Scott McClurg/Journal-World PhotosIt could take years for Brad Logan to completely know what was found on a 625-square-foot plot of ground near Tonganoxie.
When Stranger Creek left its banks last June, it uncovered an American-Indian dwelling that stood on the land 600 to 1,000 years ago.
Now, Logan, senior curator at the Kansas University Museum of Anthropology, and others are sorting through thousands of pieces of pottery, bones, charred wood and stone to learn about a little-known Midwest culture.
The site was discovered by Scott DeMaranville, an artifact collector from Tonganoxie, while he was fishing. Logan declined to give the precise location of the site because of a request by the property owner.
DeMaranville called Logan.
“When I saw what he’d found, my jaw just dropped,” Logan said. “I’d never seen so much pottery in such a small area.”
The dwelling is believed to have belonged to a culture called the Steed-Kisker, which is separate from other known tribes and named for the two property owners where the first site was unearthed. They were hunter-gatherer groups thought to have been the first farmers in Kansas.
About 12 Steed-Kisker sites have been found in Kansas and Missouri since the 1930s. Two others have been discovered in Leavenworth County one at Fort Leavenworth, the other north of Leavenworth in the Salt Creek Valley. The sites haven’t been found in other parts of the country.
The house was probably made from wood posts with clay-covered grass bundles as walls. A small entryway led to the main room, which was circled by beds and had a fireplace in the middle.
A family of six to 10 people probably lived in the house, Logan said. They likely farmed corn, beans, squash and sunflowers.
Logan led a group of amateur and professional archaeologists in a two-week dig at the site in July. They returned for three weekends in October.
Among their discoveries were charred wood posts, an indication that the hut burned to the ground at some point. Logan said the dwelling probably was abandoned and later fell victim to a prairie fire.
Most of the artifacts were found in a pit once used to hold food. When the food began to rot, the Indians would fill it with broken pottery and tools, Logan said.
The property owner, a farmer, and DeMaranville donated the artifacts to the Museum of Anthropology. Now, Logan and other museum volunteers are sorting through them.
Each piece is numbered, indicating where it was found. Broken pottery will be pieced together. Artifacts will be sent for carbon dating, which will determine their age.
“The digging is done, but the analysis is going to take some time,” Logan said.
After the analysis is complete, Logan said he hoped to develop an exhibit explaining the site.
“It cries out to be exhibited,” he said. “There’s such a variety of stuff. There’s a lot of work to be done. The digging is the fun part, but it’s only the beginning.”
Previous digs of the Steed-Kisker people weren’t mapped as precisely as the Tonganoxie site, Logan said, so it could provide the best picture yet of the little-known culture.
“It comes down to trying to reconstruct what these people do,” he said.
Scott McClurg/Journal-World PhotosIt could take years for Brad Logan to completely know what was found on a 625-square-foot plot of ground near Tonganoxie.
When Stranger Creek left its banks last June, it uncovered an American-Indian dwelling that stood on the land 600 to 1,000 years ago.
Now, Logan, senior curator at the Kansas University Museum of Anthropology, and others are sorting through thousands of pieces of pottery, bones, charred wood and stone to learn about a little-known Midwest culture.
The site was discovered by Scott DeMaranville, an artifact collector from Tonganoxie, while he was fishing. Logan declined to give the precise location of the site because of a request by the property owner.
DeMaranville called Logan.
“When I saw what he’d found, my jaw just dropped,” Logan said. “I’d never seen so much pottery in such a small area.”
The dwelling is believed to have belonged to a culture called the Steed-Kisker, which is separate from other known tribes and named for the two property owners where the first site was unearthed. They were hunter-gatherer groups thought to have been the first farmers in Kansas.
About 12 Steed-Kisker sites have been found in Kansas and Missouri since the 1930s. Two others have been discovered in Leavenworth County one at Fort Leavenworth, the other north of Leavenworth in the Salt Creek Valley. The sites haven’t been found in other parts of the country.
The house was probably made from wood posts with clay-covered grass bundles as walls. A small entryway led to the main room, which was circled by beds and had a fireplace in the middle.
A family of six to 10 people probably lived in the house, Logan said. They likely farmed corn, beans, squash and sunflowers.
Logan led a group of amateur and professional archaeologists in a two-week dig at the site in July. They returned for three weekends in October.
Among their discoveries were charred wood posts, an indication that the hut burned to the ground at some point. Logan said the dwelling probably was abandoned and later fell victim to a prairie fire.
Most of the artifacts were found in a pit once used to hold food. When the food began to rot, the Indians would fill it with broken pottery and tools, Logan said.
The property owner, a farmer, and DeMaranville donated the artifacts to the Museum of Anthropology. Now, Logan and other museum volunteers are sorting through them.
Each piece is numbered, indicating where it was found. Broken pottery will be pieced together. Artifacts will be sent for carbon dating, which will determine their age.
“The digging is done, but the analysis is going to take some time,” Logan said.
After the analysis is complete, Logan said he hoped to develop an exhibit explaining the site.
“It cries out to be exhibited,” he said. “There’s such a variety of stuff. There’s a lot of work to be done. The digging is the fun part, but it’s only the beginning.”
Previous digs of the Steed-Kisker people weren’t mapped as precisely as the Tonganoxie site, Logan said, so it could provide the best picture yet of the little-known culture.
“It comes down to trying to reconstruct what these people do,” he said.
Scott McClurg/Journal-World PhotosIt could take years for Brad Logan to completely know what was found on a 625-square-foot plot of ground near Tonganoxie.
When Stranger Creek left its banks last June, it uncovered an American-Indian dwelling that stood on the land 600 to 1,000 years ago.
Now, Logan, senior curator at the Kansas University Museum of Anthropology, and others are sorting through thousands of pieces of pottery, bones, charred wood and stone to learn about a little-known Midwest culture.
The site was discovered by Scott DeMaranville, an artifact collector from Tonganoxie, while he was fishing. Logan declined to give the precise location of the site because of a request by the property owner.
DeMaranville called Logan.
“When I saw what he’d found, my jaw just dropped,” Logan said. “I’d never seen so much pottery in such a small area.”
The dwelling is believed to have belonged to a culture called the Steed-Kisker, which is separate from other known tribes and named for the two property owners where the first site was unearthed. They were hunter-gatherer groups thought to have been the first farmers in Kansas.
About 12 Steed-Kisker sites have been found in Kansas and Missouri since the 1930s. Two others have been discovered in Leavenworth County one at Fort Leavenworth, the other north of Leavenworth in the Salt Creek Valley. The sites haven’t been found in other parts of the country.
The house was probably made from wood posts with clay-covered grass bundles as walls. A small entryway led to the main room, which was circled by beds and had a fireplace in the middle.
A family of six to 10 people probably lived in the house, Logan said. They likely farmed corn, beans, squash and sunflowers.
Logan led a group of amateur and professional archaeologists in a two-week dig at the site in July. They returned for three weekends in October.
Among their discoveries were charred wood posts, an indication that the hut burned to the ground at some point. Logan said the dwelling probably was abandoned and later fell victim to a prairie fire.
Most of the artifacts were found in a pit once used to hold food. When the food began to rot, the Indians would fill it with broken pottery and tools, Logan said.
The property owner, a farmer, and DeMaranville donated the artifacts to the Museum of Anthropology. Now, Logan and other museum volunteers are sorting through them.
Each piece is numbered, indicating where it was found. Broken pottery will be pieced together. Artifacts will be sent for carbon dating, which will determine their age.
“The digging is done, but the analysis is going to take some time,” Logan said.
After the analysis is complete, Logan said he hoped to develop an exhibit explaining the site.
“It cries out to be exhibited,” he said. “There’s such a variety of stuff. There’s a lot of work to be done. The digging is the fun part, but it’s only the beginning.”
Previous digs of the Steed-Kisker people weren’t mapped as precisely as the Tonganoxie site, Logan said, so it could provide the best picture yet of the little-known culture.
“It comes down to trying to reconstruct what these people do,” he said.
Scott McClurg/Journal-World PhotosIt could take years for Brad Logan to completely know what was found on a 625-square-foot plot of ground near Tonganoxie.
When Stranger Creek left its banks last June, it uncovered an American-Indian dwelling that stood on the land 600 to 1,000 years ago.
Now, Logan, senior curator at the Kansas University Museum of Anthropology, and others are sorting through thousands of pieces of pottery, bones, charred wood and stone to learn about a little-known Midwest culture.
The site was discovered by Scott DeMaranville, an artifact collector from Tonganoxie, while he was fishing. Logan declined to give the precise location of the site because of a request by the property owner.
DeMaranville called Logan.
“When I saw what he’d found, my jaw just dropped,” Logan said. “I’d never seen so much pottery in such a small area.”
The dwelling is believed to have belonged to a culture called the Steed-Kisker, which is separate from other known tribes and named for the two property owners where the first site was unearthed. They were hunter-gatherer groups thought to have been the first farmers in Kansas.
About 12 Steed-Kisker sites have been found in Kansas and Missouri since the 1930s. Two others have been discovered in Leavenworth County one at Fort Leavenworth, the other north of Leavenworth in the Salt Creek Valley. The sites haven’t been found in other parts of the country.
The house was probably made from wood posts with clay-covered grass bundles as walls. A small entryway led to the main room, which was circled by beds and had a fireplace in the middle.
A family of six to 10 people probably lived in the house, Logan said. They likely farmed corn, beans, squash and sunflowers.
Logan led a group of amateur and professional archaeologists in a two-week dig at the site in July. They returned for three weekends in October.
Among their discoveries were charred wood posts, an indication that the hut burned to the ground at some point. Logan said the dwelling probably was abandoned and later fell victim to a prairie fire.
Most of the artifacts were found in a pit once used to hold food. When the food began to rot, the Indians would fill it with broken pottery and tools, Logan said.
The property owner, a farmer, and DeMaranville donated the artifacts to the Museum of Anthropology. Now, Logan and other museum volunteers are sorting through them.
Each piece is numbered, indicating where it was found. Broken pottery will be pieced together. Artifacts will be sent for carbon dating, which will determine their age.
“The digging is done, but the analysis is going to take some time,” Logan said.
After the analysis is complete, Logan said he hoped to develop an exhibit explaining the site.
“It cries out to be exhibited,” he said. “There’s such a variety of stuff. There’s a lot of work to be done. The digging is the fun part, but it’s only the beginning.”
Previous digs of the Steed-Kisker people weren’t mapped as precisely as the Tonganoxie site, Logan said, so it could provide the best picture yet of the little-known culture.
“It comes down to trying to reconstruct what these people do,” he said.
