The exact number in either group is not a matter of record." A 1960s subdivision in Bloomfield Township contains streets named Indian Mound Road and Indian Mound Trail, but no such features appear near this location on Hinsdale's map. Oakland County-Hinsdale counted five mounds, including "a group in Groveland Township, near the center, and another in the eastern half of Orion Township.Wayne county-In addition to the Springwells Mound Group covered in my last post, Hinsdale showed a mound by the Detroit River east of downtown.
The following sites in Metropolitan Detroit were included in Hinsdale's atlas: Accepted informants ranged from historical documents to "hearsay sources." Hinsdale and his collaborators examined claims and visited sites to determine plausibility, and concluded that there had been more than 1,068 mounds and 113 earthworks in Michigan, but that fewer than 5% "have escaped mutilation." Outside of Detroit, the largest earthworks in the state were found in Grand Rapids and Port Huron.
The first attempt to document all known Native American archaeological sites in the state was Wilbert Hinsdale's Archaeological Atlas of the State of Michigan in 1931. There were too many to fit into in my last entry, but their stories are an important part of our history. Although I have yet to discuss "urbanism," I'd like to write a little more about other Native American earthworks once located in Metropolitan Detroit.