MARQUETTE — Artifacts do not wash up on the shores of Lake Superior with identification tags.

The process of identifying artifacts found in any Great Lake is long and involved. They can be encrusted metal, wood, glass, ceramic, or other materials that have survived underwater for some time.

Here at the history center, we have been collecting artifacts from the community for over 100 years.

The number of curious items is boundless, and we enjoy researching those we can. In preparation for our upcoming Archaeology Fair, I asked our curator, Jo Wittler, if any unidentified items came to mind.

She pulled out a box of cataloged artifacts that are marked as coming from the lake. Specifically, “found in Lake Superior, near Big Bay.” The catalog card goes on to indicate that these items were from a shipwreck.

The objects are mostly all metal, rusty and worn. With one of the 23 items there is an old rust-stained type-written tag that reads: “Artifacts from Lake Superior — Found by Skin Divers.”

These items were donated as a group in July 1972. They pose a whole lot of questions and without the context of their assumed ship, or exact location on the lake bottom, it is quite difficult to place them. One of the first things Wittler would do to study these items is look for a patent number, if one existed on an item.

Other methods include internet image searches, texts on tools and ships parts, and experts who can weigh in by taking a look. Where did these artifacts originate and how did they end up in Lake Superior?

From a preservation perspective, keep in mind that archaeology does not always mean ancient or valuable. Archaeology is the study of human history through material evidence.

Many artifacts can be mass produced, scrap, or otherwise discarded items. They can be broken tools and bottles, pipes, dishes, and even excrement! They teach us about people and communities that were here before us.

From a shipwreck perspective, even if one wants to go diving for artifacts, these days there are regulations to consider. Since 1980, bottomlands of our Michigan Great Lakes waters have been protected, particularly 13 designated sites encompassing 7,200 square miles. One of these sites includes the Huron Island Unit, which starts near the town of Big Bay and follows the shore north to Baraga County.

Turning back to our donation of metal items from 1972, there are three identified shipwrecks in the Huron Island Unit. These ships were lost between the years of 1860-1909.

The paddle-wheeler Arctic, the schooner barge George Nester, and the schooner Southwest. There are very likely more shipwrecks that are unaccounted for “near Big Bay.” In the words of Kenyon Boyer from one of his “Historical Highlights” radio programs from 1954, “[In the] earliest days almost 25% of ships came to grief. Small vessels, no communications, no radio. Just to give you an example, [sic] has records on 75 or more that occurred between the Huron Islands and Shot Point and that is a comparatively minor area when you consider the Keweenaw Peninsula and Whitefish Point.”

Marine archaeologists would want to study our 23 items found in 1972 in their context, an archaeological term about where an artifact is found. Not just the place is important, but the soil or lakebed, the site type, the layer the artifact came from, what else was in that layer. Were these artifacts shifted on the lake bottom far from their original deposited site? Even if found “near Big Bay,” this does not verify they originally were dropped there.

We also must consider that they might not be from a boat. If so, the items could be from more than one ship, even though they were reportedly found together. Since they were removed from their context long before our current museum staff was here and with little to no source material, we are left to gather information bit by bit.

Help us identify these items when they are on display during our 10th Annual Archaeology Fair at the Marquette Regional History Center, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

For more information see marquettehistory.org.