Name/Title
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act noticeEntry/Object ID
2024.04.43Scope and Content
4-page PDF and print out of National Park Service, Dept. of the Interior notice published by the City of Saugatuck and dated July 13, 2022.Context
Excerpts from the notice:
"History and description of the remains
On an unknown date after 1929, human remains representing, at minimum, three
individuals were removed from the Saugatuck site (20AE1) in Allegan County, MI. Workers
encountered the burials while constructing the foundation for Saugatuck City Hall. Sometime
prior to 1964, the human remains were transferred to the University of Michigan Museum of
Anthropological Archaeology (UMMAA) to be reposited. In 1935, George Quimby, an
undergraduate student of Archeology studying at UMMAA, recorded in an unpublished report
that several post-contact period objects were found in association with the burials. The objects were never transferred to the UMMAA and their current whereabouts are unknown. The human remains are of one child, 2-4 years old, indeterminate sex; one child, approximately 5 years old, indeterminate sex; and one adolescent, under 16 years old, indeterminate sex. No known individuals were identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
The human remains have been determined to be Native American based on dental traits,
burial treatment, and diagnostic artifacts. A relationship of shared group identity can be
reasonably traced between the Native American human remains from this site and the
Potawatomi and Ottawa based on multiple lines of evidence. The associated funerary objects
noted from the site were typical of the types of goods traded in the region in A.D. 1700-1800.
Quimby suggested that, based on a gorget with the American eagle emblem noted at the site, the burials slightly postdate the British monopoly on trade that lasted from 1780 to 1815.
Additionally, records of the Saugatuck Historical Society and the UMMAA note that the
Potawatomi and Ottawa were the predominant Indian Tribes in the area at the time these three individuals were buried, and that they used the area of the Saugatuck site as a cemetery until the 1860s."
"Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the completion of an inventory of human remains under the control of the City of Saugatuck, Saugatuck, MI. The human remains were removed from the Saugatuck site (20AE1) in Allegan County, MI."
As of August 2024, the online version of this document (2022-15547) was viewed 136 times.Collection
0001 Anishinabek/Ojibwe/Odawa/BodéwadmiCataloged By
Winthers, SallyAcquisition
Accession
2024.04Acquisition Method
Found in CollectionArchive Details
Date(s) of Creation
Jul 13, 2022Create Date
August 5, 2024Update Date
August 5, 2024