The Barnes Paleo-Indian Site (20MD1), Midland County, Michigan.

    The Barnes site was a small Paleo-indian site located in southern Midland County, Michigan.  The site was discovered and surface collected starting in the 1950's by the late Mr. Wallace (Wally) Hill of Midland County.  In 1966, Henry Wright and William Roosa published a description and analysis of Mr. Hill's collection in American Antiquity (Wright and Roosa 1966).  In 1974, Central Michigan University held a field school at the site under the direction of the late Dr. Jerome (Jerry) Voss in which 256 m² were excavated.  The material from this excavation was published by Dr. Voss in the Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology in 1977 (Voss 1977).  The collections from the Barnes site are curated by Chippewa Nature Center.  In the 1970's, Mr. Hill graciously donated his collection from this important site to Chippewa Nature Center with the understanding that the collection would remain in Midland County where it would be available to researchers and for viewing by the public.  Several of the Barnes site artifacts are on display at Chippewa Nature Center and almost all of the diagnostic artifacts (with the exception of a few small fragments) can be viewed by following the links on this page.    Dr. Henry Wright of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology has redrawn all of the artifacts and he is currently completing a reanalysis of the site.

    The Barnes site was probably a small hunting camp where spears were refurbished.  The site measured only about 12 to 15 meters in diameter.  The site was located on a beach ridge of an early lake that was located along the front of melting glacial ice ("proglacial Lake Warren").  The artifacts from the site are a type that dates about 10,500 years ago.

References

Wright, Henry T. and William B. Roosa.  "The Barnes Site:  A Fluted Point Assemblage from the Great Lakes Region."  American Antiquity 31 (1977), pages 850-860.

Voss, Jerome A.  "The Barnes Site:  Functional and Stylistic Variability in a Small Paleo-indian Assemblage.  Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 2 (1977), pages 253-305.

Return to Chippewa Nature Center.

Return to the Michigan Archaeological Society.

Copyright © 2004  Chippewa Nature Center and the Oxbow Archaeologists.