Juntunen Site

About this property

The Juntunen Site, also known as 20MK1, is a stratified prehistoric Late Woodland fishing village located on the western tip of Bois Blanc Island. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The Juntunen Site is located on a low sand beach about 600 feet from and 17 feet above the current lakeshore. The site was a large seasonal fishing camp covering approximately 2 acres (0.81 ha). It was likely a seasonal fall fishing village similar to the nearby Scott Point site. The site also contains five ossuaries, plus an infant burial and additional remains collected from the surface. The site was used during the Late Woodland period (c. 800 A.D.-1400 A.D.) The burials primarily dated from 1200 to 1400 AD. The frequent but seasonal occupation of the site led to a stratified layering of archaeological remains at the site, consisting of up to 25 separate layers. The Juntunen Site was discovered in 1932 by Robert Braidwood of the University of Michigan, who found human remains eroding from the surface of a group of mounds. Excavations were carried out over the next few years. Mr. Charles Juntunen, the property owner of the site, discovered more remains in 1959 while bulldozing a road. Juntunen contacted The University of Michigan, and the University's Alan McPherron and James Griffin conducted multiple excavations from 1960 to 1963. The excavations yielded features, human burials, prehistoric artifacts, animal bone, and plant remains. Mackinac Phase, c. 800 A.D. – 910 A.D., occupations A and B, stratigraphic layers I–XIV Intermediate I Phase, c. 910 A.D. – 1000 A.D., occupation C, stratigraphic layer XV–XV Bois Blanc Phase, c. 1000 A.D. – 1200 A.D., occupation D, stratigraphic layers XVI–XIX Intermediate II Phase, c. 1200 A.D. – 1250 A.D., stratigraphic layers XX–XXI Juntunen Phase, c. 1250 A.D. – 1400 A.D., occupations E and F, stratigraphic layers XXII–XXV Excluding the intermediate phases, the sequence is generalized as: Mackinac Phase, c. 800 A.D.-1000 A.D.; Bois Blanc Phase 1000 A.D.-1200 A.D.; Juntunen Phase 1200-1400 A.D. Features present at the site included hearths, pits (large and small) and animal burials (dog, snowshoe hare and bald eagle). Hundreds of post molds were found but except for the outlines of a longhouse, no other structures could be discerned. There were 65 burials, some of them in ossuaries. The presence of ossuaries is evidence of cultural practices which are documented in early historic accounts of the Huron Feast of the Dead and similar ceremonies. 10 out of the 65 burials had a piece or plaque of bone from the cranium removed, a practice not seen in early historic times.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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