Archaeologists Find 'Exciting' Colonial Artifact From Michigan Fort

The 18th century brass trade ring found at Colonial Michilimackinac in Michigan. The ring was found at the excavation site of a row house within the reconstructed fort.

Archaeologists have unearthed an intriguing 18th-century artifact in northern Michigan.

The item in question, a brass trade ring, was found during an excavation at Colonial Michilimackinac—a reconstructed 18th-century fort and fur trading village west of the Mackinac Bridge.

The bridge connects Michigan's Upper and Lower peninsulas, spanning the Straits of Mackinac—a body of water that connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

Colonial Michilimackinac has been reconstructed based on historic maps and more than 60 years of archaeological excavation. The Fort Michilimackinac site, which features several wooden buildings and a palisade, has been designated a National Historic Landmark, forming part of Mackinac State Historic Parks.

The original fort and trading post was established by the French in 1715 but fell into the hands of the British in the early 1760s, along with the rest of their Canadian territory, which previously included what is now Michigan.

After decades serving as a thriving diplomatic and economic hub, the British eventually abandoned Fort Michilimackinac in the early 1780s following the construction of another limestone fort on nearby Mackinac Island, which lies in Lake Huron, just off the coast of Michigan's Upper peninsula.

On the morning of June 18, 2024, the long-running archaeological program at Colonial Michilimackinac unearthed the brass trade ring in what Mackinac State Historic Parks described as an "exciting" find in a statement.

The ring was found in a demolition rubble pile from the 1780s located at the excavation site of a row house known as House E within the reconstructed fort.

"The archaeology team had a nice find yesterday morning—a brass trade ring," Lynn Evans, curator of archaeology for Mackinac State Historic Parks, said in the press release.

"Although these rings are sometimes referred to as 'Jesuit rings', by the 18th century they were strictly secular trade goods."

Such artifacts were originally referred to as "Jesuit rings" because people at the time associated them with Catholic missionaries in the region, Dominick Miller, a spokesperson for Mackinac State Historic Parks, told The Detroit News.

House E was built in the 1730s and historical documents indicate that it always belonged to a fur trader. It was first occupied by a man named Charles Henri Desjardins de Rupallay de Gonneville, but its later inhabitant was an English trader who has yet to be identified.

Several intriguing finds have been made at the House E excavation site in recent years including a lead seal dating between 1717 and 1769; another engraved "Jesuit" trade ring; a brass sideplate from a British trade gun; remnants of a creamware plate; a bone or ivory gaming die; and numerous other items.

While Colonial Michilimackinac is a popular tourist attraction featuring costumed historical interpreters and demonstrations, ongoing archaeological investigations take place at the site during the summer months.

In fact, excavations at Michilimackinac began in 1959, meaning the archaeological program at the site is one of the longest-running in North America.

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