The Truth About The Stonehenge Replica In Lake Michigan
There might be another Stonehenge in the world ... and this one is located in Lake Michigan. While looking for shipwrecks, researchers found a collection of stones about 40 feet down. ZME Science reported in 2017 that they used sonar technology to uncover sunken boats, cars, a Civil War-era pier and structures that looked like boulders arranged similarly to those found in England's Stonehenge — where about 100 stones stand in a circle.
Mark Holley, a professor of underwater archaeology at Northwestern Michigan College who found the group of 3.5-4 feet high and 5-feet long stones, showed photos at a 2007 news conference. "The size, shaping and placement of the stones seem to indicate they are not naturally occurring," according to the Lasco Press. "If that is the case, the stones must have been placed when the lake bed was dry, around the last ice age."
Another rock discovered contained etching, and might turn out to be a petroglyph. The rock with the picture was not part of the circle. The image suggests a mastodon-shaped figure with a head, tusk, trunk, and triangular-shaped ears. "When you see it in the water, you're tempted to say this is absolutely real," said Holley at the news conference about the find, reports ZME Science. "But that's what we need the experts to come in and verify."
Is there a Stonehenge-like mystery beneath the waters of Lake Michigan?
While some surmised it could be more than 10,000 years old — about the same time as the post-Ice Age mastodons in the upper Midwest — others, noted in the Chicago Tribune, that the animals were nearly extinct when humans might be around to draw them.
At the time, more evidence was needed to establish the facts. Today, years later, we're still waiting for authentication of the discovery ... and we remain in the dark about who (or what?) arranged the rocks.
It's not the only stone circle in the area. On nearby Beaver Island, there are several groups of stones with carvings — some have holes; others have lines and groups of feathers, according to the Beaver Island online site. One theory says the stones were placed there more than 1000 years ago — that's just hearsay though. Some believe the stones arrived there from a glacial deposit or that Native Americans used the materials for ceremonies. To date no carbon analysis has been done. Seems like these archaeological sites all remain ... mysterious. Where's the Scooby gang when you need them?