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Ancient stone patterns add wrinkle to pipeline debate

MACKINAW CITY, Mich. (AP) — Images from an underwater vehicle seem to reveal stone patterns on the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac in northern Michigan, possible evidence of Native American artifacts from thousands of years ago, a newspaper reported.

A group of amateur explorers raised money to look at Enbridge Inc.’s oil pipeline on the lake bottom. The four women hired a boat equipped with an underwater vehicle and side-scan sonar. It can map the sea floor based on sound.

The sonar showed what appears to be stones in a half-circle, the Detroit Free Press reported.

“It was really just amazing,” said Andrea Pierce, 56, of Ypsilanti, a member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.

The Great Lakes weren’t always around. Glaciers cut deep gorges into the earth, which then filled with water over thousands of years.

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