Prehistory of the WNW edge of the Ozarks
MAP
This is an area of approximately 350 sq. mi., and includes all or most of the counties
Jasper, Barton, and Vernon of Missouri, and Cherokee, Crawford, and Bourbon of Kansas,
plus small segments of neighboring counties in Missouri. Drainage is split between the
Neosho River toward the south and west, and the Missouri River toward the north and
east. Most of it is relatively flat, Pennsylvanian Period surface with slow, sluggish
streams. This area is rich in coal, with seams thickening in eastern Kansas from the thin,
clay interspersed seams of western Missouri. Its richness is reinforced seeing the
shovel Big Brutus with its 160 foot height, 11 million pound weight including ballast,
15,000 horsepower peak power usage, and 150 ton heaped dipper capacity near West Mineral,
Kansas. Jasper County, the southeast corner of this section, on the edge of the Ozark
Dome which rose from late Mississippian into early Pennsylvanian times, has Mississippian
Period surface rock with occasional Pennsylvanian caps on the tops of hills. None of the
area has been below sea level since the middle Pennsylvanian so erosion has been
continuous, but the land has gone through a series of levelings and uplifts. For more
information on the geology of the Tri-State area, including its lead and zinc deposits,
see the pages on 94W/36N.
The following is a listing of archaeological site notes for this section beginning at
the southeast corner and ending at the northwest corner.
Neosho River Watershed
Newton County
Shoal Creek
R site - near Reddings Mill, just south of Joplin
Bluff shelter, 27 points, 5 blades, 6 scrapers
Probable occupations from Early Archaic to Middle Archaic, and Late Archaic
to Woodland periods
Ref. - 1
Lawrence Co.
Fluted point
Ref. - 3
Jasper Co.
Saddle faced bannerstone, 2 7/8" x 3 3/4", black and white porphyry
hardstone, polished
Ref. - 4
Folsom fluted point - in Jasper Co. on divide between Spring R./Neosho R. drainage
and Osage R./Missouri R. drainage
Ref. - 3
Ernest J. Palmer, Webb City, d. 1962, built a collection during the first half of the
20th century from throughout Jasper Co. and mainly from open sites on stream
terraces. It was deposited at the University of Missouri and published on in
1963. Those artifacts with a locational referent are listed in their respective
areas. Sites and artifacts noted but without a location ascribed are listed here.
Isolated artifacts - a restorable clay tempered cordmarked vessel, a shell
tempered engraved shard, 2 clay tempered pinched shards, a bone punch,
3 bone awls, 4 eccentrics, 2 bone flaking tools, 2 unfinished points, an
odd shouldered point, a bone point, 2 shaft smoothers, a sandstone disc,
2 chipped stone weights, a sandstone boatstone
Sites
BB - 4 points, 2 scrapers
JC - 2 points
LR - 6 blades, a drill, a knife, 13 points, 6 scrapers
M - a blade, 2 points
Mic - a drill, 2 points, a scraper
OL - 5 points
S - a drill, 15 points
SCr - a point
SC - a point, a scraper
SL - 14 blades, 7 drills, 2 knives, 48 points, 2 limestone tempered tooled
shards, 3 limestone tempered cordmarked shards, 13 scrapers
SR - a blade, a point
SS - 6 blades, 7 points, a scraper
U - 73 blades, 20 drills, 5 knives, 154 points, 60 scrapers, 2 shell tempered
plain shards, 18 limestone tempered tooled shards, 28 limestone tempered
cordmarked shards
Ref. - 1
Grove Creek
GCr (GC) site - northeast of Duenweg on west side of Grove Creek - 14 blades,
9 drills, 28 points, 10 scrapers
Ref. - 1
Turkey Creek
Old Spanish or Indian diggings - at Joplin
Ref. - 5
TCr site - northeast of Joplin on south side of Turkey Creek - 11 blades, 14 points,
1 scraper
Ref. - 1
Center Creek
F site - northwest of Fidelity on north side of Center Creek - a double bitted
chipped stone axe, 46 blades, 13 drills, 3 knives, 129 points, 31 scrapers
Ref. - 1
S30 site - north of Scotland on north side of Center Creek - 3 blades, 4 drills,
9 points, 3 scrapers
Ref. - 1
SM site - south of Smithfield on north side of Center Creek - a double bitted
chipped stone axe, 56 blades, 8 drills, 99 points, 21 scrapers
Ref. - 1
JT site - east of Johnstown on east side of Center Creek - 3 blades, a drill,
10 knives, 47 points, 9 scrapers
Ref. - 1
L site - north of Cartersville on north side of Center Creek - 2 blades, 2 points
Ref. - 1
CS site - northwest of Webb City on south side of Center Creek - a double bitted
chipped stone axe, 44 blades, 22 drills, 5 knives, 142 points, 4 limestone
tempered tooled shards, 3 limestone tempered cordmarked shards, 42 scrapers
Ref. - 1
Oronogo shelter - southeast of Oronogo on north side of Center Creek
Ref. - 1
WW site - southeast of Oronogo on north side of Center Creek - 2 double bitted
chipped stone axes, 18 blades, 3 drills, 4 knives, 96 points, 6 limestone
tempered tooled shards, 4 limestone tempered cordmarked shards, a shell
tempered plain shard, 13 scrapers
Ref. - 1
O site - south of Oronogo on south side of Center Creek - 2 double bitted chipped
stone axes, 7 blades, 6 drills, 23 knives, 44 points, 49 scrapers
Ref. - 1
IB site - between Oronogo & Carl Junction on north side of Center Creek - 5 blades,
a drill, 20 points, 2 scrapers
Ref. - 1
Carl Junction cave (CJC) - between Webb City & Carl Junction on south side of
Center Creek
Ref. - 1
CJ site - south of Carl Junction on north side of Center Creek - 6 blades, a drill,
7 points, 2 scrapers
Ref. - 1
Spring River
Carthage Civil War Museum - display of artifacts found near Carthage - an axe,
a grinding stone, a hoe, a knife, 3 scrapers
Pottery vessel upper half - about 5 miles east of Carthage on Spring R. bank
Ref. - 6
CF site - northeast of Carthage on south side of Spring River - a blade, 7 points,
Ref. - 1
DR site - southeast of Alba on south side of Spring River - 5 points
Ref. - 1
A1 site - south of Alba on south side of Spring River - a drill, 5 points
Ref. - 1
G site - north of Galesburg on north side of Spring River, east of Dry Fork confluence -
61 points, 2 double bitted chipped stone axes, 16 blades, 7 drills, 3 knives,
16 scrapers
Ref. - 1
Dry Fork Creek
N site - northwest of Alba on north side of Dry Fork, west of Buck Creek confluence -
a double bitted chipped stone axe, 15 blades, 10 drills, a knife, 28 points,
14 scrapers
Ref. - 1
Cedar Co.
Butterfly bannerstone - white quartz w/ red tinges, 3"wide, 1 5/8"long
Ref. - 7
Folsom fluted point - white chert
Ref. - 8
Clovis fluted point - large
Ref. - 3
Missouri River Watershed
Vernon Co.
Osage River
Mounds - Vernon Co. with several hundred low, flat mounds in 1938
Ref. - 9
Big Osage village - in central part of Sec. 34, T34N, R31W - refuse heaps, shell
and bone fragments, soapstone pipe fragments, European artifacts
Ref. - 9, 10
23VE4 (Little Osage site) - 6 miles north and west of Big Osage village - collected
by Smithsonian in 1937, double pointed knife
Ref. - 9, 11
St. Clair Co.
Limestone celt, 7" long
Ref. - 12
Fluted point
Ref. - 3
Bourbon Co.
14BO3462 - north Bourbon county, Cuesta phase, ca. AD 500-800
Ref. - 13
Southeast Kansas
Harahey village - Harahey knife
Ref. - 14
Doniphan site - pottery, Kansa
Ref. - 2
Reany site - Kansa, pottery
Ref. - 2
Fanning site - pottery, rib edge awl, catlinite, Harahey knive
Ref. - 2
References
1 - Marshall, R.A., 1963, Arch. of Jasper Co., Earnest J. Palmer collection. Plains Anth.,
8(19):1-26
2 - Freeman, J.E., 1962, The Neosho Focus: A Late Prehistoric Culture in NE Okla. Okla.
Anth. Soc. Bull., 10:1-25
3 - Chapman, C.H., 1975, Archaeology of Missouri I., p. 66,71
4 - Hothem, L., 1992, Indian Artifacts of the Midwest., p.97
5 - Goodspeed's 1888 History of McDonald and Newton Counties., 1888, p.144
6 - Adams, L.M., 1958, Archaeological Investigations of southwest Missouri.,
Missouri Archaeologist, 20:1-199
7 - Hothem, L., 1994, North American Indian Artifacts., p.93
8 - Missoui Archaeologist, v.13, no.1, 4/1951
9 - Harner, J., 1939, The Village of the Big Osage. Missouri Archaeologist, v.5, no.1
10 - Chapman, C.H., 1980, Archaeology of Missouri II., p.102, 117
11 - Chapman, C.H., 1959, The Little Osage and Mo Ind. Vill. Sites, ca.1727-1777.
Missouri Archaeologist, 21(1:1-67)
12 - Hothem, L., 1989, Indian Axes and Related Stone Artifacts., p.104, 219
13 - Missouri Archaeological Society Quarterly, v.12, no.3 or 4, 1995
14 - Perino, G., 1985, v.1, Selected Preforms, Points, and Knives of the North
American Indians., p.167
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