Ancient Agricultural Practices Unearthed in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Recent research identifies a heavily forested region in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as the most comprehensive site of ancient agriculture in the eastern United States. The archaeological area called Sixty Islands serves as the ancestral homeland of the Menominee Nation. Known to the tribe as Anaem Omot, or 'Dog’s Belly,' this location is a sacred pilgrimage destination, with settlement remains dating back to 8,000 B.C.

Stretching along a two-mile section of the Menominee River, Sixty Islands has long been characterized by its cold climate, poor soil conditions, and brief growing seasons. Despite its reputation as unsuitable farmland, a study published recently in the journal Science reveals that the Menominee ancestors cultivated extensive cornfields and likely grew other crops here.

Madeleine McLeester, an environmental archaeologist at Dartmouth College and the study’s lead author, explained that intensive farming in ancient times was typically associated with societies featuring centralized authority, large populations, and hierarchical social structures with accumulated wealth. She noted that the Menominee community at Sixty Islands was previously believed to practice only small-scale agriculture within a largely egalitarian society.

The new evidence indicates that from roughly A.D. 1000 to 1600, the people who developed and tended these fields were seasonally mobile, occupying the area only part of the year. They actively transformed the landscape by clearing forests, creating arable fields, and enhancing soil fertility through amendments.

Dr. McLeester emphasized that these findings could prompt a reevaluation of foundational archaeological theories regarding the relationship between social organization and agricultural intensity.