PETROGLYPHS? History Convo to Hear of Site, True Crime from Mardi Link
January 27, 2015
By: Dave Rogers
Native carvings from the Sanilac Petroglyphs site in Michigan's Thumb have mystified viewers for years.
"Wicked" is Mardi Link's latest true crime book from the University of Michigan Press.
What are the Sanilac Petroglyphs?
How is true crime a new branch of history?
Those questions will be addressed March 13-14 at the State History Conference in Sterling Heights. (www.hsmichigan.org)
The petroglyphs include depictions of swirls, lines, handprints, flying birds and bow-wielding men, carved over many years by unknown peoples passing by the Thumb area site while traveling along the nearby Cass River.
The petroglyphs will be explained March 13 at the State History Conference at the Best Western Sterling Inn in Sterling Heights.
Also, on March 14 noted author and former Bay Cityan Mardi Jo Link will join a panel discussion on "True Crime as History." The Traverse City resident is a graduate of Bay City T.L. Handy High School and the Michigan State University School of Journalism and a former newspaper police reporter.
No doubt Ms. Link will inform attendees about her third and latest true crime book from the University of Michigan Press, "Wicked Takes the Witness Stand," that was second on the Michigan Bestseller List recently.
Among her other crime books were "When Evil Came to Good Hart," and "Isidore's Secret." An autobiographical "Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm," a bestseller published by Random House, got sensational reviews from the likes of humorist Garrison Keillor.
Others on the true crime panel are author Blaine Pardoe and author and documentary producer David B. Schock, who will help elucidate the contention that "true crime and history are actually complementary."
Located east of Cass City in Sanilac County, the petroglyphs (rock carvings) are said to be Michigan's largest collection of native carvings. Speakers include Dean Anderson of the State Historic Preservation Office, Shannon Martin, Zibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways, and Stacy Tchorzynski, Michigan Historical Center/State Historic Preservation Office.
"The speakers will also reveal the current plans to preserve and interpret this important place," according to conference officials from the History Society of Michigan.