VOLUME 52, NUMBER 3
CONTENTS
In Memoriam .............................................................................................................................................................2
Trowel Marks.............................................................................................................................................................5
Spring Dig, 2004 ........................................................................................................................................................5
Welcome to the Society ..............................................................................................................................................7
Book Review...............................................................................................................................................................7
Golden Trowel Award................................................................................................................................................9
The Spring Creek Site (34ML14): A Brief Journey Into Archaeological History ...............................................10
Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center Hosts NPS Workshop................................................................................16
The Arkansas City Country Club Site and Europeans in the Middle Arkansas River Valley ..............................17
Surface Finds on Lake Hudson ..............................................................................................................................29
Robert E. Bell Distinguished Service Award ..........................................................................................................31
Certification Program Plans For The Autumn ......................................................................................................32
FROM THE EDITORS:
We are looking for articles for the 2005 issues of Oklahoma Archeology.
Beginning with the February 2005 volume, we do not have major articles
for the Journal. Deadline for that issue is Dec. 15, 2004.
Also, if you have taken a book for review, we could use your review for
this upcoming year in the journal.
 OKLAHOMA ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 2004
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
1
In Memoriam
A native of Ohio, Virginia married R.E. Bell in 1938,
and both attended the University of New Mexico.
There, she assisted with the excavations at Sandia
Cave, where Dr. Bell served as principal
photographer, and she along with her husband
received training in tree-ring dating from A.E.
Douglass, the originator of that important technique
for dating Southwestern archaeological sites. Later,
she and her husband moved to Chicago where he
attended the University of Chicago, completing his
M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in anthropology. Upon
receiving his doctorate in 1947, Dr. and Mrs. Bell
moved to Norman where he began his 33 year tenure
in the Department of Anthropology at the University
of Oklahoma. Through the 1960s, Dr. and Mrs. Bell
were the foundation of a small anthropology program
that often had only 3 or 4 graduate students and 10 or
12 undergraduates. Those of us in the program in
those years fondly remember Mrs. Bell graciously
hosting monthly meetings of the Anthropology Club
and encouraging us in our class work and career
choices. In 1958 she started teaching French and Latin
at Norman High School and in 1977 she was named
Norman Teacher of the Year. She and Dr. Bell both
retired in 1980 when they were able to travel and visit
friends. Virginia especially loved to visit France and
also enjoyed the Cajun region of Louisiana.
Virginia Bell
1917-2004
Along with Dr. Bell, Virginia brought a sense of quiet
responsibility and respect to the anthropology
program at the university. Moreover, they were
important individuals in welcoming new faculty to the
university and Norman communities, especially as
racial barriers were broken in the 1960s. She is
survived by Dr. Bell of their home, daughter Patricia
and her husband Paul Lindsey, son David and his wife
Kathy, several beloved grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, sister Bertha McCollough, and brother
Don Merz. The family asked that Mrs. Bell be
remembered by memorial contributions to the
Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Washington Ave.,
Montgomery, Alabama 36104.
On July 3, Virginia Bell passed away at her home with
her family close by. Since the late 1960s, when she
was diagnosed with MS, Mrs. Bell maintained an
active productive life as teacher, mother, and
grandmother. Married to Dr. Robert E. Bell for 66
years, she was a stalwart supporter of his founding of
the Oklahoma Anthropological Society. During the
Society’s early years she served as hostess to the
Board of Directors and members attending annual
meetings in Norman, and she was the guiding light
and greeter to Society members coming to assist with
site excavations directed by Dr. Bell in the 1950s
through the early 1960s.
Don G. Wyckoff
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
2
instrumental in salvage work at a number of
threatened villages that would have been destroyed
with no documentation of their existence. Information
on and access to landowners was greatly facilitated by
Austin’s friendships and his acquaintance with what
often seemed like everyone within 20 miles of Pauls
Valley. Just about any archeological research in the
central Washita River valley was aided by Austin’s
help. He did not, however, limit his interest to this
area of the state or nation. Austin read voraciously and
could discuss the latest archeological finds or methods
with insights into how they affected our research and
our knowledge of the past. It was often difficult for
me to keep up to date with the current studies he had
read.
Austin Dennis
1927-2004
Many students benefited from talking to Austin and a
number of dissertations and papers stemmed from his
ideas and influence. Discussions with Austin of
changing adaptations during the last 2,000 years led
directly to my dissertation research on Plains Village
societies. Sites he found and excavations that he
helped organize were a major part of my studies. We
were also constantly looking for new sites that would
provide insights into the changes from the Woodland
period to the Plains Village. Austin also documented a
number of Paleo-Indian finds and kept up with the
debate about when the first people arrived in North
America. His energy and keen eye made him
invaluable during excavations. Even in recent years
when physical work became too much, his
participation did not wane. He was at the 2003 OAS
Fall dig in November discussing the site and helping
me find features and areas to test. He came every day
and provided his comments and humor for the diggers.
Roy Austin Dennis passed away suddenly on April 21.
Austin will be deeply missed by friends and relatives
and his passing is a particular loss for Oklahoma
archeology.
Austin was born near Elmore City and lived in the
Pauls Valley area for much of his life. His interest in
archeology started at an early age and, after joining
the Oklahoma Anthropological Society, he became
active in studying Oklahoma’s past. I had the privilege
of working with Austin for over 25 years in the Pauls
Valley area, and I will miss his insights into Washita
River Valley archeology.
Austin’s interests extended to plants and past plant use
(another topic that he and I often discussed). His
botanical knowledge was extensive. When we began
discovering a variety of seeds and plant parts at our
excavations, he often would find examples of the
plants growing in the Pauls Valley area. His gardening
was famous among students and archeologists who
worked in the area. A stop at Austin’s house during
the growing season meant leaving with a load of
delicious tomatoes, squash and okra.
Austin has long been a primary source of
archeological information to residents of the Pauls
Valley area. Almost everyone who found something
“archaeological” brought it to Austin to find out what
it was. He gave accurate and detailed information to
anyone who asked about Oklahoma prehistory and
informed archeologists of finds in the area. His local
contacts and knowledge were instrumental in many
important discoveries. In the 1970s, Austin organized
the Washita Valley chapter of the Oklahoma
Anthropological Society. His interest led to OAS digs
at the Currie and Paul sites, important Plains Village
and Woodland period sites near Pauls Valley. He was
We have lost a man who loved archeology, and
Oklahoma has lost a significant resource for research
and preservation of archeological sites. I personally
will greatly miss my friend.
Richard Drass
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
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Rain was also active in academics at OU. He served
on graduate committees and worked closely with
many graduate and undergraduate students.
He
provided employment and training for many
archaeology students because of his field work in the
state. This summer he helped set up the OU field
school in northern Oklahoma.
Louis E. McGee
1912-2004
Long-time Lawton OAS member Louis McGee
passed away May 30. Louis McGee had a lifelong
interest in archaeology and natural history. He was a
volunteer at the Museum of the Great Plains and was
credited by the staff there with helping organize and
cross-index records on over 200 archaeological sites
in southwestern Oklahoma.
Mr. McGee grew up in Kiowa County. He earned an
associates degree from Cameron in chemical
engineering. During World War II, he served in
Europe and also served in the Korean War as an
artillery surveyor. He later worked as a civilian
employee at Ft. Sill teaching artillery surveying.
He and Janet, his wife of 60 years who survives him,
published reports and articles in the Oklahoma
Ornithological Society bulletin. He participated in
one project, among others, in the Wichita Wildlife
Refuge to help protect the endangered black-capped
vireo.
Information provided by Ken Bloom
Rain Vehik
1943-2004
Oklahoma archaeology lost a valuable contributor in
July when Dr. Rain Vehik died after a short illness.
Rain was born in Viljandia, Estonia and immigrated to
the US with his parents and two brothers. Rain earned
a B.A. from the University of Arkansas, an M.A. from
Wichita State University and a Ph.D. from the
University of Missouri. His wife, Dr. Susan Vehik,
anthropology professor at OU, survives him.
All of us at the Oklahoma Archeological Survey will
miss Rain. His office was at the west end of the
building and we looked forward to his frequent visits.
His culinary creations, which were both lovely and
delicious, graced many a gathering of friends and
colleagues. He was a soft-spoken man whose
friendship and dry wit we greatly enjoyed. We’ll miss
Rain’s insights into Oklahoma prehistory, sharing our
occasional small triumphs over Photoshop, and
discussing Sooner sports.
Rain was an active member of several professional
organizations. He recently served on the Board of
Directors of the Plains Anthropological Society. He
produced many publications and papers. Of particular
interest in Oklahoma, Rain was involved in research
on the Fourche Maline and early Caddo in
southeastern Oklahoma. At the 2004 Society for
American Archaeology, Rain presented a paper
entitled “Archaic Use of Lithic Resources in the
Ouachita Mountains in Southeast Oklahoma.” He
conducted many surveys and test excavations in
Oklahoma, as well.
Richard and Mary Ann Drass
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
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Trowel Marks
Hardy flint quarries are 10 miles away and another
OAS dig, the Kubik site, is even closer. In the 1700s,
French traders from New Orleans established a trading
relationship with the Wichita in south-central Kansas
and northern Oklahoma. The Wichita traded bison
products for flintlock guns, brass kettles, scissors,
knives, glass beads and other goods. The BrysonPaddock site and a sister village a few miles
downstream, the Deer Creek site, were active trade
centers as witnessed by the amount of 18th century
trade goods at the site. It has been suggested by Dr.
Vehik that the Wichita proper lived at BrysonPaddock while their near kin, the Taovaya, lived at
Deer Creek.
We had our July board meeting at the Survey Dept on
July 24th. The minutes will be posted on the OAS
website (www.okarcheology.org). The Fall Meeting
will be October 23rd in Bartlesville. We will meet for
the Board meeting at 11 a.m. The meeting place in
Bartlesville has not been decided on yet. After the
board meeting, we will have lunch and then go on a
tour of the Woolaroc museum. In the evening we will
have a dinner/meeting where some important issues
concerning archaeology in Oklahoma will be
discussed. Sunday we can meet for lunch, go to
Pawhuska and the two museums there and on out to
the Tallgrass Prairie Reserve. Contact me or check the
OAS website for information on exact meeting places.
The excavation focused on three areas, largely chosen
because of remote sensing results done in August
2003 by ArchaeoPhysics with help from OAS
members.
Bob Brooks says he is planning a fall survey at
Walnut Creek. He also said that he is still willing to
take a group on tour at Spiro this fall, so we need to
see how many would be interested in doing that.
Most OAS members were assigned to areas on a
midden mound near the house of landowner, Terry
Cheek. Early investigators thought these mounds
were house locations; in fact, though, they are mounds
of refuse. The mound where OAS members worked
yielded a couple of glass beads which will be useful in
the effort to more closely date the site occupation, and
native and European artifacts. Kay County chapter
member Mick Sullivan found a beautiful blue cobalt
bead in a level he worked while Nona and Don
Maxwell recovered four Fresno points from one level
of the unit they were working.
The Etruscan Treasures Exhibit--a collection of the
Vatican Museums and the private collections of Italian
Prince Fabrizio Alliata--is at the Mabee-Gerrer
Museum of Art in Shawnee now until October 31. It is
the only showing here in America and should be well
worth the trip to see. The Etruscan civilization was at
its best between 950 and 300 B.C. in the current-day
regions of Tuscany and Umbria in northern Italy. The
exhibit is the finest example of Etruscan gold jewelry,
and even the Italians have not had the opportunity to
view it. The admission for adults is $14, $12 for
seniors, $10 for youth.
The field school students continued working on the
trash mound at the conclusion of the Spring Dig. At
the north end of the mound at Level 4, a dark stain
outlined the top of a rather large, bell-shaped pit. At
the bottom of the pit was a very large metate which
required two people to lift. All the recovered metates
were limestone and carried from some distance to the
site. Rich intends to have some chemical analyses run
on residue from the metate which could provide some
interesting results.
Hope everyone is having a safe and good summer.
Kathy Gibbs
President
Spring Dig, 2004
The OAS held its annual Spring Dig at the BrysonPaddock site, an 18th century Wichita-French contact
site, June 5-13, 2004. An OU/OSU field school in
archaeology ran concurrently with the Spring Dig.
Dr. Rich Drass and Dr. Susan Vehik, OU, and Dr.
Stephen Perkins, OSU, supervised the excavations.
OAS members Don and Camilla Heasty were assigned
to the pasture area (known to the field school students
as “Pass-Out Pasture” due to the humidity given off
by the vegetation and the lack of shade). Shortly after
a hearth had been exposed, the Heastys began
excavating what eventually turned into another large
bell-shaped pit. Among items of interest recovered
from this pit is a large section of a pot with attached
handle and rim section.
Bryson-Paddock sits on top of a bluff overlooking the
Arkansas River above Kaw Lake. It’s a beautiful
setting, partly native prairie with a spectacular view
across the valley to the hills in Osage County. The
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
5
Of course, no Spring Dig report would be complete
without a recap of the weather. The Newkirk Mesonet
station reported a little over 2 inches of rain fell
during the Spring Dig. For the month, nearly 5¾
inches fell. Sure seemed like a lot more, didn’t it?
Mary Ann Drass
I would like to thank the OAS volunteers who helped
with the Spring Dig this year. The help provided by
the OAS in excavations such as this one is invaluable
to Oklahoma archaeology. I’d also like to particularly
thank Dave Morgan for making the arrangements and
bringing the OAS equipment to the site and Dale and
Mary McHard for their help as OAS dig coordinators.
Nona and Don Maxwell in a productive square
Thank you, to Bryson-Paddock landowners Rose
Paddock and Terry Cheek. They have been so
hospitable and interested in the archaeological work
on this fascinating site. It’s been a pleasure to get to
know them. Thanks also to Terry, who owns Cowboy
Copies in Stillwater, for providing all the forms for
documenting the excavation this summer. Terry also
arranged the catering from Head Country restaurant in
Ponca City for the field school. Thanks also to
Charlie Morgan at Head Country for delicious meals.
We certainly enjoyed them.
Richard Drass
Charles Surber and Amanda Holmes on the mound
Evelyn Casteel – starting young
Barry Splawn demonstrates his shovel technique
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
6
Welcome to the Society
New Members, 03/16/2004 through 07/31/2004
Ron Savage, Elk City
Fred E. Schneider, Norman
Joel K. Shockley, Cheyenne
Patsy West, Ada
Jason Wickham, OKC
Juris Zarins, Springfield, MO
Mark Green, Blanchard
A.M. Harris, Cushing
John Henry Heidebrecht, Colony
Richard Marlar, Edmond
Rebecca C. Smyth, Austin, TX
John Williams, Pauls Valley
Contributing
Steven R. Brandt, OKC
Rusty Carmichael, McLoud
Jerry Carr, Newalla
William & Erin B. Miller, Guthrie
Todd Alan Richardson, Tulsa
Active
Mark E. Arden, OKC
Styron Douthit, Konawa
John C. Hughes, Norman
Eric W. Just, Jr., OKC
James C. Leonard, Buffalo
Jennifer Moore, Stillwater
Book Review
perfect (non-destructive or polluting) harmony with
his surroundings. Yes, Virginia, Native Americans did
affect their living space and also learned from it as a
matter of necessity, of survival. The editors state it
plainly in the opening paragraph of the introduction:
Biodiversity & Native America
Edited and with an introduction by Paul E. Minnis and
Wayne J. Elisens
Published by the University of Oklahoma Press, 2000
Reviewed by: Seth Hawkins
Native peoples have been neither passive
consumers of nature’s economy nor primtive
rapists of pristine natural environments. Nor
did concern for the world’s biodiversity begin
during the final third of the twentieth century.
Rather, aboriginal peoples have helped shape
environments for untold millennia, and their
accumulated
ecological
expertise
and
experiences with diverse organisms and varied
biotas will be critical for building a sustainable
and just future.
The only claim to having some expertise in this area is
the outright admission that I, without fear of
endangering my manhood, love flowers, especially
wildflowers, and I do proudly claim to possess the
wherewithal to recognize a beautiful flower when I
see it. That love of wildflowers, a love which
developed partly as a result of my wife dragging me
along on her plant taxonomy class wanderings years
ago, has led me down other trails of interest, some of
which are discussed in this work and a "sister"
volume, Ethnobotany, also edited by Paul E. Minnis.
I now realize that the cultural and biological
interaction that took place on this continent is much
more intriguing and complex than I can even fathom.
I no longer pass a landscape without seeing it from a
different perspective, a multi-dimensional view, more
vibrant and panoramic. I also find myself asking
questions about that same landscape that stretches out
before me. I want to know how it came to be, what
part human populations played in its formation, and in
what way have the components of that landscape
changed through the years. This brings me back to
that quasi-mystical term, biodiversity, once again.
Now don't let the title (that's thirteen syllables if you
count the "&”) or the subject matter that lurks
menacingly behind that one intricate concept,
biodiversity, deter you from examining the fascinating
world discussed in the pages of this book, a world that
has just begun to make itself known in recent decades
through the work of many scholars unlocking its
secrets before they are irretrievably lost. These pages
have made me more mindful of a Native America that
was much more complex than the overly popular view
of the environmentally conscious native living in
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
7
north of Mexico. It includes the search for new
pharmaceuticals to improve human health, and the
methods used by researchers to collect data while also
protecting the rights and benefits of those indigenous
and other peoples.
This is what the editors have to say about it in relation
to this work
In this volume, the concept of biodiversity is
applied broadly. It includes issues of biotic
richness and uniqueness, ecological adaptation
and resource management, crop germ plasm
diversity, and agroecology. We emphasize the
roles Native North Americans play and have
played in these matters, and it is not possible to
address these issues without an understanding
of the cultural context of human ecology,
including its historical dimensions and belief
systems.
The following section, Ethnographic Case Studies,
examines the relationship between biodiversity and
the native populations in the Great Basin of western
North America, the Interior Plateau of British
Columbia, and Chihuahua, Mexico. The reader will be
struck by the level of knowledge, and the degree of
intimacy these groups have in regards to the
indigenous plants and animals of their region, and
how these relationships affect land and resource
management and the conservation of native species
Now, does that relieve some of your anxiety? Perhaps
you can get an idea of the readability of this book
from my own experience. Having read the book twice,
I am sure that I will repeatedly visit my favorite
chapters. You might also take solace from the
knowledge that I just barely squeezed (I still bear the
"chafe marks") through basic college botany, not a
pleasant memory. So you can either assume that I
enjoyed reading this work, despite my lack of formal
training, or that I need to "get a life." While not totally
discounting the latter, I lean towards the former, and
for good reason. It was a great read.
The final section, Prehistory and Biodiversity, begins
with a case study from northern New Mexico
concerning human disturbance and its effect on
biodiversity.
It is assumed that pre-contact
populations played an active role in bringing about
changes to their environment and were not merely the
pawns of nature nor super-conservationists. In
addition, the concept of prehistoric topography, the
idea that people had a major role in altering the
physiography of an environment, is introduced. The
next chapter focuses on the different levels of
biodiversity in eastern North America, from genetic
diversity within a species, to species diversity within
an area, and then to ecosystem diversity. Within this
context, the author defines this region as one of the
major centers of agricultural development and
examines a number of indigenous plants and their
domestication, including the diversified farming and
foraging strategies that were used in these processes.
Finally, the concluding chapter of this section and of
the book deals with the nature of human disturbance
and the techniques and methods used by the native
inhabitants of the southeastern region of the United
States to alter and modify their physical environment.
Biodiversity & Native America is divided into three
main sections: Issues and Overviews, Ethnographic
Case Studies, and Prehistory and Biodiversity. In turn,
each section is subdivided into three chapters, each
chapter authored by a specialist in his or her field of
study.
The first section, Issues and Overviews, covers a
swath of topics. It begins with a discussion of the
Sonoran Desert bioregion and deals with the
management and conservation practices of the native
desert peoples, including the Seri and O’odham. The
first chapter delves into the question of Native
Americans as the first ecologists, and the effect of
ecological knowledge on management practices, and
also its effect on the ecology and biodiversity of their
environment, among other issues. The next chapter
takes up the subject of Mexico as a major center of
plant, cultural, and ethnobotanical diversity. As one of
the "megadiversity" countries of the world, the author
believes that we would do well to understand the
relationships between ethnobotanical diversity and the
indigenous peoples of this region. Finally, the last
chapter of this section deals with the
ethnopharmacology of North America, that region
So if you want to go for a trek through the
"wilderness" of Native America and never leave the
controlled environment of your living room, just step
over the line, get out of your comfort zone, take the
plunge, open the cover, and delve into the fascinating
world of this land's varied plant and animal
communities and the impact that human populations
have had on all of those other species that shared their
living-space, while in the process, changing the face
of that land.
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
8
Golden Trowel Award
His photographs of Society digs have become a
valuable part of the archaeological record of these
excavations. Many of his photographs were used in
the OAS Handbook published in 1995.
The Oklahoma Anthropological Society awarded
William Lee Menzie the 2003 Golden Trowel Award
at its April 17 meeting in Norman. The award was
presented to William by former OAS president, Gene
Hellstern. According to the Bylaws, the Golden
Trowel is presented to “the individual outstanding
amateur(s) of the previous year.”
William has served the Society as a board member
and dig committee member. He has presented slide
shows at many digs, chapter meetings and at a state
meeting. Additionally, he developed an educational,
hands-on exhibit for the Stovall Museum where
visitors took part in a simulated dig.
William Menzie has been an active member of the
OAS since 1980. He has participated in almost all
Society field activities since 1988. Notable among
William’s field activities were the Doaksville dig
where he served as crew chief and lab technician and
the Kubik site where he met his wife, Trina! He has
been a crew chief on numerous occasions.
William Menzie is now working as a professional
archaeologist; however, his Golden Trowel Award
was based on his years in the Society as an amateur.
Nominations for the Golden Trowel Award due December 31.
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
9
The Spring Creek Site (34ML14):
A Brief Journey Into Archaeological History
Robert L Brooks, State Archaeologist
Oklahoma Archeological Survey
fauna inhabited the upland and lowland regimes
consistent with that of modern times. However, some
of the species present in prehistoric or early historic
times are not witnessed in this region’s natural setting
today (e.g., bison, elk, antelope, black bear, cougar,
and wolf). Numerous species of birds, reptiles and fish
would also have been available to the residents of the
Spring Creek site in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries.
INTRODUCTION
As the pursuit of an understanding of the
archaeological record progresses and our discipline
matures as a science, some studies have as their focus
“historicism” issues. That is, the history of the site,
significant individuals that worked at a particular site,
or the reasons for the investigations may be as
important as the results of the fieldwork. An example
of this “historicism” in Oklahoma is the Spring Creek
site (34ML14) in McClain County. The Spring Creek
site did not result in the recovery of vast quantities of
material or substantive new knowledge about a
segment of Oklahoma’s prehistory. But, the site does
hold a story (or history) about early archaeological
research around Norman and of some individuals
involved in this work.
SITE HISTORY
Site 34ML14 is listed in the state site files as the
Spring Creek site. However, records from the 1960
investigations refer to it as the Echols site, Echols
being the landowner at the time the work was carried
out. The name in the state files is more perplexing
because there is no clear reference to the adjacent
stream being called Spring Creek. It is not referred to
as Spring Creek on the USGS 7.5 topographic map or
on other maps at this time. Thus, the creek must have
been identified by local residents. Spring Creek first
came to the attention of archaeologists at the
University of Oklahoma in 1960. Buddy Jones, a
graduate student in the Department of Anthropology,
learned from a local resident that a burial with
earspools had been found at the location. This was
reported after the discovery in the 1940s of a number
of Caddoan items such as Spiro Engraved water
bottles, conch shell, and 2-3 sets of earspools found in
burial contexts at the Alcorn site (34ML1), about 24
km (15 miles) downstream on another high terrace
along the Canadian River (Brooks and McKay 2002:
26). A number of burials had also been exposed by
oil field work at the Nagle site (34OK5) in 1953. The
Nagle site was situated on a terrace of the North
Canadian River near the town of Harrah in eastern
Oklahoma County. Remains found included those of
an elite male with cranial deformation and earspools,
presumably from a Spiro phase population (Brues
1957). Thus, the Spring Creek site appeared to
represent one among a series of settlements in central
Oklahoma yielding information on Caddoan
occupation (or influence), occurring at some distance
upstream on the Canadian rivers from the core area of
Arkansas River Caddoan culture in eastern Oklahoma.
Undoubtedly, graduate students saw Spring Creek and
THE SPRING CREEK SITE
The Spring Creek site is located on a high terrace
overlooking the juncture of Spring Creek and the
Canadian River (Figure 1). Although the site is
currently 1.1 km (.7 mile) from the Canadian River,
the river channel could have been closer in prehistoric
times to the high ridge where the site resides. The site
setting is some 10.7 meters (35 feet) above the valley
floor residing on what Burke (1959) defines as a high
terrace. This would have given the residents of the
Spring Creek site ready access to the floodplain biome
as well as protection from all but the most extreme of
flooding episodes. Soils on the ridge are fine sandy
loams of the Minco series. In the floodplain are found
more sandy loam soils of the Gracemont series
(Moebius and Sparwasser 1979).
Study of the Government Land Office plat maps and
records prepared in October 1871 by T. H. Barrett
revealed that the high terrace area where the Spring
Creek site is located was wooded. The valley floor
appears to have been open grasslands. The uplands
were undoubtedly dominated by blackjack oak and
post oak with American elm found along the small
drainages. These woodlands were interspersed with
stands of big and little bluestem, Indian grass, and
switch grass. The open grasslands of the valley floor
were probably dominated by big and little bluestem as
well as cane, greenbriar, and grape. A diversity of
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
10
Figure 1. Topographic setting of the Spring Creek site (34ML14) overlooking the Canadian River.
It appears that virtually all of the squares were
investigated on March 19, 1960, with two individuals
assigned per square. Level forms attest to the squares
only having the first two levels excavated. There are
differing accounts as to the reason for the limited
amount of work. One account has work interrupted
by rain, whereas the other has work being limited by
the sparseness of the recovered material. The latter
explanation is probably more correct. If rain had
interrupted the work, it would be unlikely that all 10
squares would have been at Level 2. Additionally, a
number of the level forms note limited material being
recovered.
other such sites as potential candidates for thesis
research (OU did not yet grant the Ph.D. in
anthropology). Buddy Jones initially visited the
Spring Creek site in March 1960. Jones described
Spring Creek as a Washita River type village planted
in wheat. Material collected from the site in the initial
survey included: 40 plain sherds, 1 cord-marked
sherd, 1 drilled piece of sandstone (a pipe or abrading
stone fragment?), 1 Washita arrowpoint, 2 bifacial
knife fragments, 2 small flakes of obsidian, mussel
shell, and an abundance of bison bone (from March
1960 site form on file at the Archeological Survey).
Shortly after this, Buddy took Don Wyckoff, a new
graduate student, to visit the site. The following
weekend, a crew was organized to undertake limited
investigations at the site. Approximately 20 students
and volunteers took part in the fieldwork. Those
identified on the level forms were: Clarence Wright,
Meredith Sheets, Benny Wallace, John Fry, R. W.
(Bill) Bellamy, Don and Cecil Corbin, Sherman
Lawton, (?) Niklas, Arnold and Wanda Coldiron,
Harold Brighton, Joe Winters, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis
Stiles, W. D. Novelly, T. E. Briggs, M.E. Blanchard,
and one individual whose name defies interpretation.
METHODS AND EXCAVATIONS RESULTS
Investigations consisted of 10 5 x 5 foot squares laid
out in a cruciform design, oriented north-south/eastwest (Figure 2). They were dug by arbitrary six inch
levels and screened through ¼ hardware cloth. As
noted above, there appears to have been marginal
success from the excavations. No features are
recorded on the level record forms and no feature
forms were completed. There is also no discussion of
darkly stained deposits such as that resulting from
midden accumulation.
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
11
site area was excavated and less than 200 artifacts
were recovered. None of the materials recovered were
especially noteworthy, at least within the context of a
site that was reported to have a burial with earspools.
There is also some difficulty in interpreting what was
found as the materials do not have unit level
provenience.
N
Excavations at Spring Creek resulted in the recovery
of 32 sherds (Figure 3a, b). These were uniformly a
smoothed-over, cord-impressed ware tempered with
grit/limestone that averaged 10 mm in thickness.
There was one base from a flat-bottomed pot and one
rim sherd from what was probably a jar. These
ceramics compare well to what Sharrock (1961) and
later Drass (1988) identified as Lindsay Plain.
Although there were no features representative of
structures, 20 fragments of daub with stick, reed, and
grass impressions were recovered during the
fieldwork (Figure 3c). Six arrowpoints or fragments
came from the work (Figure 3d, e). Attributes for
these points are characterized in Table 1.
Figure 2. Grid layout at the Spring Creek Site,
34ML14.
Artifacts recovered from the excavation units were
also quite sparse. This is particularly the case
considering that 250 cubic feet (ca. 7 cubic meters) of
Table 1. Arrowpoints Recovered From the Spring Creek Site.
Style
Material
Length Width/Base Thickness
Washita
Ogallala
broken 12 mm
broken
Washita
Ogallala
15 mm 8 mm
2 mm
Washita
Florence A broken 12 mm
1.5 mm
Fresno
Unid chert 14mm 11 mm
3 mm
Sequoyah? Ogallala
broken broken
broken
Sequoyah? Unid chert broken broken
broken
unifacial drill, whereas the other is a unifacial scraper
(Figure 3f). The expediently used flakes were
difficult to identify as to function because the edge
angles averaged approximately 50ْ , an angle that
could function for cutting or scraping activity.
Seven modified flakes were recovered during the
fieldwork. Five of these represent flakes that were
expediently used leaving step fractures along a lateral
edge of the piece. The remaining two represent tools
that reflect intentional modification. One of these is a
Table 2. Marginally Modified Pieces Found at the Spring Creek Site.
Modification
Material
Worked Edge
Function
Use modified
Chalcedony
8 mm
?
Use modified
Alibates
13 mm
?
Intentional modified
Florence A
34 mm
Unifacial scraper
Use modified
Alibates
17 mm
?
Intentional modified
Alibates
17 mm, 3 mm, 7 mm
Unifacial drill
Use modified
Chalcedony
8 mm
?
Use modified
Red Jasper
4 mm
?
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
12
principal sources of stone that have been transported
some distance are Frisco and Florence A. Frisco chert
occurs throughout the various stages of chipped stone
tool reduction. However, Florence principally occurs
in finished items (such as the points) or in bifacial
thinning/refurbishing flakes. This is consistent with
the pattern observed at other sites along the Canadian
rivers (cf. Drass 1988; Brooks 1988). No obsidian
was found in the excavation units despite obsidian
being collected from the surface.
There were 108 flakes and blocky debris from chipped
stone tool manufacture. These represent the full range
of debris types: initial reduction flakes, primary
reduction flakes, secondary reduction flakes, bifacial
thinning flakes, flake fragments, and blocky
debris/shatter. A diversity of raw material was used in
tool manufacture (Table 3). However, with the
exception of the Florence A and Frisco, the materials
appear to have originated from nearby upland or
alluvial gravel deposits (including the Boone chert
which has a stream-rolled cortex). Thus, the two
Table 3. Distribution of Flaking Debris, 34ML14
Material
Frisco
FlorenceA
Cobbles
Chunks
IRF
PRF
SRF
BRF
FLFGS
TOTAL
3
1
2
6
10
22
Chalcedony
Ogallala
1
1
1
1
2
1
4
6
1
7
12
Alibates
2
2
1
1
1
5
13
Tan &
Red
Jasper
Tecovas
Boone
Unid
Quartzites
Unid
Chert
2
6
1
4
2
5
18
5
5
5
2
2
1
1
7
Total
4
3
1
3
2
3
10
22
24
6
11
5
14
44
108
Key: IRF, Initial Reduction Flakes; PRF, Primary Reduction Flakes; SRF, Secondary Reduction Flakes; BRF,
Bifacial Reduction Flakes; FLFGS, Flake Fragments
presence of an infant bison in the faunal assemblage
attests to the Spring Creek site being occupied at least
during the spring (April) season. An infant whitetailed deer has a greater range to its birth, but probably
falls between March and June. These spring kills may
demonstrate a site utilized for a single season. It is
more likely, however, that 34ML14 was occupied
throughout the year, if it follows the pattern of most
Plains Village settlements in south-central Oklahoma.
Four cobbles or cobble fragments were found at the
site (1 Chalcedony, 1 Ogallala quartzite, and 2
metaquartzite). One worked pebble of hematite was
recovered during the fieldwork. There were also two
mano fragments of sandstone found at the site.
Investigations at Spring Creek yielded a limited
inventory of animal remains. The following species
were represented: cottontail rabbit: left proximal tibia
fragment, right mandible; jackrabbit: neural arch and
central body of a vertebrae; white-tailed deer:
proximal fragment of a metapodial, femoral diaphysis
(infant), left metapodial diaphysis (infant), 3 long
bone fragments (one burned), axis fragment (male?), 2
metapodial fragments (1 burned); bison: right
calcaneous (infant), sesmoid, 5 long bone fragments,
one 2nd phalanx, 2 undifferentiated fragments
(burned); large mammal: 12 unidentified fragments;
box turtle: right femur, 9 carapace fragments (1
burned); and mussel shell: 4 bivalve fragments.
EPILOGUE
In February and March, 2002 the Spring Creek site
was revisited as part of a study of the high bank side
of the Canadian River in Grady and McClain counties
(Brooks and McKay 2002). The revisits revealed that
the site was in pasture, and in some areas oversown
with wheat for cattle grazing. Very few artifacts were
observed on the site surface and none detected in
shovel tests. In fact, returns were so low that we
questioned whether we had the correct location. This
dilemma was further complicated by the presence of
Plains Village material on the high terrace on the
north side of Spring Creek. Further discussions with
local residents as well as Dr. Robert Bell reaffirmed
that the initial area surveyed was the location
investigated some 40 years ago. Examination of the
Spring Creek site in 2002 revealed that much of the
The species represented are comparable to those found
at many Plains Village sites along the Washita and
Canadian rivers, although the sparseness of cultural
deposits at Spring Creek undoubtedly limited the
number of individuals and the diversity of species
found. Even with this limited inventory, some
comments can be made concerning seasonality. The
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
13
Figure 3. Materials recovered from the Spring Creek investigations: a and b, ceramic – Lindsay Plain; c. daub; d,
Washita arrowpoint; e, convex base arrowpoint; f, unifacial scraper.
instigated the work at 34ML14, finished his masters
work in 1968 (on the Kinsloe focus in northeast
Texas) and subsequently moved to Florida where he
took a position with the Archaeology Division,
Department of Archives and History for the State of
Florida. Buddy held this position for many years. He
was active in Florida archaeology and worked closely
with the Florida Anthropological Society, being
honored as the second recipient of the Society’s
Ripley P. Bullen award.
northern and western portions of the site had been
significantly degraded by erosion.
This was
especially true of the northern portion that terminated
at a bench above the creek. The top of the high
terrace retained the A horizon soils but they had been
repeatedly churned
by plowing.
Thus, little
contextual integrity was retained at the site. Materials
collected during the reexamination were: a broken
quartzite hammerstone, one piece of tested Alibates
gravel, one interior reduction flake of Alibates, a
bifacial thinning flake of Frisco chert, and one large
fragment of burned daub.
Sherman Lawton was a well-known figure in the
history of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society. Dr.
Lawton had a life-long interest in the past. While
serving in the drama department at OU and being
involved with movie making and television, he also
served ably as the President of the Society for 14
years until his untimely death in 1971. Sherman
Lawton is probably best known for the countless site
forms in the state files as well as articles in Plains
Anthropologist and the Bulletin of the Oklahoma
Anthropological Society (especially his report on
excavations at Owl Cave and the Duncan-Wilson
From these discussions, it is clear that the cultural
deposits at Spring Creek were not especially
noteworthy and little remains of the site in 2002. The
crew that investigated 34ML14 in 1960 bears closer
examination.
Some of the individuals on this
weekend dig went on to professional careers in
archaeology while others continued their affiliation as
avocational archaeologists. The contributions of these
individuals bear more significance to Oklahoma
archaeology than does the Spring Creek site. Buddy
Jones (later recognized as B. Calvin Jones), who
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
14
the 1970s, the Corbins provided their cabin near Black
Mesa for the Archeological Survey’s use during study
of the state park. Don and his wife subsequently
moved to Kansas. Arnold and Wanda Coldiron were
also deeply involved with the chapter. Business
interests resulted to their moving to Maryland in the
1960s. However, the Coldirons maintained their
interest in Oklahoma archaeology, and in the 1980s,
provided much needed support of Don Wyckoff’s
excavations at the Burnham site. They currently
reside near Cleveland, Ohio.
Rockshelter). Dr. Lawton was a recipient of the
Golden Trowel award in 1966.
Benny Wallace was a graduate student in archaeology
at the time of the Spring Creek excavations but later
changed his focus to ethnology, completing a master’s
thesis on cultural change among the Kickapoo in
1963. From OU, Benny went to the University of
Wisconsin where he gained his doctorate in 1967. He
later joined the faculty at Southern Methodist
specializing in the Philippines. Currently, he teaches
anthropology at SMU, is an Assistant Provost, and the
Director of International Studies.
Meredith Sheets was from Cyril, Oklahoma and
volunteered on numerous projects in the late 1950s
and early 1960s. Mr. Sheets was Secretary-Treasurer
of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society between
1963-1965.
Harold Brighton is one of the mystery people from the
Spring Creek site excavations. A student in the
1950s-1960s, Harold conducted a survey of
archaeological sites in Custer County published in the
Bulletin of the Texas Archaeological and
Paleontological Society (1951, Volume 22) as well as
a survey of Keystone Reservoir. However, little is
known of Mr. Brighton after the work at Spring Creek
in 1960. He apparently moved to Texas.
Lewis and Frances Stiles are long time members of
the Society. Lewis attended OSU where he earned his
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. The Stiles
have lived in Broken Bow for many years where they
have been very active in preservation issues (the
Choctaw chiefs commemorative markers and
preserving the Harris Mill cemetery). Dr. Stiles is
President of the Board of the Oklahoma Historical
Society and has also received the Stanley Draper
Distinguished Service Award from the Oklahoma
Heritage Association. Frances is currently a board
member of the Oklahoma Historical Society and has
beautifully restored their home, the Jefferson Gardner
mansion.
R. W. (Bill) Bellamy was a long-time member of the
Oklahoma Anthropological Society. Bill worked for
many years for the U.S. Postal Service. During the
1980s, he served as Chair of the Dig Committee and
was renowned for his skill in building equipment for
the Society. Bill received the Golden Trowel award
for his contributions to the Society in 1979. Upon
retirement, he moved to Vian, Oklahoma, and is now
deceased.
John Fry was a member of the Central Chapter of the
OAS and Walter Novelly belonged to the Tulsa
Archeological Society. Remaining participants T. E.
Briggs, M. E. Blanchard, and (?) Nicklas have not
been tracked down. They may have been temporary
Society members, students, or local volunteers.
Joe Winters was a resident of Tulsa and a member of
the Tulsa Archaeological Society where he served as
President in 1963. Joe, during the 1960s and 1970s
was also involved with numerous field projects of the
Anthropological Society. He assisted Greg Perino in
his excavations at the Haley Place in southwest
Arkansas in 1967. Mr. Winters also held a Golden
Trowel, receiving the award in 1974.
Some of these individuals are no longer with us.
However, the work at the Spring Creek site and the
many others places where they aided in preserving the
archaeological record remain as their legacy.
Hopefully, archaeological history will look as
favorably on our contributions and efforts in the
future.
A number of individuals assisting at Spring Creek
were from the Ponca City chapter of the Oklahoma
Anthropological Society. Included here are Don and
Cecil Corbin, Clarence Wright, and Arnold and
Wanda Coldiron. Don Corbin and his brother were
very involved in the chapter with Don serving as
President and his wife as Secretary in 1963. During
the 1960s, the Ponca City chapter members roamed
far and wide in their efforts, from the canyons of
Blaine County to Owl Cave in Adair County. Later, in
REFERENCES CITED
Brooks, Robert L.
1988
Excavations at the Manwell Site: A Plains
Village Camp in North-Central Oklahoma. Oklahoma
Anthropological Society Bulletin 37:151-190.
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
15
Brooks, Robert L. and Michael W. McKay
2002
An Archaeological and Historical Study of
the Canadian River Valley in Central Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Archeological Survey, Archeological
Resource Survey Report 46.
Drass, Richard R.
1988
A Reanalysis of the Brewer Site; An Early
Plains Village Settlement in Central Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Anthropological Society Bulletin 37:1-110.
Moebius, Gordon E. and W. A. Sparwasser
1979
Soil Survey of McClain County, Oklahoma.
US Department of Agriculture, Stillwater.
Brues, Alice
1957
Skeletal Material from the Nagle Site.
Oklahoma Anthropological Society Bulletin 5:93-99.
Sharrock, Floyd
1961
The Grant Site of the Washita River Focus.
Oklahoma Anthropological Society Bulletin 9:1-66.
Burke, Jamie Lee III
1959 Sedimentology and Paleohydraulics of the
Terraces of the South Canadian River. Masters
Thesis, University of Oklahoma, Norman.
Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center Hosts NPS Workshop
data collection from experts. At the same time they
were collecting great data for the Spiro Mounds
Archaeological Center. Although learning from all
the instructors, the best time for manager Dennis
Peterson was when he went up in the paraplane with
Dr. Tommy Hailey of Northwestern State University
to see the Spiro Mounds and Fort Coffee area from a
bird’s perspective.
Each year the National Park Service conducts a
workshop
on
non-destructive
investigation
technologies. From May 17-21, the Spiro Mounds
Archaeological Center acted as host for the 2004
workshop. Under the direction of Steven L. DeVore
of the Midwest Archeological Center in Lincoln,
fifteen instructors and fifty-nine participants from the
U.S., Europe and Australia as well as a number of
Native American tribes came out to learn about the
latest methods of mapping archaeological sites and
looking into the ground without disturbing the soil.
Some of the data and interpretation of the study have
been sent to the Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center
and when all the analysis is complete, there will be a
report. This type of non-destructive work will help
the staff of the Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center
better understand the site and help in interpretation
when new exhibits are finished. Watch for more
information on the results of testing in the future.
Technologies including ground penetrating radar,
resistivity
and
conductivity
meters,
flux
magnetometers, aerial photography by paraplane,
thermal
photography,
downhole
magnetic
susceptibility,
even
metal
detectors
were
demonstrated. The workshop investigated nearly 46
grids of 20 x 20 m. Seven grids looked at the same
areas in the Plaza that had proton magnetometer work
done in the summer of 1981. The undisturbed House
Mound #6, which had been looked at by NARA
investigators in 1993, was investigated in 1½ grids.
Eleven grids were placed south of Brown Mound
between House Mound #4 and House Mound #5. The
last 23 grids were in the bottoms between Craig and
Brown Mounds. There was also a 3-D laser survey of
the Brown Mound undertaken by CAST at the
University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
If you have questions or would like to come out for
the Equinox or Solstice tours of the site, contact
Dennis Peterson at 918-962-2062, email at
[email protected] or on www.myspiro.com. The
Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center is administered
by the Oklahoma Historical Society and is the only
prehistoric Native American archaeological site in
Oklahoma open to the public. The Center is located 3
miles east of Spiro, Oklahoma on Highway 9/271 and
4 miles north on Lock and Dam Road. The Center is
open Wednesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. until 5
p.m. and Sunday from noon until 5 p.m. It is
otherwise closed on State Holidays.
This was the first of the NPS workshops in the central
U. S. and was the best attended to date. Participants
got a lot of technical information on what the
technologies could do and which were appropriate in
what situations. Participants were able to get hands
on with the equipment and learn the tricks to good
Dennis A. Peterson, Historic Property Manager
Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center
18154 1st Street
Spiro, OK 74959
918-962-2062
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
16
The Arkansas City Country Club Site and Europeans in the Middle
Arkansas River Valley
Marlin F. Hawley
By the time of the 1916 dig, the locality already had
been known for many years for its mounds and the
artifacts recovered from them (Hawley 2003). The
number of mounds given varied but the number was
usually put at 10 to 15; many low mounds, however,
doubtless went unnoticed. Excavations into several of
the mounds in 1896-7 are alleged to have yielded
pieces of a flintlock but the report remains
unsubstantiated (see Hawley 2003). The site was one
of three tested by a Smithsonian Institution, U.S.
National Museum field party under the direction of
Waldo R. Wedel in August 1940. At the site for only a
few days, Wedel, like those before him, focused on
the mounds, excavating one and finding beneath it
three, trash-filled pits and a shallow basin. From these,
the expedition recovered fragmentary human remains,
chipped stone, and pottery, including a painted body
sherd from the eastern Pueblos cross-dated from A.D.
1525 to 1650 (Wedel 1959).
Introduction
In 1916, a mound on the Arkansas City Country Club
(14CO3) site, located in the lower Walnut River
valley, Cowley County, south central Kansas was
leveled and four pits found beneath the mound were
excavated. The excavation yielded a partial human
skeleton and numerous other artifacts including
gunflints and metal items. These items were removed
to the Museum of Natural History at the University of
Kansas and are now curated by the Museum of
Anthropology. Most of the contact items were lost
subsequent to being cataloged but one gunflint is still
extant. While a few contact artifacts were found
during excavations in the 1990s, the gunflint is the
only one so far reported from the substantial group of
sites clustered in the valley and on the adjacent bluffs,
this despite extensive investigations in the sites over
the past 70 years (e.g., Wedel 1959; Keller 1961;
Thoms and Hill 1979; Rohn et al. 1982; Thies
1991a,b; Wulfkuhle 1993; Hawley and Haury 1994;
Rohn 1994; Stein, compiler, 2004). The sites are
attributed to the ancestors of the Wichita peoples
(Wedel 1959). This paper presents an analysis of the
remaining gunflint and discusses implications of the
presence of it and the other contact materials at the
site.
The Country Club site, along with the Elliott (14CO2)
and Larcom-Haggard (14CO1) sites, was key in the
formulation of the Lower Walnut focus of the Great
Bend aspect (Wedel 1959). (Lower Walnut focus and
the Great Bend aspect systematics are currently being
revised [e.g., Stein, compiler, 2004; Blakeslee and
Hawley 2004].) The Lower Walnut focus was
inferentially linked to the pre- and protohistoric
Wichita (Wedel 1959) or, more specifically, the
Wichita proper (Wedel 1981; Vehik 1992). The
aggregate of sites is herein referred to collectively as
the Lower Walnut settlement. A series of radiometric
assays generated from investigations in the 1990s
bracket the occupation of the Lower Walnut
settlement from about A.D. 1350 to 1720. Rather than
discrete sites, it now appears that there were an
overlapping series of occupations that shifted from
year to year, decade to decade over the course of
several centuries (Stein, compiler, 2004).
The Arkansas City Country Club Site
The Arkansas City Country Club site is part of a
prominent cluster of sites in the lower Walnut River
valley, about two miles above its confluence with the
Arkansas River (see Wedel 1959) (Figure 1). The site
lies on the bluffs overlooking the river. Topographic
relief, controlled by the underlying Lower Permian
age limestone and shale, varies by as much as 100
feet. Drainage is via direct surface run-off and
groundwater seepage into cracks and fissures in the
bedrock, the water exiting in the form of at least two
sizeable springs to the north and along its western
edge (at the location of the Hall Farm petroglyph site
[14CO4], for instance). In physiographic terms, the
site is located on the western edge of the Flint Hills
Uplands (referred to as the Osage Hills in Oklahoma),
though the sites on the valley floor lie within the Great
Bend Lowland division of the Arkansas River
Lowlands physiographic province.
The Excavation
In November 1916, several Arkansas City residents,
Albert F. “Bert” Moore, Arthur Parker, J.H. and C.
Smitherman (husband and wife), excavated a mound
at the site (see Figure 2). According to Moore
(1940:3; Wedel 1959:355; see also Remsburg 1917),
the mound was “on the present Country Club
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
17
Figure 1. The Lower Walnut settlement including the Country Club (14CO3) site in relation to the Deer Creek
and Bryson-Paddock sites.
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
18
Figure 2. The 1916 excavation in progress. Photo by Bert Moore. Courtesy of the Kansas State Historical Society.
telegraphed to K.U. Lawrence, Kansas, which
brought two K.U. students, Jack Sterling and
Harry Martin on the scene; they completed the
excavation and removed the skeleton to the
K.U. Museum.
buildings location.” The site was then part of a farm
owned by Thomas J. Phillips, a local mail carrier.
Moore (1940:3) described the work some years later
in an unpublished manuscript:
In 1916 four persons including myself, ignorant
of the work we were undertaking, with equal
curiosity and a desire to obtain a pot, got
permission from the owner of the land to
excavate a small mound about two feet high by
twenty five feet in diameter; with a team, plow
and scrape we leveled it to the surface of the
surrounding grounds; thus far we had two
flaked axes, two perfect spades of buffalo
shoulder blades, some flint chips and many
pieces of broken pots, which a trained
archeologist probably could have restored, four
distinct circles appeared on the ground surface
each about four or five feet in diameter. In the
fourth between one and two feet below the
surface we found a very compact and hard
dome shaped ash bed, after removing the top of
the dome, within about one foot deeper we
found a human skull. As this was not what we
were looking for, and none of our party wanted
it, we covered it over with loose soil and
Harry Martin, the son of paleontologist Handel T.
Martin (excavator of the Twelve Mile Creek PaleoIndian site), worked as a museum preparator in the
Museum of Natural History on the campus of the
University of Kansas. John Sterling seems to have had
an interest in archaeology, though he went on to
become a medical doctor, practicing for many years in
St. Louis, Missouri. The unique and important aspect
of this work is that it left a tangible evidence of
contact artifacts; that is, a gunflint and a catalog
record of those artifacts.
Upon arrival, Martin and Sterling, wrote Moore
(1940):
…carefully cleaned the pit to rock, where a
stone slab had been loosened and stood on end
against the south bank of the pit; against this
slab the skeleton reclined facing north, the face
turned to the left with the right arm across the
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
19
purposes (Mary Adair, personal communication,
2003).
face…. Found in this pit in addition to the
skeleton were part of a stone mortar, a tortoise
shell, a bone marrow point and a lump of salt
about the size of a small hen egg.
The catalogued collection of artifacts (referred to in
the museum’s old ledgers as the Sterling-Martin
Collection, donated by Bert Moore) contained 49
artifacts. These included fragments of one or more
grinding troughs, five plain potsherds, a “tomahawk”
of bluish brown stone, knives, scrapers, and other
large bifaces (referred to in the old catalog record as
“agricultural implements”). There were also three clay
pipe bowls, a piece of rusted iron, a piece of metal
“turned green in color,” two gunflints, and a small
brass cone (the original notation reads “2” but this has
been crossed out). A later annotation identifies the
green piece of metal as a “trigger guard.” I believe
Albert C. Spaulding, at the Museum of Natural
History, University of Kansas in 1946-7, added this
information to the catalog following his 1946 visit
with Moore (Hawley 1992). It was probably at the
same time that Spaulding copied a portion of Moore’s
notes, which he then placed with the accession file on
the collection. The catalog is silent on the subject of
the tortoise shell or lump of salt mentioned by Moore.
Following the excavation, the site was mapped; nine
mounds were depicted spread over nearly one-half
mile of the bluffs.
The skeletal remains were removed to the Museum of
Natural History at the University of Kansas and were
later transferred to the Museum of Anthropology.
Extant photographs and drawings made of the
skeleton in situ show it to be that of an adult; the torso
appears to lie on its back with the head and legs
rotated to the left. Moore (1940:3) commented that
Martin and Sterling identified the remains as that of a
female and thought they were between 200 and 500
years old. Moore did not say what this estimate was
based upon. The more recent age possibly was
suggested by the contact items. Analysis of the human
remains, conducted in compliance with NAGPRA
nearly 80 years later, indicates that
At least two individuals are represented at this
site. This number is based on the presence of
two right distal ends of the radius. The remains
are in poor to fair condition. Both cranial and
postcranial elements are present. Most of the
cranial bones are in the form of a relatively
complete skull. Sex of the skull is ambiguous
and not enough data were obtainable to estimate
the age of the skull. No pathologies were noted.
The only racial indicator are very worn, but
obviously
shoveled,
incisors
(although
shoveling appears in high frequencies in
American Indians, not all shovels are Indian,
and not all Indians have shovel shaped incisors)
(University of Kansas 1995).
Despite the fact that the catalog records the material as
from a grave, there is no particular reason to assume
that the remains were in anything other than a storage
pit. The gunflints were, according to a notation in the
old museum catalog (by Spaulding?; the note appears
to have been added later), recovered from general
mound fill and not the pit. The other contact items are
listed as associated with the skeleton. However, there
is nothing in the extant documentation to confirm that
any of the materials were found in direct association
with the skeletal remains or if they were simply
intermixed in pit fill overlying or in general proximity
to the remains. Thus, the assemblage cannot be taken
to represent a toolkit, for instance, or a mortuary
offering.
Assuming that the identification of a second right
distal end of a radius is not, in fact, the result of
inadvertent mixing of remains from different
proveniences in the museum later on, the bone would
appear to indicate that other scraps of human remains
were also present in the pit. The possibility of mixing
of remains cannot be discounted, however, as the
remains, christened the “Skeleton of the Arkansas
City Indian,” were exhibited in the museum for an
unknown period beginning in April 1917. Many years
later, presumably after the exhibit had been
dismantled, some elements of the skeleton—not all of
which bore catalog numbers—were used for teaching
The Collection
Unfortunately, over the years many of the artifacts in
the collection have been lost. The remaining materials
are shown in Figure 3 and include a worn and
weathered bison scapula hoe, a broken oval biface
(possibly one of the so-called “agricultural
implements”), a thick, chert hammer, a biface/scraper,
a side or distolateral scraper, and a scraper fragment
(distal end). There are also an edge modified bifacial
thinning flake and three unmodified flakes. All of the
chipped stone artifacts remaining in the collection are
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
20
series of quarries in the southern Flint Hills of Kansas
and Oklahoma (Cooper 1975; Wedel 1959). Florence
A chert dominates the lithic assemblage of the Lower
Walnut settlement.
made of Florence A; some have been thermally
altered but others have not.
Figure 4. The gunflint, dorsal (left) and ventral (right)
views.
Figure 3. The extant portion of the 1916 Country Club
site collection. The gunflint is in the upper right hand
corner.
The overall character of the gunflint conforms closely
to a description of native-made gunflints offered by
Kenmotsu (1990:101) based on a study of gunflints
from the Gilbert (41RA13) and Pearson (41RA5) sites
in northeastern Texas. Kenmotsu observed that it was
evident from her sample that there were two methods
of gunflint manufacture by Native American
populations. In the first instance, “reduction was
initiated by direct percussion to a core, producing a
flake subsequently modified to a sub-rectangular
form.” Pressure flaking was then used along one or
more margins to shape the flint. Ventral and dorsal
surfaces were often left intact. The specimens were
made “from prepared cores struck to remove fairly
small flakes. Bulbs of percussion are usually evident,
and each is plano-convex in form with a roughly
wedge shape.” The second method appears to
characterize more closely the gunflint from the
Country Club site in that she observes that the “other
type of Native American gunflint flake modification is
overall bifacial reduction, often followed by careful
retouch along all four sides” (Kenmotsu 1990:101).
The specimen from the Country Club site was made
from a flake and still retains a partial bulb but has
been bifacially modified. Flake scars do not cover all
of the ventral and dorsal surfaces. Additionally, all of
the margins exhibit fine pressure flaking (Figure 4).
The one extant post-contact item in the 1916
collection is a gunflint (catalog no. 5144/10552). It
measures 21.2 mm heel to edge, has a width of 21.9
mm, and a maximum thickness (at the bulb of
percussion) of 4.2 mm (see Figure 4). At the center,
the specimen has a thickness of 3.2 mm. The gunflint
weighs 2.7 g. In cross section, the specimen is
lenticular. The term’s “heel” and “edge” are common
to the study of European-made gunflints (e.g.,
Hamilton and Emery 1988; Witthoft 1966). Nancy
Kenmotsu (1990; personal communication, 2003)
found, however, that modern users often rejuvenate
edges or reorient gunflints in the cockvise to extend
their use life. As there is evidence that this practice
occurred in the past with French, English and native
made gunflints, as well, the terms are employed here
with the caveat that any edge was a potential working
edge. Use-wear analysis would be needed to
differentiate the working edge(s) from the “heel.” The
most heavily worked edge, that with the bulb of
percussion, is here taken as the working edge and it is
oriented upward in Figure 4. This edge exhibits
beveling and is concave, possibly both indicative of
minor use and retouch.
The gunflint is made of thermally pretreated chert,
which has imparted a deep red to pink hue, as well as
a distinct glossiness to the material. The presence of
inclusions, which I interpret as Fusulina fossils,
characteristic of Florence A chert (Wedel 1959:477;
Haury 1979:24), suggests that it may be made from
this locally obtainable material. There is an extensive
Time did not permit microscopic wear analysis of the
gunflint.
Robert
Birmingham
(personal
communication, 2003) studied an image of the
specimen and based on this indirect, macroscopic
assessment suggests that it was not heavily used, if it
was used at all. Kenmotsu’s (1990:108-113)
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
21
Within the larger set from the 1975 field season at
Bryson-Paddock, the preponderance of gunflints (n=7)
were made of non-local cherts, while the others were
made of Kay County (Florence A) chert (n=2). This
pattern, Hartley and Miller (1977:121) observe,
“would suggest that the inhabitants of the BrysonPaddock site were not themselves making most of
their gunflints. Whether the flints were supplied by the
French from other Indian groups or obtained through
preexisting aboriginal trade networks” remains
unknown. In light of the absence of other tools or
debitage made of similar materials, the hypothesis that
the flints were locally made of non-local materials
was rejected. Sudbury (1976:36), too, commented on
the relatively high frequency of non-local chert used
to manufacture the gunflints at the Deer Creek site. He
speculated that in the absence of French gunflints, the
inhabitants of the site appear to have desired gunflints
made of non-local stone. Only when gunflints were in
short supply did the natives resort to local materials.
Status, as Sudbury (1976) tentatively suggested, may
have been a key factor. In any case, it is interesting
that the now lost Country Club site gunflint is
described in the catalog as made of “bluish drab”
stone, suggesting that it, too, was made of non-local
chert.
application of microscopic use-wear analysis on
modern gunflints found that use typically results in
heavy step fracturing along the upper surface of the
working edge, sometimes blunting the edge. Modern
users of gunflints often rejuvenate flints, retouching
edges and even rotating them and flipping them over.
The Arkansas City Country Club specimen does
exhibit light step fracturing on its edges. While this
may indicate that it saw limited use, it would require a
detailed use-wear study to confirm it.
Gunflints, both native and European-made, and metal
items have been recovered, of course, from surface
and subsurface investigations at the Deer Creek
(34KA3), Bryson-Paddock (34KA5) and Lasley Vore
(34TU65) sites (Drass 2003; Hartley 1975; Hartley
and Miller 1977; Odell 2002, 2003; Sudbury 1976).
The first two sites, located on the Arkansas River
several miles downstream (see Figure 1), are
attributed to Wichita-speaking populations involved in
the processing of bison hides, meat, and other goods
for trade downriver with the French during the first
half of the eighteenth century (Bell 1981; M. Wedel
1981). Sudbury (1976:36) reported 58 native made
gunflints in a detailed study of surface collections
from the Deer Creek site, though he does not provide
metric data. Hartley (1975:54) reported five gunflints
from the initial testing at KA5, two of which were
complete. The range of size is 1.9 cm to 2.2 cm, close
to that of the Country Club site specimen, though the
thickness range for this specimen falls below
Hartley’s (1975:54) range of 0.6 to 0.8 cm.
Subsequent investigations at the site resulted in the
recovery of an additional nine native-made specimens,
the flints described as “relatively well made
rectangular or square bifaces” (Hartley and Miller
1977:121). The size range for this larger sample of
gunflints is 1.7 to 2.7 cm, with variation in thickness
from 0.3 to 0.6 cm. The Country Club site specimen
falls within this range.
The Lasley Vore site yielded only six gunflints, two of
which appear to be made of European flints. The
remaining four “are battered on all edges NativeAmerican style” (Odell 2003:45). Comparison of the
gunflint from the Country Club site with those from
Lasley Vore (Odell 2002:Figure A 5.7) suggests that
the Country Club specimen has been more carefully
shaped.
The one or two rolled metal cones, the trigger guard,
and metal scrap all have analogs in the Deer Creek,
Bryson-Paddock and, farther downstream, the Lasley
Vore (34TU65) site assemblages (Drass 2003; Hartley
1976; Hartley and Miller 1977; Odell 2002, 2002;
Sudbury 1976). The cones, used to ornament clothing,
were crafted either on-site from worn out brass kettles
or, perhaps, elsewhere as exchange items (see Odell
2001). Native Americans were adept at adapting
European goods to other purposes (Brown 1979).
Thus, for example, kettles were cut up for ornaments
and flintlocks, once ammunition could no longer be
secured, were dismantled and the pieces used as
scrapers and hammers.
Of Sudbury’s (1976) sample, 20 were made of Kay
County or Florence A chert; the remaining 38 were
made of 14 different types of non-local but “probably
regional” chert types. Thirteen of the gunflints made
from Florence A showed evidence of use, while in the
latter group, 17 showed similar signs of usage. Hartley
(1975) and Hartley and Miller (1977) report similar
ratios of local to non-local sources of stone for
gunflints. Two of the gunflints in the test excavation
sample were made of Florence A, one of Alibates, and
one of Peoria; the remaining flint could not be
identified to a particular chert type (Hartley 1975:54).
Besides the contact goods, the collection contains (or
contained), there are a few other items of note. There
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
22
conjunction with research for Steen and Littleton
1955) (see Figure 5). Dickerman was an avid
Arkansas City collector who grew up on the Country
Club site and who amassed a sizeable collection from
it. The distribution of elbow pipes at such sites as
Lasley Vore and Neodesha Fort (14WN1), both of
which were occupied by at least 1719, would seem to
suggest they did not come into fashion until sometime
later. There were only six at Lasley Vore (Odell
2002); a small, early twentieth century collection from
Neodesha Fort at the Kansas State Historical Society
contains only one possible fragment (Fred W. Scott,
personal communication, 2003). The contact goods
(though not necessarily the pipes) at Lasley Vore may
have been introduced to the area by La Harpe in 1719
(Odell 2001, 2002), the same year that Dutisné may
have visited Neodesha Fort (Wedel 1982). In contrast,
Dickerman’s collection alone contained at least six, if
not seven (depending on the interpretation of one of
the fragments), with another three possibly of this
style reported from the 1916 dig. If these pipes did not
come into fashion until after about 1720, then the
pipes from the Country Club site may indicate that
there was a post-1720 occupation.
is still extant a large, flake scraper in the 1916
Country Club assemblage (Figure 3) that would
appear to be morphologically similar to Hartley and
Miller’s (1977:26) “Scrapers II” type from the
Bryson-Paddock site. This type is defined by
“Prominent retouching on one lateral edge [and the
distal] end.” The flake scraper from the Country Club
site, made of thermally altered Florence A chert,
retains cortex on its dorsal surface and exhibits edge
modification along the left lateral margin and right
distal edge. In terms of size, it would fit comfortably
within the metric range for these hide scrapers, that is,
3.4 cm to 8.6 cm. However, while suggestive, Wedel
(1959:371, Figure 74) reported “side scrapers,” which
from his accompanying illustration appear similar to
the distolateral scraper from the 1916 excavations.
Small, planoconvex forms were, though, more
abundant, generally by three to one. The exception
was the Country Club site, where the ratio of
planoconvex forms to distolateral types was 1:1
(Wedel 1959:Table 15). More extensive investigations
of sites in the 1990s seem to indicate that distolateral
scrapers generally appear in relatively low frequencies
in the sites of the valley; however, analysis of these
collections is ongoing. Sudbury (1976:126) noted that
the scrapers from Deer Creek were larger than was
typical for the Great Bend sites in central and southcentral Kansas and this is apparent from my own
experiences in directing the excavations in the lower
Walnut River valley in the mid-1990s. This type of
scraper increases in number through time, as these and
other large forms numerically dominate the scraper
assemblages from Bryson-Paddock, Deer Creek and
Lasley Vore (Drass 2003; Hartley 1976; Hartley and
Miller 1977; Odell 2003; Sudbury 1976). As Sudbury
(1976) suggests, the increased involvement by the
Wichita in the fur trade is the likely cause (see
Perttula 1994:82).
The distribution of contact goods in the Lower Walnut
settlement merits comment. In the Caddo area of
Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, prior to
about 1730, trade goods—typically ornamental or
reworked metal items—showed up in mortuary
contexts. Later, more utilitarian goods began to arrive
and have wider distribution on sites. Trade goods
shifted from the ritual sphere to the economic and
secular arena (Perttula 1994:87). In this context, it is
tempting to think that the Country Club site artifacts,
while utilitarian, might be associated with the body
placed or dumped in the storage pit at the site. But as
previously noted, we cannot be sure given the sketchy
nature of the reports on the 1916 dig that the finds
were closely associated. For that matter, trade goods
from Bryson-Paddock, Deer Creek, and Lasley Vore
were found in non-mortuary contexts from the surface
or from middens and feature fill (Drass 2003; Hartley
1976; Hartley and Miller 1977; Odell 2001, 2002;
Sudbury 1976). The extent to which contact goods,
utilitarian or otherwise (recognizing that the
distinction probably lies in the eye of the beholder and
may change over time [Brown 1979]), were controlled
by Wichita (general sense) chiefs and their supporters
remains an open question. Differential access to these
goods potentially accounts for the apparent limited
distribution of them within the Lower Walnut
settlement, e.g., greater frequency of contact items
Interesting, too, in the old museum catalog is the
mention of clay pipes from the site. Wedel (1959:274375) found none of these from his test excavations and
none were recovered from the extensive salvage
excavations of the 1990s, suggesting they were not
commonly used while the sites in the valley were
occupied. Although admittedly speculative, the pipes
may have been similar to the conical, elbow pipes
reported in considerable numbers from the BrysonPaddock and Deer Creek sites (Hartley and Miller
1977; Sudbury 1976). Such pipes were documented in
1953 at the Country Club site by National Park
Service archaeologist Charlie R. Steen in the William
Dickerman Collection during a visit in the area (in
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
23
Figure 5. Conical pipes from the William Dickerman collection, Arkansas City. Photo by Charlie R. Steen.
Courtesy of the Kansas State Historical Society.
Wulfkuhle 1993; Hawley and Haury 1994; Rohn
1994; Stein, compiler, 2004). Despite this work, few
items of European manufacture were recovered. Those
found include three glass beads and a piece of lead,
possibly a mangled fusil ball, from the sites in the
valley (e.g., 14CO501; 14CO331; 14CO385) (see
Hawley 2000; Stein, compiler, 2004); no gunflints,
European or native-made, were found. One of the
beads, a surface find from 14CO331, dates to the mid19th century and undoubtedly post-dates the Wichitaproper occupation of the valley. The other artifacts
were found in feature contexts (Hawley 2000; Stein,
compiler, 2004).
apparently at 14CO3 than in the sites of the valley
floor.
Discussion
The gunflint from the 1916 dig on the Phillips farm is,
to date, the only substantiated find of a gunflint from
the cluster of sites in the lower Walnut River valley.
This fact becomes particularly telling as significant
investigations have been conducted in the sites,
beginning with the U.S. National Museum work in
1940. Evaluative and subsequent large-scale salvage
investigations, involving the excavation of over 400
features (including over 40 features on the Country
Club site, all located down slope a few hundred feet
from the 1916 excavation) and screening or flotation
of feature fill to maximize data recovery, were
conducted in the 1990s (e.g., Thies 1991a,b;
Culture contact between the Lower Walnut settlement
and Europeans may have had considerable
chronological depth. Juan de Oñate probably visited
the Lower Walnut settlement in 1601 (Vehik 1986)
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
24
The historical documentation marshaled by Mildred
Wedel (1981:27) suggests that contact goods could
have entered the middle Arkansas valley in the early
1700s, either directly via the French or from native
peddlers. The French entered into trade with the
Wichita-speaking groups by 1714 (Wedel 1981:34).
Unlike the Spanish, who prohibited the trade of guns,
the French had a decided mercantile orientation and
thus had no qualms about trading them to native
groups. Guns from French sources began to filter into
the Mississippi River valley by about 1700 (Perttula
1994:82; Odell 2001). Even so, the diplomatic-trade
missions of Claude-Charles Dutisné and J.-B. Beńard,
Sieur de la Harpe in 1719 indicate that few items of
European manufacture had yet reached the Wichita
(general sense) of the middle Arkansas River valley
(Wedel 1982:26-27). Dutisné, who may have reached
the twin villages of 14WN1 and 14WN2 on the
Verdigris River in present-day southeastern Kansas,
saw only six fusils in those villages. Because of
proscriptions placed on his activities by the Osage and
Missouris, he was unable to trade more than a few
items with the Wichita he met. La Harpe fared better
and introduced a larger, though still nominal quantity,
of goods into a village near present-day Tulsa (Wedel
1973, 1982; Odell 2001, 2002).
and, although the Spanish were, in that instance, only
in the valley for a few days, sporadic contact
continued. Most often this contact was in the form of
Wichitas traveling to the Spanish settlements of New
Mexico (e.g., Thomas 1935:13; Wedel 1973:157).
Thus, it is possible that the few beads from 14CO501
and 14CO331 could have originated with the Spanish.
Notably, the drawn, blue-green bead from 14CO331 is
identical to beads from the Tobias (14RC9) site in
central Kansas (Wedel 1959:296, Plate 25, 46). The
problem, though, is that the Spanish, Dutch, French,
British and probably the Russians traded similar
beads, manufactured by a few companies, throughout
North America. The lead scrap from 14CO385—
assuming it to be from a fusil ball—and the gunflint
and other gun parts from the Country Club site,
however, suggest that the French were the probable
purveyors of at least these items. However, as the gun
parts have been lost, this attribution remains uncertain.
Wedel (1968a:59) suggests a circa 1700 date for the
terminal occupation of the sites in Rice and possibly
McPherson counties in Kansas. He reasoned on
historical and archaeological grounds that the central
Kansas settlements were, “almost certainly gone from
the great bend region by the time La Harpe, Du Tisne,
and other Frenchmen arrived on the Arkansas in the
second and third decade of the 18th century” (Wedel
1968b:384). By implication, the contact items in these
sites ultimately derive from the Spanish, as is certainly
the case of the chain mail found on many of the sites,
as well as an iron axe from the Tobias site (Wedel
1959:296; Wedel 1975). The sites near Marion on the
Cottonwood River were probably, though not
certainly, occupied until circa 1700. Lees, et al.
(1989:63-64) report an opaque, oval black glass bead
and a rolled brass tube, both from a single cache pit at
the Mem site (14MN328). The bead is unlike any
reported from the Rice and McPherson County sites.
Such goods were hardly ubiquitous in the Marion area
sites, though Rohn and Emerson (1984:177) also
mention a rolled, cupric metal bead. Notably, Wedel
(1959:296) reported similar artifacts from the Tobias
site. As the bead and rolled metal tube reported by
Lees, et al. (1989) were found in association with a
turquoise bead and two obsidian flakes, the materials
may have originated in the Southwest (Lees 1990).
The Neodesha Fort site is said to have yielded contact
goods (i.e., Wedel 1973), but these finds cannot be
substantiated (Weston and Lees 1994). There are no
credible reports of gun parts at any other Great Bend
site in Kansas (Lees 1990).
The flow of European-made goods in the Mississippi
River valley was highly variable, as the Indian trade
was dependent upon “[s]hipping and transportation
problems, wars or disputes between the various
colonial powers … or changes in Indian policies”
(Perttula 1994:76). The quantity and variety of goods
increased during the eighteenth century (Perttula
1994; Wedel 1981). Odell (2001) observes that the
contact items from the Lasley Vore site date from ca.
1719, but that there are indications that the village was
not subsequently reprovisioned. The Deer Creek and
Bryson-Paddock sites upstream apparently were
regularly provisioned, at least by the mid-eighteenth
century. The apparent presence of French hunters
resident at one or both sites in the 1740s and early
1750s (Wedel 1981:44-47) probably facilitated the
exchange of goods into and out of the sites.
Mildred Wedel (1981:32) regarded the BrysonPaddock and Deer Creek sites as paired,
contemporaneously occupied villages, and she
hypothesized that both sites were occupied by
Taovayas from the Verdigris River (a sentiment
echoed by Hartley and Miller [1977:258]). Vehik
(1992:327) partially supports this view; she points to
similarities in chipped stone sources (e.g., Ozark uplift
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
25
In sum, what are we to make of the European-contact
materials from the Country Club site? First, the
artifacts probably, though not definitely, are
attributable to trade with the French. This is not true
for all of the contact artifacts found in the Lower
Walnut settlement, as the possibility that some of the
materials originated with the Spanish cannot be ruled
out. It is noteworthy, though, that gun parts have not
been found in any of the Wichita sites in Kansas
where contact, direct or indirect, with the Spanish is
apparent. If the metal artifacts came from the French,
then their presence would lend support to the
hypothesis of cultural continuity between the Lower
Walnut settlement and nearby Bryson-Paddock and
Deer Creek sites (Hartley and Miller 1977; Sudbury
1976; Vehik 1992). The contact goods from the
Bryson-Paddock site suggest that the site was
occupied from as early as 1700 to about 1740. Thus, it
is probable that the occupations of the Country Club
and Bryson-Paddock sites overlapped in time, perhaps
as the Lower Walnut settlement gradually emptied.
Even then it is possible that small groups lingered or
that dissident factions later resettled a portion of the
site. Possibly, too, the artifacts were left by visiting
hunting or other special purpose parties. The scarcity
of contact goods in the sites of the valley floor (i.e.,
14CO385, 14CO331, and 14CO501) also suggests
that whatever its nature the terminal occupation of the
Lower Walnut settlement was confined largely to the
bluffs. In any final analysis, the variation in
frequencies of contact artifacts between the Kansas
and Oklahoma sites can be attributed to two time
transgressive phenomena: population movement and
the greater or more regular flow of such goods into the
middle Arkansas River valley over time.
chert) and simple stamped pottery to argue for a shift
of Taovaya populations from the Cottonwood RiverMarion, Kansas sites to the Verdigris River and then
to Deer Creek. (The aforementioned Neodesha Fort
site collection contains 59 potsherds, of which 6 are
simple stamped; the remainder have plain exteriors
[Fred W. Scott, personal communication, 2003]).
Vehik (1992:327) proposes, however, that the earlier
Bryson-Paddock site was occupied by the Wichitaproper, the former residents of the Lower Walnut
settlement (Vehik 1992:327). Archaeological data
from the sites suggest that the Bryson-Paddock site
was occupied earlier from ca. 1700 to as late as about
1740, with some indications of subsequent, postWichita occupations (Hartley and Miller 1977:253).
The site had gun parts attributed to earlier types of
flintlocks and, for that matter, apparently contains
fewer contact goods overall than the latter site.
Analysis of surface materials from the Deer Creek site
led Sudbury (1976:13) to conclude that it was
occupied most intensively from about 1735 to as late
as 1760 (but see Hartley and Miller 1977:257).
Sometime around 1740, the occupants of the BrysonPaddock site are thought to have merged with those of
the Deer Creek site. Numerous questions remain,
however, about the occupations of both sites (Drass
2003; Hartley and Miller 1977; Sudbury 1976).
Hartley and Miller (1977:255) concluded from the
analysis of ceramics from Bryson-Paddock that, “the
prevalence of plain shell-tempered pottery from both
the Kansas [Lower Walnut] and Oklahoma [Wichita]
sites would suggest a very close relationship.”
Sudbury (1976:125), too, felt that “the Deer Creek
artifact assemblage is very similar to that of the Lower
Walnut Focus and suggests definite relations.” He
argued that divergence from Lower Walnut traits
could potentially be explained by a coalescence of
Lower Walnut populations with other Wichita groups,
including perhaps from central Kansas (Sudbury
1976:126). The abandonment of the central Kansas
sites began sometime in the late seventeenth century.
Migration is generally ascribed to increased levels of
conflict (e.g., Wedel 1981) but climatic deterioration
has also been posited as a factor (e.g., Wedel 1970).
Eventually, improved trade with the French and
Spanish lured the Wichita (general sense) southward,
even as conflict intensified between them and
neighboring tribes. By the late 1750s Wichita (general
sense) populations had largely moved south to sites on
the Red River (Wedel 1981; Bell 1981).
Acknowledgements
I would like first and foremost to thank Mary J. Adair,
KU Museum of Anthropology, for bringing the
gunflint to my attention and for allowing me to study
it. Rob Fullmer and Patricia Ladwig provided
assistance with the graphics. Robert Birmingham,
formerly state archaeologist with the Wisconsin
Historical Society, and Nancy Kenmotsu, Texas
Department of Transportation both gamely looked at
images of the gunflint and offered observations on it. I
am grateful to Martin Stein for comments on drafts of
this paper and for Figures 2 and 5. Bill Lees and Tim
Perttula read the manuscript and offered comments
and encouraging words. However, in all cases I
cheerfully accept full responsibility for any errors of
fact or judgement found herein.
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
26
Southern Flint Hills of Kansas. Unpublished M.A.
thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of
Kansas, Lawrence.
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1975 A Study of Kay County Chert: Prehistoric
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2003 Salvage Excavations at Bryson-Paddock, A
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Oklahoma Archeological Survey Newsletter 23(2):1-3.
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1990 Gunflints: A Study. Historical Archaeology
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1988 Eighteenth-Century Gunflints from Fort
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2001 The Use of Metal at a Wichita Contact
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1994 History and Status of an Earthwork Known as
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1992
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Surface Finds on Lake Hudson
Charles Surber
Many people in the Lake Hudson area know that after high water levels, artifacts are eroded out of the banks
along the shoreline. Most of the shoreline is owned by property owners. The rest is floodzone within the
jurisdiction of the Grand River Authority. Based on a previous survey of the GRDA Floodzone, I had found a site
with a large amount of lithic debris. Before the lake, the site was on top of a hill next to where Wolf Creek ran
into the Neosho (Grand) River. In May after the high water of April, I returned to the site and found a washed out
midden pit. The first artifact found was a sandstone maul > 8 cm long, 19 cm round, and weighing 430 grams
with a 1 cm groove in the center, one end rounded and the other end flat.
This type of maul would have been used for animal skin processing. Also found were shell-tempered sherds, six
separate rim sherds, one pot handle and 40 sherd fragments from various vessels, and one burned bone fragment.
From all indications the date of this site would fall between A.D. 1200 and 1400. Fifty meters inland is a historic
homestead. In the last ten years I have seen this site go from a peninsula to an island, within ten more years these
sites will be under water and lost forever.
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
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Figure 1. Front and back of sandstone maul.
Figure 2. Rim sherds of shell-tempered pottery from the same site.
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
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Robert E. Bell Distinguished Service Award
the Roulston-Rogers site, 34SM20. His dissertation,
published by the Society as a Memoir, was partially
based on data collected during an OAS Spring Dig at
the Densmore site in Garvin County in 1989.
Don Wyckoff presented the Robert E. Bell
Distinguished Service Award to Richard Drass at the
OAS Spring Meeting in Norman, April 17. According
to the Bylaws of the Society, “The award is presented
to honor an individual who has: (1) rendered
invaluable service to the Society; (2) made important
contributions to the understanding and public
awareness of Oklahoma's past through publication,
teaching and public presentation, and/or; (3)
undertaken significant action to preserve and protect
Oklahoma's cultural resources.”
Richard has worked in Oklahoma archaeology since
1974. During that time, he has directed or helped
direct OAS digs at 34JN28, the Little Deer site, the
Densmore site, the Pratt site and, most recently, the
Bryson-Paddock site.
Additionally, Richard has
taught many certification seminars for the Society and
has edited the Bulletin of the Oklahoma
Anthropological Society and, currently, Oklahoma
Archeology, for the past 9 years.
Richard received a BA in Anthropology from OU in
1973, an MA in 1979 and a PhD in 1995. His
master’s thesis was based on an OAS excavation at
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
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Certification Program Plans For The Autumn
Lois E. Albert
Chair, Certification Council
The schedule for the Archeological Resource Management (S11) seminar has been finalized. It will be on
Saturday, September 25. This is the only Saturday in September on which there will not be an OU home game.
Please enroll as early as possible so that we know how people to expect, and whether the class will “make”. Also,
if you must cancel, please let us know as far in advance as possible.
Other seminars will be scheduled for this fall and winter. However, because we don’t know the dates or places for
the Fall Meeting and the Fall Activity at this time, we can’t make any further plans. More information will be
forthcoming in the next issue of the journal. I will also email those member for whom I have email addresses in
advance. If you want to be added to my notification list, please send me your email address.
ENROLLMENT FORM FOR CERTIFICATION PROGRAM SEMINARS
_____ S11
Archeological Research Design. Time: Saturday, September 25, 9:00 a.m. Place: Oklahoma
Archeological Survey Conference Room. Instructor: Dr. Robert L. Brooks.
_____ S2
General Survey Techniques. Time and place unknown. [Tentative; will be scheduled if the Fall
Activity is a survey.] Please do not send money for this seminar.
Please include $2.00 per seminar as an enrollment fee (make checks payable to OU/Archeological Survey). In
seminars with limited enrollment, preference will be given to members who are in the Certification Program.
Some seminars may have an additional fee for reading or study materials; this is usually a nominal amount.
Indicate: ___ I am a current OAS member.
___ I am enrolled in the Certification Program.
Name: ____________________________________________________________________
Address: ____________________________________________________________________
City/State/Zip: ________________________________________________________________
Telephone: (____) _______________ (W), (____) _______________ (H)
email address:
Send this completed form with your payment (check/money order - make check to OU/Oklahoma
Archeological Survey) to:
Lois Albert, Certification Council Chair
Oklahoma Archeological Survey
The University of Oklahoma
111 E. Chesapeake
Norman OK 73019-5111
Telephone: (405) 325-7207; FAX (405) 325-7604
e-mail: [email protected]
Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 52, No. 3
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