologist says collecting,
shoreline development threaten artifacts
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Archaeologist Susan Martin,
left, discusses her research on prehistoric copper mining with Lac La Belle residents Anita and Paul Campbell, members
of the Houghton County Historical Society, during the societyís recent Awards Banquet at Shawnís Restaurant in Laurium.
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LAURIUM -- Two major threats to the prehistoric copper sites in the Lake Superior Basin are collecting and site destruction by the development of shoreline property,
Michigan Technological University Professor and award-winning archaeologist Susan
Martin told members of the Houghton County Historical Society recently.
"The copper in this region is absolutely unique in the world," Martin said. "These sites
(where prehistoric copper mining took place) are under threat."
During the societyís Awards Banquet at Shawnís Restaurant in Laurium, Martin
discussed her research on prehistoric copper mining and showed slides of copper
artifacts found in the Lake Superior Basin, including some from a site at the foot of Mt.
Bohemia near Lac La Belle. At the banquet, David Halkola, historian and Michigan
Tech professor emeritus of history, presented Martin with an Award of Merit from the Historical Society of the State of Michigan for her book, Wonderful Power: The Story
of Ancient Copper Working in the Lake Superior Basin.
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Historian David Halkola,
right, presents an Award of Merit from the Historical Society of the State of Michigan to archaeologist Susan Martin
for her book, Wonderful Power: The Story of Ancient Copper Working in the Lake Superior Basin. Martin received the award and presented slides on her research during the recent Awards Banquet of the Houghton County Historical Society.
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Martin noted she wrote the book for three main reasons:
- to help update new research on prehistoric copper;
- to counter misinformation about prehistoric copper in this area;
- to inform a non-academic audience about the double threat that collecting and shoreline development pose to remaining artifacts.
In the introduction to the book (p.3), Martin says, "Developments along lakes and rivers,
altering of natural waterways, expansion of farms and towns, conversion of open land to
malls and highways - all have taken a large toll on the antiquities of North America.
Public lands are, in part, protected by legislation from unmanaged destruction, but private lands are not."
Acknowledging the attractiveness of shoreline locations for residential development,
Martin explained that they threaten the locations of artifacts. She began her slide
presentation with a series of maps, illustrating the pattern of prehistoric living and copper
mining sites in the upper Midwest and Canada near Lake Superior. Many of these,
including sites on Isle Royale, are thought to be about 5,000 years old. If the radiocarbon dating is accurate, some are even older.
"The site at Lac La Belle," Martin said, "has a radiocarbon date of 7,800 years, making
it the oldest worked-copper-bearing site in North America."
She added this date is a provisional conclusion because of a certain lack of certainty in
radiocarbon dating.
Martin showed slides of items discovered by collectors at the Lac La Belle site, known
as 20KE20. They included "a little packet of copper implements from about 300 A.D.,
comprised of a leather wrapper with copper nuggets, knives, bead and awls," she said.
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This
slide shows prehistoric awls found at the Lac La Belle site researched by Susan Martin and her husband, Patrick Martin
- both archaeologists and Michigan Tech professors.
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She also discussed the working of copper into tools by hammering with stone tools and heating the copper in a fire to make it more malleable.
"Through repeated applications of hammering and warming, hammering and warming,
the artifact slowly took shape," she explained.
Martin noted an archaeologist from the University of Michigan had performed an
experiment in the 1960s to find out how labor-intensive this process might be. He
removed 25 cubic feet of rock in a period of 30 hours of hammering.
Martin and her husband Patrick Martin, also an archaeologist and Michigan Tech
professor, researched the Lac La Belle site, 20KE20, in the summer of 1988 after it was
reported to them by collectors in 1987. The results of the Martinsí 1988 research at this site are published in a 1993 issue (Vol. 39, Nos. 3-4) of The Michigan Archaeologist.
In that article the Martins describe the cache of artifacts found at the 20KE20 site and its importance to archaeologists.
Patrick Martin notes in the article that the site was tested and recommended for inclusion
in the National Register of Historic Places because of "its rarity, its preservation of
organics, and its ability to make clear the relationship between copper acquisition and
other aspects of resource procurement and trade during prehistoric times."
In her analysis of the copper remains from the 20KE20 site, reported in the article,
Susan Martin writes, "The cache consisted of a carefully curated bundle or deposit of
copper tools, partially worked nuggets and raw copper concretions in association with a
woven textile and pieces of what appeared to be leather. According to the collectorís
recollection, the cache was found near the ground surface in a heavily wooded area a
number of meters above the current elevation of Lake Superior. The cache may have
been contained in a leather bag or wrapper. Near the bottom of the cache were 30 or so
pounds of raw and partially-worked copper nuggets, above which lay a piece of aboriginal textile or woven material."
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This
sketch of the cache of copper artifacts recovered at the Lac La Belle site 20KE20 is reprinted here with permission
from the article, "20KE20: Excavations at a Prehistoric Copper Workshop," edited by Susan Martin, in The Michigan Archaeologist,
Vol. 39, Nos. 3-4, p. 155. Timothy Pauketat of the Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, contributed to
the article.
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During their controlled excavation in 1988, the research team recovered a total of 48 copper artifacts and 504 hammered/unhammered copper fragments.
Patrick Martin did additional research on the Lac La Belle site in 1989 and 1990, when
the previous Mt. Bohemia Resort project of Lake Superior Land Co. was proposed and
the Bureau of Industrial Development contacted him about the desirability of further archaeological work on Mt. Bohemia.
The State Historic Preservation Office mentioned both the Martinsí 1988 research and
the 1989-90 survey in an April 24, 2000, letter to UP Engineers and Architects
concerning the present Mt. Bohemia Ski Area development by Crosswinds
Communities, Inc., and the water-sewer grant application (which, had the Keweenaw
County Board of Commissioners not turned it down, would have involved federal and
state funding). In that letter, State Historic Preservation Officer Brian Conway wrote, "A
national register nomination was prepared, but not submitted (after the Martinsí1988
research) due to landowner (Lake Superior Land Co.) objection. It is important to
remember that being eligible for listing gives a site the same protection as actually being
listed under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended."
Conway adds that Patrick Martin undertook a second study of the site at the request of
the Bureau of Industrial Development. Patrick Martinís report of that study says it was
done in the fall of 1989 and the summer of 1990. He reported testing on the slopes and
terraces of Mt. Bohemia and finding "little unequivocal evidence of prehistoric
occupation, but . . . interesting remains from historic use of the place."
Patrick Martinís report describes "a natural cave of sorts" on the surveyed line of one of
the (then) proposed ski lifts. He said it was near other openings that appeared to be "the
remains of one or more mine shafts, closed by heavy equipment but eroding or collapsing underground to reopen on the surface."
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This
cave opening near the site of a proposed ski lift resembles the description of a "natural cave" near mine
shaft openings on Mt. Bohemia, described by archaeologist and Michigan Tech professor Patrick Martin. He reported
finding such a cave and shaft openings in a report on his 1989 and 1990 archaeological survey of the Lac La Belle site for
a previous Mt. Bohemia Ski Hill project of Lake Superior Land Co.
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This opening above the cave appears to be the remains of a 19th-century
mine shaft near the site of a proposed Mt. Bohemia ski lift.
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Conwayís letter mentioned not only the need for an intensive archaeological survey in the area that was proposed for a drainfield at the time of the water-sewer grant application, but also the need for the present developers of Mt. Bohemia to consider the potential
hazards posed by the mine shaft openings, which are located near what appears to be the site for a ski lift.
Wrote Conway, "Finally, we are very concerned that this project appears to have been
planned without any consideration for the potential hazards posed by the adits and
galleries of the 1840s Lac La Belle mine. (Patrick) Martinís 1990 survey clearly
demonstrated the existence of open shafts. We believe that as a public safety matter this
aspect of the Mount Bohemiaís history should be given close scrutiny."
Since the county board turned down the water-sewer grant application, the present
position of the State Historic Preservation Office, as confirmed by Dr. John Halsey,
State Archaeologist, is that, with no federal money or licensing involved, further
archaeological study would be voluntary on the part of the landowner or the developer.
Mark Pontti, public affairs manager for International Paper, of which Lake Superior
Land Company is now a subsidiary, said to his knowledge IP has never met with the
Martins since the two archaeologists havenít contacted the company.
"We have no plans for an archaeological survey on Mt. Bohemia," Pontti said. "I canít
say we would spend money . . . on studies that weíre not required to do."
Pontti added he was confident Crosswinds would contact IP if artifacts were found
during construction.
"Weíre leaning on Crosswinds as the developer of that project to relay any information
to us (about artifacts found)," Pontti said. "Weíre totally confident in their ability to manage that project and that site."
Pontti noted, however, that the safety factor would concern IP directly.
"Thatís another issue," he said. "As a landowner. . . we will take whatever precautions
necessary to ensure the safety of the public utilizing those lands.
Pontti added such precautions could range from fencing off to capping mine shafts,
should they be found on the site.
"Obviously safety is our number one concern," he said. "If thereís any danger to the
public, weíll work with Crosswinds on it."
Earlier this summer, in a letter to Bernie Glieberman, Crosswinds president, and his son
Lonie Glieberman, Crosswinds spokesperson for the Mt. Bohemia Ski Resort project,
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Tribal Chairman Richard Shalifoe requested a halt in
the companyís ski hill construction because of a report that burial mounds, remains and
artifacts had been found on Mt. Bohemia. Shalifoe added the Tribe's concern that
Crosswinds did not complete a cultural survey of the site and did not consult the KBIC on potential disturbance of cultural and historical sites.
Lonie Glieberman reacted to that letter by announcing on local television that none of the
MJO employees clearing the trees from the hill had found artifacts and that work would continue on the ski hill construction.
Pontti also noted any legal questions concerning construction of the ski lifts or resort
buildings before the November referendum "will be resolved by Crosswindsí attorneys and the county."
The referendum on the zoning changes from Conservation-Environmental Protection
(CD-EP) to Resort Service (RS) and the amendment to include ski resorts in RS zoning
- ì approved by the Keweenaw County Board of Commissioners last spring - puts on
hold construction of "a ski resort and its related structures," according to a recent letter
from Jane Pelto, county zoning administrator, to Crosswindsí attorney, Frank Ellias.
Pontti said International Paper would not interfere in such legal discussions between
Crosswinds and the county.
- Michele Anderson
August 14, 2000
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