Clifford, Luara Dee, August 1990 - EXCAVATIONS AT THE OFFICERS' WOODEN QUARTERS AT FORT MACKINAC, MICHIGAN Abstract: During the summer of 1986, Roger T. Grange of the University of South Florida conducted archaeological excavations at Fort Mackinac, Michigan. These excavations were performed as an archaeological field school in cooperation with the Mackinac Island State Park Commission. The project goals were designed to investigate a nineteenth century building within Fort Mackinac that the Park Commission was renovating as part of the bicentennial celebration of the fort's founding. The fort is located on Mackinac Island in the Straits of Mackinac, between Michigan's two main peninsulas. The importance of the Straits of Mackinac area, as both a commercial trading hub and as a strategic military site, was recognized nearly 400 years ago by the French and British settlers in the area. During 1779, British commander Patrick Sinclair began the construction of Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island. The fort remained under British control until the Americans took it over in 1796. The British regained brief control of the fort during the War of 1812, but relinquished their command to the Americans in 1815. The excavations were carried out to provide archaeological confirmation of the historic evidence that the Officers' Wooden Quarters building was built by the Americans after the War of 1812 had concluded. The archaeological evidence is discussed in terms of stratigraphic layers. Categories of artifacts are discussed in terms of function. The archaeological evidence supports the central contention that the building was indeed constructed by the Americans after the War of 1812. Archaeology continues to play an important part in the renovation of buildings at this historic fort. It aids in providing accurate details that have escaped documentation in history books, letters, and legal documents. .