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Maintaining our Native American culture
Understanding the culture of Native Americal collection much of which was acquired from
cans who lived on the Great Lakes for thousands Gerald Haltiner and has been added to annually
of years is an on-going study. Uncovering the
by museum sponsored archaeological excavamystery of past civilizations is a passion shared
tions at local sites and by donations by local resiby both professional and amateur anthropolodents who have found artifacts, usually on their
gists and archaeologists. Their fieldwork brings
property. One of the most significant archaeologto light remnants of preical sites in Michigan in
historic lifeways. These
within the City of Alpena.
artifacts help to tell the
Artifacts from the site have
stories of how indigenous
the attention of North
people sustained their way
American archaeologists
of life for centuries past.
and the attention of the
My first archaeology
Native people of North
field season was the sumAmerica. The site is the
mer of 1966. I was a besource of artifacts known
ginning undergraduate at
as Naub-Cow-Zo-Win.
Michigan State University
The discs are coin size and
where I was an anthropolshape shale stone.
ogy major, actually, a
More than 400 discs
newly enrolled anthropolhave been recovered in
ogy major having just
Alpena, mostly from one
transferred from forestry.
location while only one
I discovered anthropolsuch disc has ever been
ogy after my reading of an
found in any other arassigned reading in the
chaeological site in
basic MSU Social Science
America. Many of the
By Richard Clute
course and a conversation
discs are incised with
Besser Museum
with my professor. I
images that are signifiCurator of Anthropology
changed my major and
cant to the religious costook my first courses in
mology of Native
anthropology. That change would eventually led people. Field and interpretive studies at the
me to Alpena in the 1970s were I became an in- museum continue.
structor at Alpena Community College and the
The purpose of the Peoples of Lakes and
curator of anthropology at the Besser Museum.
Forest exhibit is to tell the story of the naThe People of Lakes and Forest Gallery was
tive people of Michigan. The story is an unamong the first exhibit halls constructed at the
finished story and will continue to develop
Besser Museum in the first years after the openin the future. The story begins 6,000 years
ing of the museum in 1966. Besser Museum’s
ago when the hunters of large herbivore anilargest permanent collection is the archaeologimals arrived after the Pleistocene glacial re-
GREAT
LAKES
LORE
MIDWESTERN
BROADCASTING
Serving The Sunrise Side
Since 1946!
L
&
S
Ancient Naub-Cow-Zo-Win
discs, like the one pictured
above, are virtually exclusive to
Alpena. Nearly 400 of the discs
have been unearthed during archaeological explorations.
TTRANSIT
RANSIT M
MIX
IX
C
CONCRETE
ONCRETE C
CO.
O.
Alpena’s Oldest Ready-Mix Concrete Co.
Concrete Pumping • State Approved Materials
Maritime Museum
367 N. Third St., Rogers City
989-734-0706
treat from the land.
The artifacts in the collection represent the cultural adaptation of the people as the ecology of
the land changed during the past 6,000 years. It
is the museum’s goal to update the exhibit with
the intention of reflecting the lives of those who
lived in Michigan since arrival to the present.
There is an economic model in this exhibit
that demonstrates the adaptability and resilience
of the people of Michigan. The Native people
of Michigan, the Indians, the Chippewa, and
the Ottawa are still here. They have and will influence the cultural patterns and social conditions of Northern Michigan.
The Besser Museum can and should tell this
story which has been mostly overlooked and
should document the changes so that current and
future generations of Americans will respect and
appreciate the diverse heritage of the many ethnic contributors to modern America both Native
and the more recent immigrants.
Call 354-3810
T od ay’s C ountry
If No Answer, call 354-4432
Bookkeeping Office 354-5563
520 Fair Avenue • Alpena, MI 49707 • Fax (989) 356-3320
Wednesday, January 27, 2016 ~ Besser Museum 50th Anniversary - 11