Thirty-four years ago in 1975, the first-ever Kansas Archeology Training Program (KATP) field school was held at Scott State Park in Scott County. Kansas Historical Society staff and Kansas Anthropological Association (KAA) members have decided that 2009 is a great time to go back. The KATP field school, May 30-June 14, 2009, will offer a variety of fieldwork opportunities, including site survey and recordation, as well as test excavations of previously recorded sites in the area.

The archeological survey will include pedestrian survey of areas of the Scott State Park property that are not known to have been subject to formal inspection in the past. Small crews will investigate a number of promising areas in the Ladder Creek valley and along adjacent caprock overlooks, searching for signs of past cultural activity. Sites encountered during the survey will be fully documented and recorded, adding to our understanding of prehistoric and historic period use of the locale.

 

Survey on park property will occur in less frequented areas outside of the main camping and recreation spots adjacent to the lake. However, it is expected that at no time will surveyors be more than about a mile from park roads or adjacent highways. Survey conditions will vary considerably across the area. The valley floor typically consists of relatively dense mixed native grass and brushy patches, where occasionally abundant rodent burrowing provides the best ground surface visibility. Upland settings are comprised of shortgrass prairie and scattered yucca, resulting in generally good surface visibility. The topography between the relatively flat uplands and the valley floor can be particularly challenging to traverse because of loose rock, sloping to occasionally nearly vertical side walls, and widely varying elevations across short distances. Even though survey crews and survey areas will be organized to minimize the challenges of the local terrain, those planning to participate in the pedestrian survey should be aware of potentially adverse landscape, take proper precautions, and schedule their participation accordingly.

While the majority of past archeological investigations have focused on the park property and areas immediately surrounding it, survey outside of the park boundary has been limited. Areas of Ladder Creek, playas in nearby uplands, and other drainages and canyons are generally unknown with regard to the potential for archeological sites and offer opportunities to put what is known of the Scott State Park locality into better perspective. The valley in the vicinity of the lake is unique, and abundant seeps and springs undoubtedly provided a wide variety of useful resources; however, adjacent zones likely were utilized as well, but to what degree is difficult to determine because so little work has been conducted outside the park.

It is expected that several previously recorded sites will be revisited in an attempt to better define site boundaries and ascertain their current conditions. This work will assist in determining which sites offer the best potential for yielding significant information about the region’s past inhabitants. Test excavations will be conducted at promising sites. A number of potential candidates for these small-scale excavations already exist, and decisions on which sites to target will be made in the coming months. Sites associated with the protohistoric/early historic period Plains Apache use of the area offer the opportunity for additional comparisons with the extensive work in the past at Scott County Pueblo and associated Dismal River aspect habitations nearby, but Early and Middle Ceramic period sites are present in the area as well and offer the chance to investigate time periods that by comparison are relatively poorly known.

Culture History

Most of what we know about the pre-settlement use of the area comes from past archeological investigations that focused on the El Cuartelejo pueblo ruins and related early Historic period sites. As a result, we have relatively numerous collections, analyses, and publications pertaining to the Puebloan and Plains Apachean occupation of the area (see Laura Scheiber’s chapter, “The Late Prehistoric on the High Plains of Western Kansas: High Plains Upper Republican and Dismal River,” pages 133-150 in Kansas Archaeology, edited by Hoard and Banks, 2006.) However, the region also has produced evidence of Paleoindian, Late Archaic, Early Ceramic, Middle Ceramic, and more recent Historic period use. While work on sites related to these other time periods has been limited, there are several promising locations that may be revisited during the 2009 KATP field school. Several important archeological sites are discussed briefly below to illustrate the diversity of time periods and site types that are present in the vicinity of Scott State Park.

Norton Bone Bed (14SC6)
This site represents a late Paleoindian (approximately 9,000 years old) bison kill site. The bone bed lies within the confines of an old gully and was exposed initially in the mid-1970s during quarry operations nearby. The site was formally recorded in the early 1990s by the University of Kansas and was studied during the Kansas Archaeological Field School in 1992. The bone bed covered at least 220 square meters at depths of 1 to 3.5 meters. Excavation focused on a small portion of 14SC6 and allowed recovery of more than 1,600 bison bones in addition to chipped stone tools and waste flakes. Dr. Jack L. Hofman published a summary of that work in the January-February 2002 (Volume 24, No. 1) issue of Kansas Preservation.

Young Burial Site (14SC2)
First exposed during road maintenance, 14SC2 was excavated by a crew under the direction of Waldo Wedel in 1939. Five additional burials (three adult females and two children) were investigated. The preservation varied among individuals, but as a group the skeletons were flexed within shallow pits with heads oriented to the east and facing south. Limited numbers of artifacts found in association with the graves included mussel shell, a shell pendant, bone beads, a bone awl, a turtle shell ornament, and chipped stone flakes and occasional tools, including a stemmed projectile point, drill, bifacial knife, and scrapers. The burial site was tentatively attributed to the Early Ceramic/Plains Woodland period. No ceramics were associated with the graves, and it is certainly possible that the site represents a Late Archaic period interment.

Timber Canyon (14SC302)
State Archeologist Tom Witty recorded this site in 1970 during the first of several seasons of work at Scott State Park. The site was investigated during the first KATP field school in 1975 under the direction of John Reynolds. Those excavations identified a campsite, primarily associated with a Middle Ceramic period, western Central Plains tradition component. Pottery was scattered throughout the excavation, and lithic raw materials were predominately Smoky Hill jasper and various quartzites, chalcedony, and chert from local gravels. Chipped stone tools included small triangular arrow points, scrapers, and bifacial knives. Faunal remains were dominated by bison, although pronghorn, turtle, and even fish scales were recovered. No evidence of features, such as hearths, posts, basins, or deep storage pits, was identified. The site may represent the remains of a hunting camp of relatively short duration, although no formal analysis of the recovered material has been conducted to date.

El Cuartelejo/Scott County Pueblo (14SC1)
First investigated by University of Kansas paleontologists Samuel W. Williston and Handel T. Martin in 1897-1898, the pueblo site has been termed “the most frequently investigated archeological site in Kansas.” Excavations by professional archeologists from various institutions have occurred several times over the years, culminating with three field seasons in the 1970s by the Kansas Historical Society. The first two years of the KATP field school were held here, and the involvement of Kansas Anthropological Association members was vital to those investigations.

Puebloan refugees from Spanish oppression fled to the High Plains to live with Kiowa Apache during at least two periods: first a group from Taos pueblo in the mid-seventeenth century and then people from Picuris pueblo in the last decade of the seventeenth century. Based on Puebloan ceramics recovered from the vicinity of the Scott County pueblo, the site is most likely associated with the later Picuris occupation. In both cases Spanish expeditions to El Cuartelejo led to the return of the Puebloan people to the Southwest. See Bob Hoard’s article, “El Cuartelejo—Pueblo on the High Plains” in the Spring 2006 issue (Volume 14, Number 1, pages 6-12) of Kansas Heritage.

Steele Homestead and Camp McGinnis
Other locations of historical interest in the park include the homestead of Herbert and Eliza Steele, who in 1888 homesteaded the land that now encompasses Scott County Park. A large stone monument bears their names and overlooks the stone house that they called home while living along Ladder Creek. The property was acquired by the State of Kansas in 1928, and shortly thereafter a dam was built to create a lake to enhance the park.

In August 1933, a few short years after the park was formally dedicated, torrential rains in the Ladder Creek valley washed out a portion of the dam. The popularity of the lake translated into political action at the highest levels of state government. Governor Alfred Landon immediately called for a company of the recently formed Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” to be allocated for rebuilding the dam and improving the park. Company 731 arrived in October and over the next seven months repaired the dam and made other improvements to the park property. Camp McGinnis, the camp built to house the CCC workers, included both adobe and frame buildings and recently was recorded as an archeological site. The year 2009 marks the 75th anniversary of the dam reconstruction that renewed the viability of Scott State Park, and its CCC association brings historical significance to yet another location at Scott State Park.

Field School Classes and Registration

Through the generosity of USD 466, the beautiful Scott City High School at 712 Main Street in Scott City, a community about 15 miles south of Scott State Park, will be the project headquarters for registration, classes, artifact-processing lab, and some evening programs. Details will be included in the registration packet, which will be available in hard copy and posted on the KHS web site at kshs.org/resource/katpcurrent around March 1. The packet will contain forms for KAA and/or KSHS, Inc. membership; registration, scheduling, and medical information forms; options for lodging, camping, and food; a map of pertinent project locations; a list of recommended equipment; instructions for enrollment in formal classes; details about the KAA certification program; and a schedule of accompanying activities.

Registration forms submitted by May 1 qualify for a participation fee of $20 for KAA and KSHS members and $80 for nonmembers. After May 1, the participation fee increases to $30 for members and $90 for nonmembers.