The Indiana Dunes are natural sand dunes occurring at the southern end of Lake Michigan in the American State of Indiana. They are known for their ecological significance.Smith, S. & Mark, S. (2009). The Historical Roots of the Nature Conservancy in the Northwest Indiana/Chicagoland Region: From Science to Preservation. The South Shore Journal, 3. Many conservationists have played a role in preserving parts of the Indiana Dunes.Smith, S. & Mark, S. (2006). Alice Gray, Dorothy Buell, and Naomi Svihla: Preservationists of Ogden Dunes. The South Shore Journal, The Hour Glass, a museum in Ogden Dunes, showcases some of the ecological import of the Dunes.Smith, S. & Mark, S. (2007). The cultural impact of a museum in a small community: The Hour Glass of Ogden Dunes. The South Shore Journal, 2.
Human presence in the Indiana Dunes has existed since the retreat of the glaciers some 14,000 years ago. The southern lakes area was a rich hunting ground and there is little evidence of permanent communities forming during the earlier years. Archeological evidence is consistent with seasonal hunting camps. The earliest evidence for permanent camps is consistent with the Hopewellian occupation of the Ohio valley. Five groups of mounds have been documented in the dunes area. These mounds would be consistent with the period of 200 BCE (Goodall focus) to 800 CE (early Mississippian).The Archaeology of Porter County; J. Gilbert McAllister; Indiana History Bulletin; Vol. X, No. 1; October 1932; Historical Bureau of the Indiana Library and Historical Department, Indianapolis; 1932 The advent of European exploration and trade introduced more changes to the human environment. Tribal animosities and traditional European competition affected tribal relations. Entire populations began moving westward, while others sought to dominate large geographic trading areas. Once again the dunes became a middle point on a journey from the east or the west. It continued to remain a key hunting ground for villages over a wide area. It wasn't until the 19th century that native villages once again were scattered through the area, but this was soon followed by European settlement. The entire coast line has since been settled and filled with homes, factories, businesses and public parks.
Pre-Columbian Early man entered the area south of Lake Michigan after the glaciers retreated around 15,000 years ago. As the glaciers receded, people began to move into the area. The earliest people recorded in Indiana are the Early Paleoindians. No sites have been found in the dunes. During the period of this cultural group, the dunes area had just emerged from beneath the continental glaciers. The landscape was not conducive to the existence of the animals upon which the Early Paleoindian culture depended.Dawn Bringelson and Jay T. Sturdevant; An Archeological Overview and Assessment of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana; Midwest Archeological Center, Technical Report No. 97; Midwest Archeological Center; Lincoln, Nebraska; 2007 A few scattered Late Paleoindian artifacts have been found on the higher and older ridges in the dunes.
Multiple locations within the dunes have yielded artifacts from the archaic traditions. Included are Early Archaic Lecroy or Kanawha bifurcate-stemmed point (7800 and 5800 BC), Greenville Creek side notched. Also documented are four sites with projectile points that are the Middle to Late Archaic points found in the Great Lakes area.
ID Culture-historic type and period Date range References A Jack's Reef Pentagonal AD 500–1000 Justice 1987:215–217 B Triangle cluster (Late Prehistoric) AD 800-Historic Justice 1987:224–226 C Triangular cluster (Late Prehistoric) AD 800-Historic Justice 1987:224–226 D Triangular cluster (Late Prehistoric) AD 800-Historic Justice 1987:224–226 F Dehli Barbed (Late Archaic- Early Woodland) or Affinis Snyders (Middle Woodland) 1300–200 BC or 200 BC –AD 200 Justice 1987:179; DeRagnaucourt 1991:234–238 H Lamoka or Brewerton Side-notched (Late Archaic) 3000–1700 BC DeRegnaucourt 1991:150–166 J Palmer Corner-notched (Early Archaic) 7500–6900 BC DeRegnaucourt 1991:44–48 K Kirk Stemmed (Early Archaic) 6900–6000 BC Justice 1987:82–85 L Thebes Cluster (Early Archaic) or Big Sandy Side-notched (Middle Archaic) 8000–7000 BC or 6000–4000 BC Justice 1987:54–56; DeRegnaucourt 1991:117–123, 131 M Big Sandy? (Early Archaic) 6000–4000 BC Justice 1987:60 N St. Albans Side-notched (Early Archaic) 6900–6500 BC DeRegnaucourt 1991:94–98 O Kirk Stemmed (Early Archaic) 6900–6000 BC DeRegnaucourt 1991:62–66
The dunes developed from the 'glacial lakes' that formed between the Valparaiso Moraine and the receding glacier. As such, there are no glacial kames in the dunes area. With the lack of glacial kames to locate burials, it is only the projectile points that are usable for rough dating. Simultaneous with the Glacial Kame people, the Red Ocher people and the Old Copper Culture. Like the Glacial Kame culture, these other groups are identified by their burial goods. The centers of the Red Ocher and Old Copper Culture are further from the Indiana Dunes and no artifacts have been identified as being from any of these three cultural groups.
The earliest signs of long-term or permanent habitation are the mounds that exist across northwest Indiana. While undated, many are placed in the cultural group that has become known as the Goodall focusQuimby, George I.; Indian Life in the Upper Great Lakes, 11,000 B.C. to A.D. 1800. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1960 The Goodall focus is a cultural grouping of the Hopewell culture. The dunes are the far western and most southern expression of Goodall sites. The group is centered in western Michigan along the Grand, Kalamazoo and Galien Rivers.Hopewell Archeology: The Newsletter of Hopewell Archeology in the Ohio River Valley; 4. Current Research on the Goodall Focus; Volume 2, Number 1, October 1996
The mounds located in the dunes are represented by six sites.
Type Findings Status Burial Two burial sites have been examined. The graveyard blow-out in the Indiana Dunes State Park revealed a skull and a vertebra with an arrow lodge in it. The second site included seven complete skeletons. Located near the Petit fort the first site has eroded away. The second burial site was discovered as Wagner Road was extended northward and has been fully excavated. Camp Site The first campsite located was near Tremont, just north of Highway 12. Many flint chips and fire-cracked stones were found. The second campsite was reported on a high elevation on both sides of the Calumet River, north of Porter. High points were dry areas for overnight use. No relics were found at either site during the 1931 field examinations. The second site showed no signs of human habitation. "Indian" Well Located north of Chesterton was a spring. It was said to be the site for large gatherings. By 1931, it had been filled in. Mound Valley In 1923, there were nearly 100 mounds.George A. Brennan; The Wonders of the Dunes, Indianapolis; 1923, pg 8–10 There were round mounds of to across and to tall. Other elliptical mounds were to long. Excavations found stone knives, hammers, and projectile points. Steel blades with bone handles were also discovered, but could not be saved. By 1931, no evidence remained of any of these mounds.
By the 15th century CE, the communities of Native American surrounding the southern shores of Lake Michigan were of the Huber-Berrien group. These were a mound builder associated people, contemporary to the Fort Ancient communities of the Ohio River valleyAtlas of Great Lakes Indian History; Helen Hornbeck Tanner – Cartography by Miklos Pinther; The Newberry Library, University of Oklahoma Press; Norman, Oklahoma; 1987
Major classification Cultural group Related major cultural group Time period Clovis culture Paleo-Indians 18000 BCE – 8000 BCE Early Archaic Glacial Kame culture – (8000 BCE to 1000 BCE) Red Ocher people 8000 BCE – 6000 BCE Middle Archaic Glacial Kame culture – (8000 BCE to 1000 BCE) Red Ocher people 6000 BCE – 3000 BCE Old Copper complex aka Late Archaic Glacial Kame culture – (8000 BCE to 1000 BCE) Red Ocher people 4000 BCE to 1000 BCE Early Woodland period Adena culture 1000 BCE to 200 CE Middle Woodland period Goodall focus Hopewell tradition 200 BCE to 500 CE Late Woodland period or Fort Ancient Oneota Mississippian culture 800 CE to 1500 CE Historic Miami Woodland c 1673 along the St. Joseph River of Lake Michigan Historic Potawatomi Woodland c 1780s to 1838
Historic Native American communities
Iroquois Wars or Beaver Wars The legends of the Potawatomi and Miami peoples place them in the Indiana Dunes prior to the Iroquois War or Beaver Wars (1641–1701). It was during the war period that both nations migrated north to the Door Peninsula with many other tribes for protection. The Iroquois War centered in the lower peninsula of modern Ontario, Canada, north of Lakes Erie and Ontario. The early stages of the Iroquois Wars were among the Erie Indians on the southern shore of Lake Erie. By 1656 the tribe had been destroyed or dispersed.Erie History by Dick Shovel Most of the Iroquois War is taken from the French records in Canada, leaving little details on activities further west and south of the lakes. By 1677, the Miami and Potawatomi had begun to return to the southern shore of Lake Michigan. The Miami were at the western bend of the Calumet River (Blue Island, Illinois). On the far eastern edge of the dunes, the Miami and Mascouten had returned to the St. Joseph River of Lake Michigan sometime after 1673. Another village grew at the portage from the South Bend of the St. Joseph after 1679. Additional villages may have been located through the dunes by this time, but there are no mention of any villages in the journals of René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.
The Iroquois raided the Illinois Confederation village at Fort St. Louis, or Starved Rock, in 1684. Then in 1687, the Iroquois raided the villages in Blue Island area. No further incursion passed around the south end of Lake Michigan. By the late 1680s, the allied Algonquian peoples had taken the war east to the Iroquois homeland, bringing an end to the Iroquois threat. By 1701, the eastern villages along the St. Joseph and expanded to include not only Miami and Mascouten, but Shawnee, Mahican, and Potawatomi. The only other identified community was over a hundred miles (106 km) south at Ouiatenon on the Wabash River.
French era During the French Era of presences in the Indiana Dunes (1720–1761), primary villages were located at the mouth of the Chicago River and the northern reach of the St. Joseph River (from modern South Bend, Indiana, to Niles, Michigan). The French authorities in Montreal encouraged licensed traders to winter in native villages. This had the effect of concentrating communities at key travel points. The Indiana Dunes were, at best, an area of passage. The nearest key points were the Chicago Portage to the west and the St. Joseph Portage to the east. The Meskwaki, Sauk, established villages at Chicago in the 1740s. The Potawatomi are reported around the French trading post at Chicago beginning in the 1750s. On the east, the Potawatomi and Miami developed villages on the St. Joseph River downstream from the Kankakee and St. Joseph portage after 1720. During this time, the dunes would have been seasonal hunting grounds.
Exploration Like the American Indian 'occupation' of the Indiana Dunes, exploration by Europeans swirled around the southern shore of Lake Michigan, rather than through the heart of the dunes. The French quickly 'discovered' or were told of the water routes that passed from the south side of Lake Michigan to places further south. The two primary routes were by the Chicago Portage in Illinois or by the portage between the St. Joseph River and the Kankakee River in northern Indiana.