KU News Release

June 13, 2008
Contact: Mary Adair, Archaeology Research Center

KU field anthropology students seek new clues to early Pawnee Indian village life

LAWRENCE — Fifteen University of Kansas students have spent the first two weeks of June at a Pawnee Indian village site in north-central Kansas searching for new clues to daily life in the Great Plains in the 1700s and 1800s.

The KU students joined 21st century tribal members from Pawnee, Okla., to work at the Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site in Republic County near the Kansas-Nebraska border. They are assisting researchers from KU, Kansas State University and the Kansas State Historical Society who hope to pinpoint more precisely the dates the Pawnee occupied the site.

The site is on the bluffs of the Republican River and represents the remains of the Republic band of the historic Pawnee, who occupied the river valley from approximately 1777 to 1831.

The students are enrolled in KU’s anthropology field school offered every other year. Later this month and in July, they will work at a PaleoIndian site in western Kansas and a site of the Hopewell culture that existed from 500 B.C. to 700 A.D. in the Ohio River Valley.

The KU field school students work with the Kansas Archaeology Training Program, which is offered collaboratively each year by the Kansas State Historical Society and the Kansas Anthropological Association.

The field school is under the direction of Jack Hofman, associate professor of anthropology; Mary Adair, associate curator of KU’s Archaeology Research Center at Spooner Hall; and Donna C. Roper, a Kansas State University faculty member. They are co-principal investigators of a state historical society grant to analyze existing collections from the site, prepare a report on the collection and plan the excavation work being conducted this summer.

Previous research on the site has uncovered nine earth lodges as well as pit features. The site includes an interpretative center constructed over the site of one excavated lodge depressions in which post holes and hearth ashes are visible.

“A large hearth was often placed in the center of the lodge, around which various activities would occur. The extensively burned soil remaining in the hearth will be used to provide a more precise date of occupation through an analysis called archaeomagnetic dating,” said Adair.

This past week, thunderstorms and heavy rains in the region slowed the progress of the students’ work that has included excavating in the center of the earth lodge.

Soil is excavated by trowels and transported to a water-screening station where the students process the soil through a series of nested mesh screens to recover the smallest of artifacts such as trade beads. Since arriving, they have recovered about 40 beads.

“These beads are good indicators of the time Pawnee occupied the site,” Adair said.

In previous excavations, other trade items have been recovered, including fragments of French flint lock rifles, metal likely used for kettles or knives, horse bones and possibly remains of new foods introduced to the region.

KU has had a long-standing interest in the site. The late Carlyle Smith, KU anthropologist, and Ricky Roberts, a 1978 KU graduate student, both contributed significantly to research at the site.

The KU field school includes 14 KU students and a University of Iowa student who is enrolled at KU this summer. They are listed below by hometown, level in school, major, parents names’ and previous schools attended.

ATCHISON COUNTY
From Atchison 66002
Brendon Patrick Asher, field school graduate teaching assistant, master’s student in anthropology, son of James Asher and Maureen Asher; bachelor’s degree in anthropology from KU, 2006; Maur Hill-Mount Academy.

DOUGLAS COUNTY
From Lawrence 66044
Alison M. Hadley, field school graduate teaching assistant, doctoral student in anthropology; master’s degree from the University of Kentucky, 2007; bachelor’s degree from University of Southern Alabama, 2003.

HARVEY COUNTY
From Newton 67114
Les Hardin, junior in anthropology and biology, daughter of Lori Hardin; McPherson High School.

Teresa Ann Royston, senior in anthropology, daughter of Pam Royston; Newton High School.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Overland Park 66221
Caitlin Amanda Curry, senior in anthropology, daughter of Max and Janet Curry; Blue Valley High School.

From Prairie Village 66208
Brendan Francis Corazzin, senior in anthropology and environmental studies, son of Janette Luehring; Bishop Miege High School.

LABETTE COUNTY
From Parsons 67357
John R. Miller, master’s student in anthropology and museum studies; bachelor’s degree from St. Marys University, San Antonio, Texas, 2004.

McPHERSON COUNTY
From Canton 67428
Wesley Gibson, sophomore in anthropology, son of James and Katherine Gibson.

RILEY COUNTY
From Manhattan 66502
Jeffrey Thomas Ryan, junior in anthropology, son of Connie Ryan; Manhattan High School.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY
From Kansas City 66109
Jordan Jennings, senior in anthropology, son of Everett and Marcia Jennings; Bishop Miege High School.

ILLINOIS
From Libertyville 60048
Alex Norton, junior in anthropology and biology, daughter of Dennis Norton; Libertyville High School.

MINNESOTA
From Mora 55051
MaryKathryn Rocheford, graduate student at the University of Iowa; bachelor’s degree from Olympic College, Bremerton, Wash., 2007.

MISSOURI
From Kansas City 64116
James Lee Krpan, master’s student in anthropology; bachelor’s degree from Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C., 2006.

PENNSYLVANIA
From Pittsburgh 15205
Lydia Sue DeHaven, senior in anthropology with a co-major in Russian and East European studies, daughter of Elaine DeHaven; Montour High School, McKees Rocks, Pa.

SOUTH CAROLINA
From Fort Lawn 29714
Pam Boulware, senior in anthropology, daughter of Angelina Boulware; Lewisville High School, Richburg, S.C.

-30-

The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.

kunews@ku.edu | (785) 864-3256 | 1314 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045