The Claussen Archaeological Site:Prehistory Of The Flint Hills

1986

During several periods from 1984 to 1986, a pedestrian survey of the upper Deep Creek Drainage, in Riley, Geary and Wabaunsee Counties of Kansas, was performed. The project area is in the northern Flint Hills, a few miles south of Manhattan on a tributary to the Kansas River. Because this drainage is a natural unit, small enough to be covered by the limited funding available yet rich in both historic and prehistoric sites, it was particularly well suited to a study of prehistoric human ecology. The survey covered portions of forty-eight sections with a land area equivalent of nearly thirty-seven sections. Two hundred and twenty-nine sites, twenty-one of which contained historic components, were recorded. Two hundred and twenty-one isolated finds were also recorded, and evidence for an "Indian trail" from the early historic period was located. Most of the sites found were directly related to prehistoric quarrying and/or to the trail. Most of the sites were confined to the surface, and very few of the lithics were diagnostic. Therefore, good temporal control for prehistoric sites in this area was difficult.

1987

1990

The Missouri Archaeologist, Vol. 72, 2012

Archaeological excavations were conducted in northeastern Missouri during the summer of 2008 by the University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeology (OSA) for the Rockies Express-East pipeline (REX-East). This article presents the results of fieldwork at 23PI294 (Figure 1). These excavations yielded over 50,000 artifacts spanning thousands of years of prehistory. Occupations during the Early to Middle Archaic, Late Archaic, transitional Late Archaic-Early Woodland, and Middle Woodland periods have been isolated across the southern 1 ha (2.4 acres) of the site. It must be emphasized that only a small area of what was a large prehistoric site and dynamic landform was sampled due to the size of the project right-of-way, but we believe it is essential to make the data and what interpretations can be brought to bear on the Archaic and Woodland periods for northeastern Missouri and the Midwest available to researchers. Analyses of various artifacts and samples recovered from the site contribute to understandings of climate, local food sources, and seasonality of prehistoric occupations. A study of the local geomorphology and landscape history along the Grassy Creek and Salt River terrace complex contributes to our understanding of landscape evolution in the region. Relative and absolute dates indicate that several prehistoric occupations occurred at the site during Archaic and Woodland times. Temporally diagnostic projectile points recovered from the site expand understandings of tool production and use within the Salt River valley of northeastern Missouri. Finally, use-wear analysis of stone tools allows for insights into tool use through time.

Test excavations were conducted at the Farmer’s Bottom site in March 2014. The initial occupation at this site was during the Middle Woodland Cartersville period, 100 B.C. to A.D. 550. A second occupation occurred at the site during the Early Mississippian Etowah period, A.D. 900-1200. Both of these occupations appear to have been minor, at least in the part of the site that was tested. The primary occupation at the site can be assigned to the Late Mississippian Lamar period, A.D. 1450-1650. Three radiocarbon dates overlap in the early sixteenth century (A.D. 1500-1510) and the early seventeenth century (A.D. 1600 and 1615). It is possible that all three dates represent a single occupation and not two. The Lamar pottery from the site does not at this time clearly suggest two separate occupations and appears to be consistent with an early seventeenth century occupation. Several features were encountered, including the likely remains of at least one structure. This is an unusual and significant site and focused excavations can provide important information to allow us to better understand a poorly known time period in a poorly known region.

1996

1986

In the following paper, an attempt is made to form a model to explain the location of late prehistoric sites in the Flint Hills area of the Central Plains. To achieve this, early journals and historic records describing the Native American groups known to have inhabited the area were examined. These were then used to reconstruct known travel routes and occupation sites used by these groups, and to describe the annual seasonal round they followed to gather resources. Archeological reports from the area were then reviewed to find any sites or data that might shed additional light on this pattern. Source areas of raw materials, known to have been important to native peoples, were also located, using ecological references. Finally, cultural factors such as tradition or religious beliefs, which can also significantly affect site location, were examined. These factors vary in importance and are often interdependent. By comparing the geographic locations of occupation sites, travel routes, and raw material source areas to cultural biases, and the seasonal round of native peoples, a model to explain the location of many late prehistoric archeological sites in the area was obtained.

2018

Ethnohistory, 1988

Craft specialization in Cahokia Mississippian society is in vestigated from an evolutionary perspective by examining the distribution of artifacts and raw materials associated with the production of shell beads and other shell craft items at sites assigned to the Fairmount !Lohmann (A .D. 900-1050), Stirling (A.D. 1050-1150), Moorehead (A.D. 1150-1250), and Sand Prairie (A.D. 1250-1400) phases of the Cahokia ceramic chronology. Shell working during the Fairmount / Lohmann phases is characterized as a household specialization. The craft becomes a regional specialization during the Stirling phase. By the Moorehead and Sand Prairie phases, shell craft production is confined to Cahokia and the Mitchell site on the American Bottom, although shell drills are still present at sites in the uplands along Richland Creek. The evolution of shell craft production systems seems to reflect the rise of status differentiation and a ranked society on the American Bottom .