​

​

​

The SDM Site is located on about 30 acres of

​

rolling upland glacial moraine. The surface soil

​

is composed of interspersed areas of sand,

​

to medium clay, with a typical amount of glacially

​

worn and rounded pebbles, stones, cobbles and

​

boulders.

​

​

This area is surrounded on three sides by a series

​

of glacial ice block pits called 'kettle holes', now

​

pot hole swamps, each at slightly different

​

elevations, and all connected by a narrow stream

​

which eventually flows into a small lake about 1/4

​

mile to the west.

​

​

That lake drains into Duke Creek, which flows into

​

the Rogue River. The Rogue is a major tributary of

​

the Grand River, the largest river in Michigan.

​

​

This part of Kent County was clear cut during the

​

lumber boom in the late 1800's. Soon after that,

​

much of the land in this section was used for

​

farming and pasture, with some reverting back to

​

second growth mixed hardwood forest.

​

​

On the northern edge of the SDM Site is a surviving

​

section of an old East-West Indian Trail that went

​

all the way across the state from Lake Michigan to

​

Lake Huron. A short distance to the East was a

​

North-South Indian Trail.

​

​

This part of Michigan has been free of glacial ice

​

for over 14,000 years, so all evidence of prehistoric

​

activity on the SDM Site can be no older than this.

​

​

Around 9,000 to 10,000 years ago, the SDM Site

​

was abandoned. The area was clearly marked

​

with many "standing stones" and was avoided by

​

all later people up until historic times.

​

​

Another Platform Burial site, 5 miles North on and

​

around Fisk Nob, Kent County's highest elevation,

​

continued the tradition into the Archaic Period.