We live in a complex world of technology, of instant communication with just about any spot in the world.
So it is all too easy for us to lose track of our roots, our history.
Who were the first people to call Michigan "home" and what can we learn from those first Michiganders?
Bill Lovis is a professor and curator of anthropology at Michigan State University.
“They came from the South,” Bill said of the first state inhabitants.
Around 12,000 years ago, Michigan was under ice, with several lobes of glaciers covering the state. As the ice receded and melted, people moved up into the state and the Great Lakes began to form.
It was still several thousands of years before Michigan’s terrain began to resemble what it is today. Glaciers left the land very cold, barren, and wet, and it took a long time for forestation to begin. The earliest inhabitants were families who moved across this landscape going from resource to resource.
While these early settlers maybe seem very distant to modern Michiganders, they still touch our lives today.
“Anyone who has a corncob with their braut in the summer is being impacted by Native American society,” said Bill. “The food crops are exceptionally important contributions to the world economy.”
Listen to the full interview above.
