The Kansas Anthropologist Volume 26 2005
A CADDOAN-STYLE SHERD FROM MARION COUNTY, KANSAS: SURPRISING RESULTS
FROM COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS
by Harold Reed (deceased), Salina, Kansas
Robert J. Hoard, Kansas Historical Society
Robert J. Speakman and Michael D. Glascock, University of Missouri
This is a report on a sherd that exhibits characteristics common to
pottery from the Caddoan region, recovered from a Great Bend aspect
site (14MN306) in Marion County, Kansas. The authors used neutron activation
analysis to determine the geographic source of the sherd but were surprised
to find that it does not compare to pottery from the Caddoan region
or any other region from which sherds have been analyzed by this method.
It is recommended that local pottery be analyzed to determine if the
Caddoan-style sherd is a copy produced by the Great Bend inhabitants
of 14MN306.
ADDENDUM TO AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GREAT BEND ASPECT-WICHITA ARCHEOLOGY
AND ETHNOHISTORY
by Marlin F. Hawley, Wisconsin Historical Society
This addendum to An Annotated Bibliography of Great Bend Aspect-Wichita
Archeology and Ethnohistory, published in The Kansas Anthropologist
(24:107-145) in 2003, includes items that were either overlooked or
published after it went to press.
A DEMONSTRATION OF PRIMITIVE ARCHERY FOR THE 2006 KATP FIELD SCHOOL
by Clint Thomas
A recent demonstration of stone-tipped arrows fired from handmade bows—equipment
similar to that used by prehistoric American Indians—showed that
stone projectile points are both effective and durable and that primitive
handmade bows produce adequate killing power. While heat treatment of
stone points may be an important factor in their manufacture, point
size is clearly the most important characteristic overall. Large points
do not have the penetrating power of small points, while medium-sized
points penetrate well and could inflect significant damage to the animal
target.
A PHASE II ARCHEOLOGICAL INVENTORY SURVEY OF APPROXIMATELY 600 ACRES
ALONG HOLLAND CREEK, DICKINSON COUNTY, KANSAS
by Christopher L. Beemer, Kansas State University
Between August 15 and October 20 of 2003, the author conducted a pedestrian
archeological survey on Holland Creek near Abilene in Dickinson County,
Kansas, as part of an independent research project through Kansas State
University. Nineteen previously unrecorded prehistoric sites were identified,
and five previously recorded sites were revisited. Of the 24 sites visited,
1 was recorded as Woodland, 1 as Late Prehistoric, 4 as unknown ceramic,
and 18 as unknown age.
ESTABLISHING ARCHEOLOGY AT THE Kansas Historical Society: ROSCOE
HALL WILMETH, 1957-1960
by Marlin F. Hawley, Wisconsin Historical Society
While archeological pursuits as part of the mission of the Kansas Historical Society (KSHS) extend back into the 1880s, it was not until
1957 that the institution employed a professionally trained archeologist
on its staff. From 1957 to mid-1960 Roscoe Hall Wilmeth, hired as an
assistant museum curator, initiated archeological investigations. During
his three and one-half years at the KSHS, he constructed museum displays
on the archeology and ethnology of Kansas’ Native American societies;
made contact with numerous amateurs and collectors; began an archeological
site inventory; organized old, donated collections; and conducted the
Society’s first professional surveys and excavations, some of
which were funded by the National Park Service. This paper reviews Wilmeth’s
activities at the KSHS using various published and unpublished sources,
the latter including his personal journals and other information supplied
by his widow, Verna Wilmeth, and correspondence and documents at the
KSHS and the Smithsonian Institution.
CERAMIC PERIOD COMPONENTS AT THE CLAUSSEN SITE, 14WB322, WABAUNSEE COUNTY,
KANSAS
by Donna C. Roper, Kansas State University
The 2003 Kansas Archeology Training Program field school directed part
of its effort to Ceramic period components at the Claussen site (14WB322)
in Wabaunsee County. This site lies along Mill Creek in a valley that
has received little systematic archeological attention since J. V. Brower’s
activities over a century ago. The studied components are buried in
a point bar deposit and were recognized by flakes, rock, shell, and
charcoal exposed in the eroding cutbank. As such exposures afford a
very meager glimpse of an occupation, the research design emphasized
testing two occupation areas to determine their size and overall nature.
Only a small amount of material was recovered from the northern of the
two areas. The occupation was during the Early or Middle Ceramic period
and represents a small temporary camp, but little was learned about
it. A larger excavation into the southern area exposed a pair of surface
hearths with associated scatters of chipped stone debitage, pottery,
and mussel shell, plus several tools and some animal bone. This occupation
represents a Middle Ceramic-period short-term encampment. Its closest
material culture similarities are to Smoky Hill phase sites in the Blue
River valley. Rapid burial after the occupation meant that the occupation
surface suffered little adverse effect after abandonment. Thus, the
activity structure and spatial organization are exceptionally clear.
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