Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 8-1985 The Prehistory of the Birch Run Road Site, Saginaw County, Michigan Caven P. Clark Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Clark, Caven P., "The Prehistory of the Birch Run Road Site, Saginaw County, Michigan" (1985). Master's Theses. 1359. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/1359 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE PREHISTORY OF THE BIRCH RUN ROAD SITE, SAGINAW COUNTY, MICHIGAN by Caven P. Clark A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r the Degree of Master of Arts Department of Anthropology Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan August 1985 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE PREHISTORY OF THE BIRCH RUN ROAD SITE, SAGINAW COUNTY, MICHIGAN Caven P. Clark, M.A. Western Michigan University, 1985 The Birch Run Road site (20SA393), located in the archaeolog- ic a lly complex Saginaw Valley, was p a rtia lly impacted by the extension of Birch Run Road across the F lin t River. In many respects typical of Saginaw Valley sites as a whole, the Birch Run Road s ite produced artifacts attributable to the Early Archaic, Late Archaic, Late Woodland and historic periods. The prehistoric occupations are evaluated with special attention to the context and form of lithic raw materials, and use of projectile points in determining temporal placement. The Late Woodland component, ca. A.D. 800-1100, represents the most intensive occupation of the site. Physical evidence of this occupation includes Wayne, Spring Creek, and Younge trad itio n ceramics; hearth, p it, and burial features; and food remains suggesting non­ specialized resource utilization. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would lik e to express my gratitude to those who endured the production of this manuscript. First and foremost, my chair, Dr. Elizabeth Garland, who exhibited perseverance despite our many shared albatrosses. Dr. William Cremin's vigilant editing was crucial in bringing this thesis into its final form. Dr. Margaret Holman supplied the dialogue that carried it to completion. Thanks are due to those who provided special assistance or expertise: the Saginaw Archaeological Commission for the loan of the m aterials, Ms. Kathryn Parker for the ethnobotanical analysis, Mr. Michael Higgins for the id en tificatio n of the faunal remains, Dr. Robert Sundick for help in age determination of the human physical remains, and Dr. Robert Jack Smith for his kind encouragement and support. Useful discussions with Dr. Robert G. Kingsley and Dr. William Lovis contributed to tnis report. Ms. Sue Gibson provided remarkably patient technical support. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Ronald 0. Kapp, Dr. J. Tracy Luke, and Mr. Scott G. Beld fo r th e ir help in the formative period. This thesis is dedicated to all my kin, both real and fictive. Caven P. Clark Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INFORMATION TO USERS This reproduction was made from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. 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Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1326367 Clark, Caven Peter THE PREHISTORY OF THE BIRCH RUN ROAD SITE, SAGINAW COUNTY, MICHIGAN Western Michigan University M.A. 1985 University Microfilms International 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 Copyright 1985 by Clark, Caven Peter All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Copyright by Caven P. Clark 1985 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACNKOWLEDGEMENTS . ..... ...... i i LIST OF TABLES . ................. .... ... ..... iv LIST OF FIGURES . .... v RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ...................... 1 PREVIOUS RESEARCH AND THE HISTORY OF THE PROJECT ........ 3 SETTING AND ENVIRONMENT . ............ .... 5 RESERVATION AND EARLY HISTORIC SETTLEMENTS . .... 10 FIELD METHODS 13 RESULTS OF EXCAVATION . ............ ... 19 Features . ..................... .... ..................... .... • 19 Chronometric Dating ..................... 41 Human Remains . .... ..... 41 Faunal Remains ....................... 46 Ceramic A rtifacts . ..................... 50 Lithic Analysis .................... 56 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .... ..................... 117 APPENDICES ................ ...... 125 A. Botanical Remains from the Birch Run Road S ite . • 125 B. Metrical and Nonmetrical Attributes of Diagnostic Bifaces from the Birch Run Road Site . .... 135 BIBLIOGRAPHY . .... • • • • • • ...... • • • . • • 137 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES 1. Feature Dimensions . .................... 28 2. Summary and Feature Dimensions and A rtifa c t Contents a t 20SA393 ............... 30 3. Degree of C a lc ific a tio n in the Deciduous and Permanent Dentition of Individual I .................. .................... 44 4. Summary of Faunal Remains from Features at 20SA393 ..... 47 5. D istribution of Chert Types and Debitage Classes from Excavation Units ................... 62 6. Distribution of Nonchert Raw Materials and Debitage Classes from Excavation Units ............... 67 7. Platform Condition by Debitage Class of Waste Flakes from Excavation Units . • • . 68 8. Platform Condition by Debitage Class of Waste Flakes from Feature 33 ................. ....... 69 9. Nonmetric A ttrib u te Summary of U nifacial Tools from Excavation Units .................. ..... 84 10. Nonmetric A ttrib u te Summary of U tiliz e d Flakes from Excavation Units . ...................... 87 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES 1. Sites mentioned in te x t 6 2. Location of the Birch Run Road site, sections 22 and 27, Taymouth Township, Saginaw County, Michigan . 7 3. H istoric villages and reservation boundaries in the Birch Run Road site vicinity . ........... 11 4. Map of Birch Run Road site showing excavation units, stripped area, and right-of-way ............................ 14 5. Features at the Birch Run Road site ............ 21 6. Features a t the Birch Run Road s ite . .... .................. .... 22 7. Features at the Birch Run Road site ............ 23 8. Features at the Birch Run Road site . 24 9. Features at the Birch Run Road s ite .... ... 25 10. Features at the Birch Run Road site . 26 11. Features at the Birch Run Road s ite . ...................... 27 12. Distribution of features at the Birch Run Road site . 40 13. Plan view o f burials in Feature 10 ............ 43 14. Ceramics from the Birch Run Road s ite ...................... 52 15. Source areas of chert types discussed in text . 59 16. Representative examples of debitage