Winter Site

The Winter Site is an archaeological site located along Big Bay de Noc north of Garden, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.[2]

Winter Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	On a small tributary of Big Bay de Noc near Garden, Michigan[1]
Coordinates	45°50′0″N 86°32′0″W
Area	0 acres (0 ha)
NRHP reference No.	76001027[2]
Added to NRHP	May 19, 1976

The site is located about 1,000 feet (300 m) inland from the water along a small tributary.[3] The site was occupied at a time when the Lake Michigan shoreline extended further inland than it does today.[3] It was excavated by researchers from Western Michigan University in the mid-1970s.[4]

The site was populated by Middle Woodland period peoples at two distinct times: one earlier occupation of relatively short duration (1 to 2 seasons) and a later occupation that lasted longer.[3] The occupation was interrupted by what was likely a short rise in lake level or a heavy seasonal flood.[3] Remains at the site indicate that the inhabitants subsisted on fall-spawning fish, and therefore the site represents an early experimentation in coastal living in the late fall and winter.[3]

References

1. The NRIS gives the location of the Winter Site as "address restricted." However, Martin has described the location (ref: Terrance J. Martin (April 1980), "Animal Remains from the Winter Site, a Middle Woodland Occupation in Delta County, Michigan", Wisconsin Archeologist, 61: 91–99) The given geo-coordinates are approximate.
2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
3. Terrance J. Martin (April 1980), "Animal Remains from the Winter Site, a Middle Woodland Occupation in Delta County, Michigan", Wisconsin Archeologist, 61: 91–99
4. "Fayette Historic Townsite Cultural Resource Management Plan". US Government Printing Office. Retrieved April 5, 2012.

Further reading

• Terrance J. Martin (April 1980), "Animal Remains from the Winter Site, a Middle Woodland Occupation in Delta County, Michigan", Wisconsin Archeologist, 61: 91–99
• Jeffrey J. Richner (1973), Depositional history and tool industries at the Winter site: a Lake Forest Middle Woodland cultural manifestation (thesis), Western Michigan University
• Thomas H. Bianchi (1974), Description and Analysis of the Prehistoric Ceramic Materials Recovered on the Winter Site (thesis), Western Michigan University