Research

Corktown Archaeology

Corktown Archaeology at the Worker's Row House, a small mid-19th-century wooden tenement in Detroit's Corktown Historic District, was a community collaboration with the Greater Corktown Development Corporation (GCDC). It also combined dooryard excavations with public outreach programs in the city targeted at restoring the WRH as a house museum and developing the site as a community resource center. That work, in part, was undertaken as a regular field studies course through Wayne State through 2009 and received funding from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Honors College at Wayne State, the Governor of Michigan's Cool Cities Initiative and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation in Washington DC.

This research project is led by Associate Professor Dr. Thomas W. Killion, who specializes in archaeological research at sites in North America, Mexico and Central America. Fieldwork and laboratory analysis at Wayne State featured participation by students at Wayne State and other universities in Michigan, high school and grade school students in Detroit and volunteers from across the metropolitan area. The project culminated with a year-long exhibit at Wayne State's Gordon L. Grosscup Museum of Anthropology (Mythical Foundations/Material Consequences: Archaeological Research at the Workers Row House, Corktown, Detroit) in 2009, covered by Detroit's newspapers, radio and television stations.

Historic Fort Wayne

In 2015, Dr. Thomas Killion led a team of undergraduate and graduate students from the archaeology program in a non-invasive geophysical survey (ground penetrating radar and electro-magnetic prospection) on the old Parade Ground at Historic Fort Wayne in southwest Detroit (presently used by the City of Detroit soccer leagues). Subsurface radar signals revealed features that may indicate prehistoric structures along the bank of the Detroit River a couple of miles downstream from the center of Detroit today. The work has been made possible with a generous grant from the Fort Wayne Coalition, a public service organization responsible for outreach, site maintenance and funding for special projects at the Fort.

The work has gone forward with the participation of Thomas Urban (Cornell University), an expert in geophysical research in archaeology who has spearheaded data collection, analysis and interpretation of the data collected this fall. This research also has received logistical support from the City of Detroit's Historical Commission, the Parks and Recreation Department, the State of Michigan and the National Parks Service. Survey research is motivated by a desire to document evidence of pre-European settlement along the Detroit River as well as historic preservation concerns related to planning and development in advance of the construction of the Canada-US Gordie Howe Bridge immediately downstream of the Fort. Plans are underway to collaborate with tribal partners for work at the museum and outreach for Historic Fort Wayne. Dr. Thomas Killion is conducting ongoing research with the help of Wayne State students to understand the significance of this historic fort.

Unearthing Detroit

Unearthing Detroit is a project that involves both academic research and public archaeology. It is focused on the urban historical archaeology collections housed in the Gordon L. Grosscup Museum of Anthropology at Wayne State University. Currently, the Unearthing Detroit team is researching the collections from the Renaissance Center (excavated in 1973 - 74) and Roosevelt Park - Corktown (excavated in 2012). They are also developing a number of public archaeology initiatives in Detroit and on the web.

Roosevelt Park

Roosevelt Park is located in Detroit, Michigan and is in front of the ruins of the Michigan Central Train Station (MCS) closed in 1988. Excavations at Roosevelt Park have been part of Dr. Ryzewski's Archaeological Field Methods Class (ANT5280) in 2012, 2014 and 2016. The class examines the material culture remains of these communities during later laboratory analysis in order to understand the wider economic shifts of this landscape. The general public is welcome to attend Open Archaeology Day at Roosevelt Park, held each fall in October.

Faunal remains

Select students have analyzed the faunal remains left behind at Roosevelt Park. These can include cows, sheep, rats, dogs and cats. The study of faunal remains or zooarchaeology, can tell researchers more about what people ate, how culture affected the quantity or availability of food (especially meat) and which animals were domesticated. Studying faunal remains are important for a complete understanding of how people lived at Roosevelt Park.

Learn more about archaeological research at Wayne State.