Archaeologists Discover Vast 1,000-Year Indigenous Farming System Michigan

New research led by Dartmouth College has uncovered a vast and sophisticated indigenous agricultural system at the Sixty Islands archaeological site in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, challenging previous assumptions about farming in harsh northern climates. This extensive raised ridge field system, dating from roughly 1000 to 1600 CE, covers approximately 330 acres and was used by ancestors of the Menominee Indian Tribe to cultivate crops such as corn, beans, and squash. Utilizing drone-based lidar technology, researchers revealed the scale and complexity of this farming network, which required a level of social organization and labor investment typically associated with larger, state-level societies, contradicting the idea that the region was inhabited only by small egalitarian groups. The findings, published in the journal Science, indicate that indigenous communities thrived agriculturally in ecologically challenging environments through innovative techniques like engineered ridges that improved drainage and soil temperature. This discovery significantly expands the known extent of precolonial intensive maize cultivation in eastern North America by a factor of ten and reshapes understanding of indigenous resilience and social complexity. The site, part of the ancestral Menominee homeland, remains only partially surveyed, suggesting even greater agricultural development may yet be documented.