Holcombe Site
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] Site discoveryIn 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] Historical description of the siteThe 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] References
Further reading
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