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A Middle Archaic Burial from East Central Kansas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert J. Hoard
Affiliation:
Kansas State Historical Society, 6425 SW 6th Avenue, Topeka, KS 66615-1099 ([email protected])
William E. Banks
Affiliation:
Kansas State Historical Society, 6425 SW 6th Avenue, Topeka, KS 66615-1099 ([email protected])
Rolfe D. Mandel
Affiliation:
Kansas Geological Survey, 1930 Constant Ave., University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045
Michael Finnegan
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, 204 Waters Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506-4003
Jennifer E. Epperson
Affiliation:
Kansas State Historical Society, 6425 SW 6th Avenue, Topeka, KS 66615-1099 ([email protected])

Abstract

In late 2001, investigators excavated a solitary Middle Archaic burial from the Plains-Prairie border in east-central Kansas. The burial was contained in a dissected colluvial apron at the foot of the valley wall, in a soil horizon that began accumulating around 9000 B.P. Burial goods include deer bone, a drill, and a side-notched projectile point/knife, the morphology of which is consistent with side-notched Middle Archaic points of the North American Central Plains and Midwest. Use-wear analysis shows that the stone tools were used before being placed with the burial and were not manufactured specifically as burial goods. A radiocarbon assay of the deer bone in direct association with the burial yielded a radiocarbon age of 6160 ± 35 B.P. This is one of only a few burials older than 5,000 years in the region. Comparison of this burial to other coeval regional burials shows similarities in burial practices.

Resumen

Resumen

A fines del año 2001 investigadores excavaron un entierro aislado del periodo Arcaico Medio en la frontera Plains-Prairie en el oriente central de Kansas. El entierro se encontró en un corte coluvial al pie de la pared que limita el valle, en un horizonte de suelo que inició su acumulación hace 9000 años. La ofrenda que acompañaba el entierro incluye hueso de venado, un taladro, y una punta de proyectil o cuchillo del tipo ranurado lateral, cuya morfología es consistente con las puntas del Arcaico Medio tipo ranurado lateral de las llanuras de Norteamérica Central y Medio Oeste. Análisis de huellas de uso indican que los instrumentos líticos fueron utilizados antes de haber sido depositados con el entierro, y no fueron manufacturados específicamente para acompañar a éste. Una prueba de radiocarbono del hueso de venado que se encontró en asociación directa con el entierro dio una fecha de 6160 ± 35 A.P. Este es uno de los pocos entierros en la región que tiene más de 5000 años de antigüedad, una comparación entre este entierro y otros entierros equivalentes en la región mostró similitudes en las prácticas de enterramiento.

Type
Reports
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2004

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