Missouri’s archaeological record reflects over 13,000 years of human adaptations to changing environments, technologies, and social and population conditions. Archaeologists have divided the overall sequence into a number of temporal “periods” based on identifiable large-scale cultural or technological changes. From the first European exploration to the Civil War, Missouri’s historic archaeological sites consist mostly of early trading centers (Fort Orleans), river settlements (Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis, and St. Charles), and rural farmsteads. While pre-Civil War historic Native American sites are not common, tribes living in or passing through the state included the Osage, Otoe-Missouria, Iowa, Delaware, Shawnee, Kickapoo, Sac-Fox, Potawatomi, Peoria, and Cherokee. Others to immigrate included European Americans (French, Spanish, and English), and African Americans (free and slave).
On a steep plateau, overlooking the Missouri River in 1828, men of the newly-formed Upper Missouri Outfit, would build a trading post near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. Fort Union would come to be known as one Read More …
An archaeological field school was jointly operated by the Missouri Archaeological Society (MAS) and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (UTK) at the Brown Lodge/Caldwell Pottery Site (23SA451) in Arrow Rock, Missouri between July 14 and August 8, 1997. The field school Read More …
In 2006, a cast-iron coffin was discovered in an unmarked burial plot in Lexington, Missouri. A multifaceted investigation was conducted to provide historical documentation and possible identification of the individual. The coffin is an early Fisk Patent Metallic Burial Case.
On July 28, 1862, a Union cavalry column was ambushed by a Confederate force near present day Calwood in Callaway County, Missouri. For several hours on that July afternoon, hundreds of men fought not far from Auxvasse Creek, a tributary Read More …
This is one of ten volumes of a series reporting the results of the Cultural Resources Survey of the Harry S. Truman Dam and Reservoir Project, on the Osage River in southwestern Missouri. The combined volumes report the findings of Read More …
Arrow Rock is a couple hours east of Kansas City. As one nears Columbia, Arrow Rock is only a few miles north of I-70. The settlement of Arrow Rock and the surrounding area of central Missouri occurred quite early in Read More …
Presently a small museum site nearby the south of the reconstructed Ft. Osage, located on the Missouri River northeast of Independence, Missouri. Jackson County Parks and Recreation plans to replace this museum with a new education center, which will be Read More …
John Peterson, the curator of collections for Jackson County Parks, and Jim Feagins, a contractor, conducted sample testing of the area slated for construction south of Fort Osage. Along with volunteers, they dug a few test squares and auger holes Read More …
The public reporting of findings certainly is a goal of historical and archaeological research. The following is the reporting of some follow-up research completed over ten years ago.
Jim Watkins of St. Joseph helps clean out the well that was discovered at the Pony Express Museum just before the museum was renovated.