Restoration work began this week on an ancient mound located in Kalamazoo’s Bronson Park.
The indigenous people of pre-colonial North America were known to build mounds that look like large hills for ceremonial purposes.
One of those mounds is in Bronson Park. Though experts have not been able to attribute it to a specific people, ground-penetrating radar studies show the mount is similar to other earthen structures around Southwest Michigan that have been radiocarbon-dated to between 500 and 1200 AD.
According to a press release from the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi, or Gun Lake Tribe, the mound has no identifying signs and people often walk on it.
Cean Burgeson, a spokesperson for the Gun Lake Tribe, which acts as the steward of the mound, said restoration work will focus on planting native, low-growth plants on top of the mound to prevent pedestrian traffic.
Additionally, signs around the mound will allow it to stick out more. The statement also said "grandmother and grandfather stones" will be placed at the base. In some indigenous cultures, rocks are referred to as "grandfathers" or "grandmothers" because they are among the oldest things on earth.
The project is a collaboration between the Gun Lake Tribe's Tribal Historic Preservation Office and Environmental Department, the City of Kalamazoo’s Historic Preservation Coordinator and other city staff, City of Kalamazoo Parks and Recreation, and native-plant group Kalamazoo Area Wild Ones.
