UM-Dearborn Archaeology

UM-Dearborn Archaeology Information and updates about Archaeological work by archaeologists and students at the University of Michigan-Dearborn!

Beautiful fall day to be excavating! Plus, a little visit by a film crew. Stay tuned for more info about our PBS debut n...
10/24/2025

Beautiful fall day to be excavating! Plus, a little visit by a film crew. Stay tuned for more info about our PBS debut next year for the 250th!

10/17/2025

Tour Spotlight: Detroit Military History
Tour Date: Wednesday, 7 January 2026

This daytime tour will highlight areas of Detroit’s military history. The first stop will be River Raisin National Battlefield Park, the scene of two costly War of 1812 battles, as well as a settlement of French-descended farmers on the “long lot” or “ribbon farm” model. Extensive indoor exhibits and films cover what has been called the “60-year war for the Old Northwest” between Native, British, French, and American forces, as well as the War of 1812 and its aftermath, and will be supplemented by comments from the archaeologist who has been excavating the site since 2019, John Chenoweth.

The tour will continue to Detroit’s Historic Fort Wayne. This site, now a city park, contains an original limestone “star fort,” which was constructed in 1845. The significance of the Fort Wayne site predates military use, as Native American communities have utilized this space along the Detroit River for millennia. The site continues to serve as a place of importance for Potawatomi communities and other Native American groups. The site was also once a colonial trading site, a diplomatic meeting ground, a center of military logistics, a stop on the Underground Railroad, and a home to military troops and civilians. Our tour will conclude with a visit to the Gordon L. Grosscup Museum of Anthropology at Wayne State University in the campus’s historic Old Main Building to view an exhibit about the archaeology of forts across Michigan (including collections from Fort Michilimackinac, Fort St. Joseph, and Fort Lernoult).

This tour is by motor coach and will leave from the conference hotel, the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, promptly at 10:00 A.M. and will return to the hotel at approximately 5:00 P.M. A sit-down lunch stop is included as part of the tour.

Learn more about this and other highlights from at https://monkeylink.co/fc11a2

📸: National Park Service

A beautiful day to excavate! Also, a good one for a soil probe survey to identify buried foundations!
10/10/2025

A beautiful day to excavate! Also, a good one for a soil probe survey to identify buried foundations!

We're baaaaaack! Back to the Field with a great new group of Field School Students for ANTH 410 this fall!
09/07/2025

We're baaaaaack! Back to the Field with a great new group of Field School Students for ANTH 410 this fall!

Haven't updated in a while, even though there's been a lot going on! Installed a small exhibit at the River Raisin Nati...
07/16/2025

Haven't updated in a while, even though there's been a lot going on! Installed a small exhibit at the River Raisin National Battlefield Park to show some of the things we've excavated from the site; it's preliminary, but we wanted something out for their big grand opening(!) last month. Congrats to everyone at the Park on a huge achievement!

We also did a ground penetrating radar survey of the site with Horsley Archaeological Prospection (https://www.archaeopros.com/), which will hopefully give some good results before this Fall's excavations with UM-Dearborn and UM-Ann Arbor students. Plus, I presented on the River Raisin Project at the World Archaeological Congress in Darwin, Australia! So, keeping busy!

Set up a nice little exhibit today on what we've been finding the last few years. If you're in the area check out the gr...
05/23/2025

Set up a nice little exhibit today on what we've been finding the last few years. If you're in the area check out the great work of UM-Dearborn students at the River Raisin National Battlefield Park !

Appreciated the help of the amazing and dedicated staff at the US National Archives while doing research on the River Ra...
02/10/2025

Appreciated the help of the amazing and dedicated staff at the US National Archives while doing research on the River Raisin site! Will do more tomorrow if the blizzard let's me!

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333 N. Dixie Hwy
Monroe, MI
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