OCP file photo of Lake Michigan in the Silver Lake area.
By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
HART — A Silver Lake area man discovered what could possibly be the remains of a Native American from centuries ago while cleaning out his garage.
After finding an old beer box in his garage that contained what was originally thought to just be pottery that his late parents found in Lake Michigan in the 1970s, it was discovered that the pottery may also contain what appeared to be human bones.
The man donated the box to the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, Jan. 22, and then the sheriff’s office was contacted. “It is unknown if the bones are human,” said Oceana County Sheriff Craig Mast.
“They were found in the Silver Lake area back in the ‘70s when the Lake Michigan water levels were high,” said Mast. “They were found about 200 yards from the residence in a large sand hill. The water rose to the level of the sand hill and his parents found some pieces of pottery and realized it might be Native American. So, they picked up the pieces and put them in an old beer box with a paper towel.”
The box sat for a few decades in the garage on North Lakeshore Drive until the man started cleaning the garage out last summer.
The bones were collected as evidence and transported to the sheriff’s office. “The bones are going to be sent to be examined further,” said Sheriff Mast. “They will probably go to an archaeologist and find out what exactly they are. It sounds like they thought the bones were all part of the pottery until they started sorting them out. And they realized some are bones and some are pottery.
“It’s possible they could be from a human hand, but if they are, they could be hundreds of years old.”
____________________
Please Support Local News and Sports coverage
Receive daily MCP and OCP news briefings along with email news alerts for $10 a month. Your contribution will help us to continue to provide you with free local news.
Payment can be made monthly via credit card, bank account, PayPal or Venmo through recurring email invoicing. These payments can be set up for autopay each month.
To sign up, email editor@mediagroup31.com. In the subject line write: Subscription. Please supply your name, email address, mailing address, and phone number (indicate cell phone). We will not share your information with any outside sources. For more than one email address in a household, the cost is $15 per month per email address.
Alternative methods:
- We can send you an invoice for a yearly payment of $120, which you can conveniently pay online or by check. If you are interested in this method, please email editor@mediagroup31.com and we can sign you up. You can also mail a yearly check for $120 to Media Group 31, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454 (please include your email address).
Payment must be made in advance prior to subscription activation.
We appreciate all our readers regardless of whether they choose to continue to access our service for free or with a monthly financial support.
_____
This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2026, all rights reserved by Media Group 31, LLC, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. No portion of this story or images may be reproduced in any way, including print or broadcast, without expressed written consent.
As the services of Media Group 31, LLC are news services, the information posted within the sites are archivable for public record and historical posterity. For this reason it is the policy and practice of this company to not delete postings. It is the editor’s discretion to update or edit a story when/if new information becomes available. This may be done by editing the posted story or posting a new “follow-up” story. Media Group 31, LLC or any of its agents have the right to make any changes to this policy. Refer to Use Policy for more information.
.png)
