Holcombe Site | |
Location | Intersection of Metropolitan Parkway and Dodge Park Road, Sterling Heights, Michigan [2] |
---|---|
Coordinates | 42°34′7″N 83°0′34″W / 42.56861°N 83.00944°W |
Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
NRHP reference No. | 71001023 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | April 16, 1971 |
Designated MSHS | July 17, 1970 [3] |
The Holcombe Site, also known as Holcombe Beach, [3] is a Paleo-Indian archaeological site located near the intersection of Metropolitan Parkway and Dodge Park Road [2] [3] in Sterling Heights, Michigan, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 [1] and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1970. [3]
In 1961, amateur archaeologists Jerome DeVisscher and Edward J. Wahla [4] discovered evidence of an ancient settlement at this site. [3] Later radiocarbon dating of hearth elements determined the site to be an 11,000-year-old Paleo-Indian settlement. [3] [5] A five-year dig by archaeologists from the University of Michigan uncovered numerous artifacts. [4] The distinctive small, thin, fluted arrowheads found at the site were dubbed " Holcombe points;" similar flint arrowheads have been found at other sites in Michigan and southern Ontario, with scatterings in northern Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. [5]
The Holcombe site was situated on what was, at the time it was occupied, the strandline of a small glacial lake that probably drained into nearby Lake Algonquin. [6] Arrowheads, flint chips, and bone fragments were recovered, indicating that these Paleo-Indians hunted Barren-ground Caribou, a species particularly adapted to the tundra-like conditions that existed at the time. The site yielded evidence of the Indigenous people's change in culture and subsistence as the climate in the area changed. [3]