Background Information

The Shiawassee flats are an area believed to be important to many gaps in the knowledge of early indigenous lifeways and historic European settlement. It is my intention to develop a simple and beneficial process for locating and preserving cultural resources on private lands. Perhaps by inviting individuals to contact archaeologists and historic preservations before doing construction or other site disturbance, we can develop a popularity for this pastoral approach to land management.

With the cooperation of landowners and the support of concerned groups I hope to salvage some of Chesaning’s archaeological record. This is part of an effort towards creating positive relationships between researchers, tribal organizations, and cooperative landowners; a priority identified by the National Parks Service.

Chesaning lies in an area settled relatively late (1840's).

At this time, there are two properties we plan to survey this Summer and Fall, each adjacent to one another. One of them, the Ehinger Lot (Orange polygon) is a property where permission has been obtained from landowners to conduct survey using some standard archaeological methods. The Ehinger Lot is having a home built on it, along with all the other related ground disturbance for a driveway and pond. The green polygon is owned by my family and has more flexibility for potential site preservation (Lawton Tract). I would like to conduct fieldwork to identify the size and locations of any archaeological sites on these properties. The minimally invasive methods I plan to use include; 1) shovel testing 2) magnetic susceptibility scanning 3) soil coring.