Unearthing Kansas History
Studying a rare Indian village
More than a hundred years ago, a landowner set aside a small patch of land in Republic County believing it to be the spot were explorer Zebulon Pike encountered the Pawnee Indians and raised the American flag. Historians have since disproved that story, but the site continues to be significant. The remains of this village are a window into the ancient world of the Pawnee people.
A Pawnee village on the plains
Donna Roper, a research associate professor at Kansas State University, says Pawnee Indian villages such as the one in Republic County are a rare find. Researchers are returning to the site in hopes of unearthing artifacts that will give more clues as to when the site was occupied and how much interaction the native population had with the arriving Europeans.
LIfe in an earth lodge
In the 1960s, state archaeologist Tom Witty began excavating the remains of a burnt earth lodge. The findings are the basis of the Pawnee Indian Museum, which sits right next door to this summer's dig. Site administrator Richard Gould talks about what those findings tell us about the Pawnee Indians.
Pawnee Indian Museum
The first state historic site in Kansas, this museum tells the story of the Pawnee Indians and the village they lived in during the early part of the 1800s. From the excavated floor of an earth lodge to a scared bundle, the exhibits offer a unique look at the people who dominated the Central Plains for hundreds of years. <a href="http://www.kshs.org/places/pawneeindian/">Here's the museum's Web site</a>.
- Thrill of the dig June 20, 2008
Comments
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TopJayhawk (anonymous) says…
No freeway going in there I assume. Seriously, this is very interesting.
Rickyonealku (anonymous) says…
Now you might want to change this title to read "Unearthing Native American History the Pawnee Tribe."
Taxpayer (anonymous) says…
Does anyone reading this remember a Native American cemetery, near I-70, possibly by Salina, that was uncovered and the skeletons were on display in the ground? [I hope that makes sense!] While on the way to Colorado in the late 1970's, signboards advertising an "Indian Cemetery" were posted along I-70. Once admission was paid, I entered a large covered area that had about two dozen skeletons, in their original burial positions, uncovered in the ground. The skeletons appeared to have a shellac or some kind of preservative on them. Does anyone remember where that was and what happened to that burial ground?
countrygirl (anonymous) says…
This looks like the site that is north of US36 near Belleville. My family has stopped at that one and it's very interesting!
RadarC (anonymous) says…
The display of Native American Indians were near Abeline, KS. The bodies were returned for reburial. I do not remember the details.
RedwoodCoast (anonymous) says…
Right on! Kansas needs some greater interest in its archaeology. I've been trying for several years now to garner more interest in the southeast part of the state. I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to be the person who has to do it, since everyone seems to be stuck on the Plains Villagers like the Pawnee and Wichita. Essentially, you can quarter Kansas east-to-west and north-to-south down through Wichita. The majority of the archaeology done in Kansas to date has been done in the northwest quarter. Some has been done in the northeast quarter, but other than Wichita tribe stuff along the Arkansas River, very little has been done on the southern half of the state. Compared to the states surrounding Kansas, the state has seen a pathetically small amount of interest in its human prehistory. I encourage everyone to support these endeavors, since ultimately, it is largely the public who funds the organizations conducting research. People were here for 12,000 years before Europeans arrived, and the only way the stories of those people over that vast period of time will be told is to have more projects like this one. Good job LJWorld for covering it.
droper (anonymous) says…
Yes, this is the site north of US 36 near Belleville. I'm the one who was directing the excavation this month and I can tell you it really has been a fantastic project and too much to say in a short comment.As for the so-called Indian Burial Pit, or Salina Burial Pit, near Salina, it is a cemetery from about the A.D. 1200s. It contains the remains of about 151 individuals. It was excavated during the period 1936 to 1937 and was indeed a tourist attraction from shortly after the excavation began until it was closed at the end of 1989 when the state purchased the land. The remains were reburied in 1990. This too is a long story. I wrote up the history of the place and conducted a detailed analysis of the archaeology (using records and photographs) for the state historical society, finishing it a couple of years ago. Fascinating story.
RedwoodCoast (anonymous) says…
Donna!
droper (anonymous) says…
Actually, its almost the ONLY Republican, or Kitkahahki, Pawnee site to be located on what is now Kansas (there's a small one in the Milford area - and if there are others, they have not been found) . There is a significant question, however, as to whether it was still being occupied in the early 1830s. Our preliminary reading of about three lines of evidence - and I stress this is still preliminary, but it is based on the three lines of evidence - is that the particular lodge we have just been excavating, dates to later decades of the 1700s. Other lodges may have different dates. Few historic details can be attributed to any specific site and site/event correlations are inferences, with varying degrees of confidence. There is a lot of confidence in the inference that Kitkahahki site Pike visited in 1806 really is the one in Webster County, Nebraska. I have a fair amont of confidence in placing Pedro Vial in this site in Kansas in 1793, and the emerging evidence suggests the village probably was occupied at that time. Some think Jedediah Smith was here in 1826, which certainly would be a good late date, but I don't have a lot of confidence in that attribution - in fact, I think the documentary evidence I have seen for that is ambiguous at best (yes, he was at a Kitkahahki village, what I mean is that which one he was at is not certain). We have yet to have dates from archaeology that suggest this village was still occupied this late. As the phrase goes, research continues.
autie (anonymous) says…
max1, your time frame may be off just a bit. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 got the ball rolling..the movement of the five civilized tribes from the deep south to Oklahoma. The Cherokees didn't come to the region until 1838. There was one Osage site gone through in Montgomery county at the site of present Elk City Lake. The Osages moved freely up and down the Neosho and Veridigris basins and were frequent vistors to early settlement groups all over SEK. Osages are even mentioned in "Little House on the Prarie".My grandfather collected boxes and boxes of Osage artifacts, poking around the lake site years before it was built. The old timers knew where the old campsites were along the river.
droper (anonymous) says…
Yeah, saying the village was on the Republican River is not a lot of help and that's why I think its ambiguous as to where Smith was. The sources (primary and secondary) that I have read have Ashley's men, including Smith, in the winter of 1825-6 not going up the Platte from its mouth (as Ashley had done earlier), but diagonally from somewhere on the Kansas, across the Republican, and striking the Platte in the Grand Island area. There was a major north-south Pawnee trail that ran south from Grand Island, through the Hastings area, and on through the Superior, Guide Rock area, to Waconda Spring, etc, and this places it near the Webster County, NE site. That's not evidence, per se, of course, but it would seem likely that Smith et al intersected it at some point. I was working on this part of it when it came time to actually get the excavation going and then do it, and I just got home last evening, but I am going to resume as soon as I can.The name both Pike and Smith gave is the same name, and Cruzat probably had also given that name in 1777 (spelled it different but it would pronounce about the same). Its not impossible that its the same person, but its also not impossible that its actually a title, or that names were passed along.
InspectorJo (anonymous) says…
Wish I were there. It is always a wonderful feeling when you unearth objects from yesteryears. Max1 you are very informative. Thank you for the history. I do believe that our family will be visiting Republic County this summer. Kansans should be very proud of these findings.
traks (anonymous) says…
I am looking for information on what village would be near or on the site of McPherson Kansas. I am also interested in 1850's if any native americans were still living in this area. Were all reloctated or did some remain?