Fort Wayne mound site facts for kids

The Fort Wayne mound site was an ancient burial mound located on the grounds of the former Fort Wayne in Detroit, Michigan. This mound was one of several in the Detroit area, including the Springwells Mound Group. By the mid-1900s, the Fort Wayne mound was the only one still standing. Today, the remains of the mound are fenced off to protect this important historical site.

Exploring Detroit's Ancient Mounds

People have been interested in the ancient mounds of Detroit for over 200 years. Early explorers and scientists studied them to learn about the past.

Early Discoveries and Finds

In 1817, Samuel Brown dug into one of the Springwells Mound Group. He found bones, stone axes, arrowheads, and other artifacts. Later, in 1837, John Blois also explored the Springwells Group. He reported finding burials (skeletons) that were bent into a certain position, along with charcoal and special items buried with them. These items included pottery pots, arrowheads, stone knives, seashell beads, and red pigment.

By 1887, Bela Hubbard noted that two of the Springwell Mounds had already been destroyed by people digging for gravel. However, he could still see ancient items like bones, pottery, shell beads, and stone tools on the ground nearby.

Scientific Digs at Fort Wayne

In 1876, Henry Gillman led excavations at the Fort Wayne mound. He was one of the first to use modern scientific methods. This meant he carefully recorded where he found the burials and described the bones and artifacts in detail. He estimated the mound was about 5 feet tall and 70 feet wide at that time. He believed it was much larger originally.

These early reports are very old and hard to find now. To help new archaeologists, John Halsey from the University of Michigan included long parts of these old reports in his book, Contributions to Michigan Archaeology.

What We Learned from the 1944 Dig

In 1944, Dr. Carl Holmquist and the Aboriginal Research Club of Detroit excavated the Fort Wayne mound. They were asked to do this by the Fort Wayne Commandant.

Discovering Burials and Artifacts

During their dig, they found 24 burials, including one dog burial. Many of these burials had special items, called grave goods, buried with them. They also found other artifacts that were not directly with burials.

Most of the burials were either flexed (bent) or bundle burials (bones gathered together). Many of the burials had Late Woodland Wayne Ware pottery vessels. The archaeologists noticed that most of the grave goods were found with female burials. This suggests that women might have held important positions in their society.

Types of Artifacts Found

The 1944 excavations uncovered many interesting items:

• Chipped stone tools – These included projectile points (like arrowheads), knives, drills, and scrapers.
• Ground stone tools – These were smoothed stones, such as sharpening stones, a celt (a type of axe head), a gorget (a decorative neck plate), an adze (a cutting tool), a hammerstone, and a birdstone figurine (a small bird-shaped carving).
• Bone tools – They found a needle and an awl (a pointy tool for making holes).
• Shell items – These included shell beads and a columella bead necklace (made from the central part of a conch shell).
• Pipes – Several broken clay pipes were found.
• Marbles – Three small, round marbles were discovered. Two were made of stone, and one was made of clay.

Some of these artifacts help us understand the people who lived there long ago.

When Did People Live Here?

The Fort Wayne mound site shows evidence of two different ancient cultures from the Late Woodland period: the Wayne and Western Basin traditions.

Dating the Ancient Cultures

The Wayne Tradition is dated to about A.D. 750. This date comes from a sample taken near a burial that had a Wayne Crosshatched pottery vessel.

Another date, A.D. 1159, comes from a pit that was not a burial. This places the Western Basin culture's time at the site within the Springwells Phase (around A.D. 1100-1250).

This means that the Fort Wayne mound was built and used by people almost 400 years before Europeans arrived in the area. It is thought that the Detroit area might have had fewer people living in it after A.D. 1250. Then, groups like the Potawatomi moved into the area in more recent historic times.