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Stonehenge Beneath the Waters of Lake Michigan
BLDG Blog ^ | 05 Jan 2009 | BLDG Blog

Posted on 01/08/2009 12:15:48 PM PST by BGHater

In a surprisingly under-reported story from 2007, Mark Holley, a professor of underwater archaeology at Northwestern Michigan University College, discovered a series of stones – some of them arranged in a circle and one of which seemed to show carvings of a mastodon – 40-feet beneath the surface waters of Lake Michigan.


[Image: Standing stones beneath Lake Michigan? View larger].

If verified, the carvings could be as much as 10,000 years old – coincident with the post-Ice Age presence of both humans and mastodons in the upper midwest.

[Image: The stones beneath Lake Michigan; view larger].

In a PDF assembled by Holley and Brian Abbott to document the expedition, we learn that the archaeologists had been hired to survey a series of old boatwrecks using a slightly repurposed "sector scan sonar" device. You can read about the actual equipment – a Kongsberg-Mesotech MS 1000 – here.
The circular images this thing produces are unreal; like some strange new art-historical branch of landscape representation, they form cryptic dioramas of long-lost wreckage on the lakebed. Shipwrecks (like the Tramp, which went down in 1974); a "junk pile" of old boats and cars; a Civil War-era pier; and even an old buggy are just some of the topographic features the divers discovered.
These are anthropological remains that will soon be part of the lake's geology; they are our future trace fossils.
But down amongst those otherwise mundane human remains were the stones.

[Image: The "junk pile" of old cars and boat skeletons; view larger].

While there is obviously some doubt as to whether or not that really is a mastodon carved on a rock – let alone if it really was human activity that arranged some of the rocks into a Stonehenge-like circle – it's worth pointing out that Michigan does already have petroglyph sites and even standing stones.
A representative of the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology has even commented that, although he's skeptical, he's interested in learning more, hoping to see better photographs of the so-called "glyph stone."

[Image: The stones; view larger].

So is there a North American version of Stonehenge just sitting up there beneath the glacial waters of a small northern bay in Lake Michigan? If so, are there other submerged prehistoric megaliths waiting to be discovered by some rogue archaeologist armed with a sonar scanner?
Whatever the answer might be, the very suggestion is interesting enough to think about – where underwater archaeology, prehistoric remains, and lost shipwrecks collide to form a midwestern mystery: National Treasure 3 or Da Vinci Code 2. Even Ghostbusters: The Return.
But only future scuba expeditions will be able to tell for sure.


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: alpenaamberleyridge; archaeoastronomy; archaeology; brianabbott; catastrophism; epigraphyandlanguage; freepun; godsgravesglyphs; grandtraversebay; huntergatherers; kankakeesandislands; kenosha; lake; lakehuron; lakemichigan; markholley; mastodon; megaliths; michigan; nagpra; stonehenge; traversecity; underwater; wisconsin; youngerdryas
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Rorschach.

This has more info.

1 posted on 01/08/2009 12:15:51 PM PST by BGHater
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To: SunkenCiv

ping.

Picked this over the Mummy Queen. Maybe its not henge, maybe find Hoffa.


2 posted on 01/08/2009 12:16:57 PM PST by BGHater (Tyranny is always better organised than freedom)
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To: BGHater

Very cool. Thanks for posting it.


3 posted on 01/08/2009 12:21:21 PM PST by Badeye (There are no 'great moments' in Moderate Political History. Only losses.)
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To: BGHater
Stonehenge Beneath the Waters of Lake Michigan

But we all want to know when Spinal Tap write a song about it ...

4 posted on 01/08/2009 12:24:10 PM PST by TexGuy (If it has the slimmest of chances of being considered sarcasm ... IT IS!)
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To: BGHater
Damn.

In the left foreground, I can just make out my keys.

5 posted on 01/08/2009 12:24:35 PM PST by End Times Sentinel (In Memory of my Dear Friend Henry Lee II)
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To: BGHater

bump for later


6 posted on 01/08/2009 12:26:37 PM PST by joe fonebone (The libtard votes in every election, regardless of the candidate.)
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To: BGHater

looking at the one on the left i see the face of a very grizzled old man....


7 posted on 01/08/2009 12:27:01 PM PST by tatsinfla
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To: BGHater

Nobody knows who they were or what they were doing.


8 posted on 01/08/2009 12:29:10 PM PST by WildcatClan (AND THOSE DOESNT BRAIN JUST GO. ---- Cecile Noe)
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To: BGHater
And they totally missed the Mercedes hood ornament!
9 posted on 01/08/2009 12:30:05 PM PST by Recon Dad (Marsoc Dad)
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To: tatsinfla

You’re right!

I DO see the very grizzled Helen Thomas!


10 posted on 01/08/2009 12:31:00 PM PST by Mr. Jazzy (Happy 233rd Birthday, USMC!!!)
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To: Recon Dad

The carvings are from my outboard, nice carvings, lots of repair.


11 posted on 01/08/2009 12:33:01 PM PST by Quick Shot
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To: BGHater; SunkenCiv

There is a priceless old B.C. comic in which one character is drawing bison on a cave wall.

Another character is criticizing the mediocre artwork.

The one doing the drawing replies something like,

“A million years from now, they’ll eat this stuff up.”


12 posted on 01/08/2009 12:37:03 PM PST by The Spirit Of Allegiance (Public Employees: Honor Your Oaths! Defend the Constitution from Enemies--Foreign and Domestic!)
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To: BGHater

Other than the pic in post 1, i don’t see any kind of arrangement similar to sstonehenge, or anything that would make me think it’s manmade.

Someone please feel free to provide further explanation.


13 posted on 01/08/2009 12:37:21 PM PST by Travis T. OJustice (Change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy.)
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To: Travis T. OJustice

Your not suppose to ask serious questions.


14 posted on 01/08/2009 12:39:41 PM PST by BGHater (Tyranny is always better organised than freedom)
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To: BGHater

:)

Cool imagery, though


15 posted on 01/08/2009 12:46:29 PM PST by Travis T. OJustice (Change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy.)
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To: Mr. Jazzy
. . . very grizzled Helen Thomas!

Did you major in redundancy?

16 posted on 01/08/2009 12:49:04 PM PST by Andyman (The truth shall make you FReep.)
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To: Andyman

... And minored in unnecessary redundancy.


17 posted on 01/08/2009 12:50:43 PM PST by Mr. Jazzy (Happy 233rd Birthday, USMC!!!)
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To: BGHater
From above, the site looks like the last resting place of a sailing vessel carrying a load from a quarry.

And the mastodon? No — it's a face. See the frown? And the two eyes?

18 posted on 01/08/2009 12:50:56 PM PST by BenLurkin
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To: BGHater

Plank Henge

Located 1 mile north of Pentwater State Park on Lake Michigan. Sundial in center has correct time twice a day. Virgins sacrificed the 1st Tuesday of the month. Interesting beach artifacts. Tours daily. Donations welcome.


19 posted on 01/08/2009 12:52:16 PM PST by JoeProBono (Apparitions are in the eye of the beholder)
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To: BGHater

20 posted on 01/08/2009 12:52:19 PM PST by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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