Eastern Michigan University Chemistry Professor Ruth Ann
Armitage recently traded in her Nicaraguan spelunking helmet
for a trash bag with armholes in it.
The 55-gallon trash bag was a good way to keep dry while
hiking a rocky beach in cold, rainy weather on the shoreline
of Big Bay de Noc on Lake Michigan in northern Michigan.
"The rock paintings there are the only ones in the state
of Michigan. They're thought to be connected to the
Ojibwe," said Armitage, who took a student and went in
search of the paintings.
 |
PAINTED ROCKS: Ruth Ann
Armitage(front),
an EMU chemistry
professor, and Christina Phillips,
a
graduate student, observe carved
paintings on
a sandstone outcropping
along the Painted Rocks
National
Shoreline. |
Christina Phillips, a graduate student from Standish,
accompanied Armitage and her husband on the trip.
"I wanted to do field research and get hands-on experience," said
Phillips, who admits that she thought fieldwork in forensic
science would be just a little bit more glamorous. "We
had to walk two miles just to get to the site, and then
we had to climb over huge rocks."
While a lot of northerners are familiar with the Painted
Rocks on Lake Superior, Armitage said that the rock art
her team is looking for is very different.
The Painted Rocks National Shoreline is a 15-mile sandstone
outcropping that, in places, has been carved in various
and distinct shapes by the forces of nature. People created
the paintings Armitage is looking for.
The art was in a shallow cave that was excavated in the
1960s and turned into a tourist spot by the farmer who
owned the land. The tourist attraction of the "Indian paintings" never
got widespread recognition, although area residents often
visited the site, so it was bought by the state.
It was returned to natural conditions by the state and
has been left alone, ravaged by the elements of wind and
water. Armitage said erosion has crumbled parts of the
sheer limestone cliff face, and the paintings are slowly
disappearing into a pile of rubble.
"It's a unique site and it is fading away into nothing," she
said.
While Armitage and Phillips did not find anything suitable
for dating on their first expedition, their quest could
be renewed in the spring. They want to understand
the composition of the paints and perhaps find a way to
preserve them.
Armitage said that Alex Carroll-Ruuska,
a colleague at Northern Michigan University who initiated
the project, has heard from Ojibwe elders that the pictures
are fading away because the spirit of the place is leaving.
"Rock art sites are about people and that they did something
there," said Armitage. "When people are not involved, the
site dies."
