Newaygo County, Michigan Oto Sioux Hopewell Burial Mound

Newaygo County, Michigan Oto Sioux Hopewell Burial Mound

Burial mound photographed near White Cloud, Michigan

One of Michigan and Midwest's Oldest Iroquois Burial Mounds is Nearly Destroyed by University Archaeologists.

One of Michigan's and Midwest's Oldest Iroquois Burial Mounds is Nearly Destroyed by University Archaeologists.

This may be one of oldest burial mounds in the Midwest that contained artifacts and burial types common to the Maritime Archaic Culture that dates as early as 6,000 B.C.

    In one of these mounds at Croton Dam in Newaygo County, the artifacts appear to be Archaic in origin that included a child’s burial with a dog by their side. In the History of Kalamazoo County, Michigan, 1880 the list of relics found in the county were found chisels, gouges, plumb-bobs, spearheads of stone and copper. All of which would be considered Maritime Archaic in origin.

     There were also artifacts found in southwest Michigan such as bone harpoons that have been associated with the Point Peninsula Iroquois,  dating Middle Woodland or sometime around 200 A.D. However, in a mound within the city of Grand Rapids was found a pop-eyed bird stone that is Meadowood Iroquois or Archaic in origin; which might be evidence that the ancient Iroquois occupied this region for thousands of years.