from dalton to shamans: ten thousand years of pulaski...

Introduction

A few years ago on Roubidoux Creek,a wildlife biologist searching for feralpigs discovered a cave, a rock shelter, arock mound and embedded withinthese sites, ancient rock art. Caves onFort Leonard Wood are not unusual,but the discovery of Native Americanburial mounds and carvings areunique. A few times of year, I visitthese archaeological sites and, whetherthe dead of winter or deep summer,the feeling is the same, one of wonder,awe, and mystery (Figure 1, above).As the post archaeologist at FortLeonard Wood, I have spent the lastfifteen years excavating archaeologicalsites and recording their remainsacross the installation. While this hasput us on the archaeological map,nothing compares to the feeling fromjust sitting and listening to the silencedvoices of those who came before. Athousand years ago, this group of siteswas a thriving neighborhood. Peoplehunted, fished, and made pottery. Thesmell of campfires up the valley mixedwith laughter, children playing, dogsbarking and men and women working.At night, stories were told and sacredrituals were performed. On large boul-ders overlooking the creek, medicinemen carved symbols of Earth Mother,eagle, and clan. And in the caves andmounds, they buried their honoreddead. These long-vanished tribes left alegacy of artifacts, sites, and otherclues. Come with me now on anarchaeological journey through time.

In 1818, Henry Schoolcraft traveledthrough what is now Phelps and TexasCounty describing the land as rugged,barely populated, and beautiful. In hisrecent settlement history of the north-ern Ozarks, Steven Smith noted thenear absence of Native Americans atthe beginning of the 19th century.While accurate enough, these descrip-

tions have contributed to a lastingimpression of the Ozarks as a region oftremendous natural beauty that sup-ported only limited numbers of people.Missouri archaeologists, based on littleevidence, also assumed that our regionwas unpopulated or primarily a hunt-ing zone for most of prehistory. TheFort Leonard Wood archaeologicalrecord tells a different story. It is astory that begins with the earliestinhabitants of Missouri and ends witha unique late prehistoric culture. Ourfindings contrast sharply with previ-ous ideas, therefore this story can onlybe told through a careful description ofremains left by ancient Native Ameri-cans. Whether stone, pottery, or radio-carbon dates, our conclusions explainthe longevity and uniqueness of NativeAmerican cultures that once thrived inthe hollows, bluff tops, and river bot-toms of Fort Leonard Wood.

I view our archaeological record as aseries of Native American cultures thatare linked to, but not derived from, thebetter-known archaeological remainsdocumented in the major river valleys(Missouri, Mississippi, and OhioRivers). There are times when thenorthern Ozarks were in step withhunting and gathering and agriculturalcultures across the Midwest and therewere times when our region simplydid not conform. These similarities anddifferences ebbed and flowed acrossthe millennia. That the northernOzarks were home to several NativeAmerican cultures encompassing near-ly 10,000 years is no longer debatable.What is subject to debate is how ourregion fits into the broader picture ofMidwest prehistory and how this isreflected in the archaeological record.And that, in essence, is the goal of thisarticle: to chronicle the cultural historyof Native Americans at Fort LeonardWood through time.

Given this perspective, I will review

our archaeological record through theidentification of stone tools (spearpoints and arrowheads), food (plantand animal remains), pottery, mortuary(cemeteries), settlements, and radiocar-bon dates. Along the way, I will showphotographs that beautifully illustratethe material culture of our region. Forthe first several thousand years, stonetools are the most common item, mak-ing it possible to compare our spearand arrow points with the rest of theMidwest. In late prehistory, moundbuilding, pottery styles and the intro-duction of maize (corn) become impor-tant clues in charting autonomy andculture change. Through all time peri-ods, radiocarbon dates provide essen-tial archaeological data for placing ourartifacts in time. I will rely on spearand arrow point names because that iswhat archaeologists do, they name anddescribe artifacts. I think it is the nerdyside of archaeology but ultimately ourgoal is to reconstruct the past. To thisend, I will also rely heavily on adecade and a half of interpretationsand data that hopefully presents aninteresting summary of our archaeo-logical remains. If it is not interesting,direct all complaints to Terry Primas. To provide structure to the enormoustime span of 10,000 years, I will pres-ent our findings in chronological orderfor five major periods:

pre Paleo (20-11,000 BC)Paleo (11-8000 BC),Archaic (8000-1000 BC)Woodland (1000 BC-AD 1400) Proto historic (AD 1400-1690).

Finally, this article is dedicated to thecountless generations of Native Ameri-cans who came to our land and settledour continent. Whether bands or tribesor nations, Native Americans live inour blood, place names, and worldview. We all share in this legacy.

The Mysterious First Americans orPre Paleo

(20,000-11,000 BC)

In the field of archaeology, there areseveral hot topics. The migration intoand initial settlement of North Americais one of them. This debate is playedout through radiocarbon dates, a fewstone tools, and finding artifacts belowlevels that were once deemed the “ear-liest”. Unfortunately, a pre Paleo peri-od is poorly understood due to thetime depth involved (11-20,000 years),sparse evidence, and post Ice Age sealevels. Apparently, many archaeologi-cal sites may be under water in theBering Strait and Alaska. Nevertheless,growing evidence supports thehypothesis that a migration of peoplesfrom northern Asia occurred earlierthan 12-13,000 BC. This constituteswhat archaeologists call a pre Paleo.Positive recognition of these ancientsites still needs to be established; how-ever, several radiocarbon dates andstone tools (lance-like spear points)have been found in Missouri, Virginia,Pennsylvania, and as far away asChile, South America. In Missouri, theBig Eddy Site, located on the Sac Riverjust north of Stockton Dam, containspre Paleo through late prehistoric arti-facts. The pre Paleo levels date to ca.13,500-12,000 BC. No Pre-Clovis siteshave been reported from the FortLeonard Wood region, and if they doexist they will be located on terracesthat were formed 25-50,000 years ago.

The Second Americans or Paleo(12,000-8000 BC)

Although archaeological data may sup-port a late Ice Age entry into NorthAmerica, the Paleo period representsthe earliest unequivocal occupation.Paleo migration routes via the outercoasts of Alaska and British Columbiaor through ice-free interior corridorsoccurred between 12,000 and 10,000

Old Settlers Gazette 2006 - Page 26

From Dalton to Shamans: Ten ThousandYears of Pulaski County Prehistory

By Dr. Richard Edging[This article is based on a book on the archaeology of the northern Ozarks by Drs. Steven Ahler, Paul Kreisa, and Richard Edg-ing. The book will be published by the U.S. Army MANSCEN & Fort Leonard Wood, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, the U.S.Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Champaign, Illinois, and the Illinois State Museum Society, Springfield,Illinois.]

The Dalton point (a lance-like spear point dating to 8500-7900 B.C.), and by extension the Dalton period, were named for the owner of the land in Cole County, Missouri, . . . . Judge Samuel P. Dalton, who served on the Missouri Supreme Court from 1950 until his death in 1965. (Michael J. O’Brien from Paradigms of the Past: The Story of Missouri Archaeology, 1996:25).

Figure 1. A Mystical PlaceOverlooking Roubidoux Creek.

BC. This migration includes culturesancestral to modern tribes and lan-guage families that settled what wouldbecome the United States. These lan-guage and culture groups includeAlgonquian, Iroquoian, Muskogean,Siouan, Caddoan, Tanoan, and Uto-Aztecan. Recent genetic studies thatcompared modern Native AmericanDNA across the United States haveshown that 95 percent of all NativeAmericans are related to this group,confirming that the Native Americanpeoples that settled the central andeastern North American continent dur-ing the late Ice Age are consideredancestors of our northern Ozark tribes.

The Paleo period represents severalbroad regional traditions and is syn-onymous with a spear point known asthe Clovis point. These spear pointsare long lances with narrow flakesremoved from the base, forming acharacteristic channel or flute thathelped with placing it onto bone orwood shafts. Many of the more refinedspecimens are made from high-quality,non-local flint (chert), indicating a highdegree of mobility and incipient tradenetworks. Early Paleo (12,000-9,000B.C.) groups (Clovis) were organizedinto small, egalitarian bands. Their set-tlements reflected seasonal movementsand generalized hunting of locallyavailable large and small game. Anoth-

er topic dear to archaeologists was theextinction of Ice Age megafauna likethe mastodon. While archaeologistshave occasionally found Clovis pointsembedded in the remains of mastodonor mammoth, it is still uncertain ifthese large creatures were a regularpart of the diet. It is more likely thatancient bison, elk, deer, and bear weremore accessible. Ultimately, the changein climate, habitat, and predation mayhave tipped the balance for the mam-moth and other Ice Age mammals.

Clovis finds in the Ozarks are rare andthere is no evidence from Fort LeonardWood. Later middle Paleo (9,000-8,500BC) finds including fluted Cumberlandand Gainey points and unfluted lancepoints, Quad and Plainview, are alsoabsent. The lack of regional evidencemay not mean that the region wasdevoid of people; rather our study ofriver terrace formation indicates thatthe narrow, steeply grading valleys ofthe northern Ozarks probably scouredor removed soil and artifacts duringthis period. River valleys like the SacRiver have laid down protective sedi-ments sealing Native American occu-pations for thousands of years untilfinally eroded by the daily waterreleases of Stockton Dam. The BigEddy Site has yielded significant earlyand middle Paleo artifacts and radio-carbon dates from a fire place that date

to around 10,000 BC. Clovis points andflint flakes were also found. The for-mation of river terraces do not fullyexplain the absence of early and mid-dle Paleo sites in upland settings or incaves. It seems our caves were rarelyoccupied during this time span, maybebecause they were a little clammy dur-ing this climatically cooler and wetterperiod.

By late Paleo times (8500-8000 BC), wefind our first evidence that NativeAmericans settled at Fort LeonardWood. The transition from Ice Age toenvironments similar to modern Mis-souri occurred about the time of theextinction of the mammoth. This tran-sition was apparently short-lived butdid produce a distinct archaeologicalexpression called the Dalton culture(See quote above), characterized by alance-like spear point, wood-workingadzes, and spurred end scrapers forhide-scraping. Dalton period settle-ments have been examined in detail inthe southern Ozarks and MissouriBootheel and include a variety of sitetypes including long and short-termbase camps, extraction camps, andcemetery sites.The remains at thesesites probably represent extended fam-ilies that coalesced seasonally to formbands. Unfortunately, recovery of actu-al subsistence remains (plant or ani-mal) from Dalton sites is rare.

Several important late Paleo Daltonsites are located in Missouri includingBig Eddy site, which yielded a com-plete Dalton tool kit (points, drills,adzes, and gravers), hearths, flint-knapping clusters, and hammer stonesabout 12 feet deep. At Fort LeonardWood, Dalton sites are located nearbroad upland creeks (Smith Branchand Musgrave Hollow). A Dalton pointwas also recovered from Sadie’s Cave;however, a radiocarbon date indicatesthat this point was redeposited out ofits original context. In November 2005,while excavating the lower levels of arock shelter on Roubidoux Creek, wediscovered a complete Dalton knifeand charcoal (Figure 2). This was ourfirst Dalton find in its original position

Old Settlers Gazette 2006 - 7

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Late Paleo 8500 BC Dalton KnifeFound at Red Oak Rock Shelter onRoubidoux Creek.

or as an archaeologist’s term, “in situ”.We sent the sample for radiocarbondating and expect a date of around8500 BC.

The Archaic Period(8,000-1,000 B.C.)

Seven thousand years is a long span oftime so it is necessary to divide thisperiod into Early, Middle, and Late.During the Archaic Period, there wereconsiderable environmental changesthat took place in the mid-continent, aswell as cultural trends that were, inpart, a response to these environmentalchanges. Through the millennia, wesee population increases, regionalspear point styles, the introduction ofthe spear thrower, larger settlements,some horticulture, long distance trade,and, at the end of the period, the intro-duction of pottery and the constructionof burial mounds. In general, ArchaicNative Americans filled in the land-scapes, fully adapted to modern habi-tats, and basically took advantage of ahunting and gathering paradise acrossthe eastern Woodlands, including thenorthern Ozarks.

The Early Archaic (8,000-6,000 BC)

By 8000 BC, deciduous forests contain-ing oak, chestnut, and hickory coveredmost of the lower Midwest. In the mid-continent, the Early Archaic follows theDalton Period and there is consider-able evidence of spear point styles con-tinuing. However, there are also sever-al new types of spear points thatappear for the first time. This continu-ity and change in styles suggests thatthe Early Archaic may have been atime of rapid innovation in stone tools.Change in spear points reflect betterengineering or, simply put, they areless likely to break and easier to throw.Based upon securely dated contextsfrom Missouri, stemmed points likeHardin Barbed and Hidden Valley areconsidered the immediate successor toDalton points. And although somelance spears maintained the Paleostyle, many Early Archaic spear pointsand knives exhibit a reduction in sizeand distinct hafting called side-andcorner notching. Due to their superiori-ty in design and function, haftedpoints like Thebes, Kirk, Rice Lobed,Cache River and Graham Cavereplaced lanceolates around 7000 BC(excluding our lanceolates) and persist-ed for several thousand years (Figure3). I should also acknowledge thatconsiderable effort was placed on thesystematic and accurate reproductionof spear points over a large region asthe Midwest, and even larger, the east-ern United States. Excavations at the Big Eddy site havealso documented Early Archaic arti-facts. A series of 14 radiocarbon dates(7500-7000 B.C.) along with early lanceforms, side notched (Cache River and

Graham Cave) and stemmed (HiddenValley) comprise a large quantity offinished stone tools. Within FortLeonard Wood, there are several cavesites with dated Early Archaic compo-nents, including our most famous ofsites, Miller Cave (Figure 4). In theearly 1920s, a St. Louis archaeologist,GerardFowke, exca-vated a largeportion ofthe cave andtook awayseveral“wagon-loads” ofartifacts thatare nowhoused atthe Smith-sonian Insti-tution. Theartifactsillustrated inFowke’sreportinclude spearand arrowpoints and pottery ranging in age fromthe Early Archaic to Late Woodland(6500 BC-AD 1400). To determine theextent of his excavations and correct adecades old problem of casual diggingby amateurs, we excavated, cored, andstabilized the site in 1992 and 1995. In1992, excavations produced evidence atopposite ends of the archaeologicalspectrum. In the front of the cave, wedug a trench that went through layersof Fowke’s old excavations until we hitan intact layer, Rice Lanceolate spearpoints, and charcoal that dated to 6500

B.C (Figure 5).

In the darkened back ofMiller Cave, we foundtwo dog burials with pot-tery that date to aroundAD 1000. In 1995, we sys-tematically cored the siteto determine if anythingwas left—there wasn’tmuch. That same year, wewere fortunate to have the

Basic Non-CommissionedOfficers Training (BNOC)class smooth the surface ofthe cave floor and incorpo-

rate a hardened surface. We nowencourage people to visit Miller Caveand nearby sites like Sadies Cave, sincewe have interpretive signage thatexplains their geological and culturalhistory. Sadies Cave was gated in 1995to protect intact human remains (Fig-

ure 6).

Little Freeman Cave, located on the BigPiney River near the eastern edge ofFort Leonard Wood contains artifactsthat represent the complete prehistoricsequence (Figure 7). Before our discov-ery at Red Oak Rock Shelter, the radio-carbon date and artifacts found undera boulder at Little Freeman Cave wereour oldest artifacts. As part of the exca-vation efforts, we were again fortunateto have a BNOC class complete its last

day of training by busting up a largeboulder in the front of the cave withjack hammers. The sample of charcoalfound just below the boulder dated to7200 BC. Unfortunately, no spearpoints were found with the charcoal;however a few pieces of flint and ani-mal bones were found. The animalbones were comprised of birds (ducks,bobwhite, turkey, and prairie chicken),large and small animals (deer, squirrel,raccoon, muskrat, and rabbit) reptiles(snake and turtle) and fish (redhorse,catfish, bass, sunfish, and walleye).Archaeologically, this find is veryimportant in that it clearly shows thatour caves were used intensely and thatmany animal species now prized byhunters and anglers were part ofNative American diets thousands ofyears ago.

While there are a few more EarlyArchaic sites on post, we did find aremarkable artifact a few years ago inJoy Cave that dates to this time period.During a recent biological and archaeo-logical inventory of Fort LeonardWood caves, we discovered a completeKirk corner-notched spear point about200 feet from the cave entrance in atotally black zone (Figure 8). This spearpoint was lost by an early explorer ofthe cave—how early? Try 7000 BC.

The Early Archaic represents our firstsolid archaeological evidence thatNative Americans were here to stay.Although evidence for sites on riverterraces is gone, our caves do showthat we had an established and perma-nent population composed of smallbands that adapted to changing Mid-western environments, which is goodbecause the next time period broughtabout rapid climate and environmentalchange.

The Middle Archaic (6,000-3,000 BC)

Today’s headlines and movies aboutglobal warming are scary enough butdid you know that our region wentthrough a major warming period sev-eral thousand years ago? This warm-ing period is called the Hypsithermaland lasted from 5,500-2,500 BC. Thegeneral effects include reduced forestcover, the spread of prairie and oaksavanna, increased formation of riverterraces, and lower water tables. Sec-ondary effects include changes in localplant and animal communities, andNative American responses to thesechanges. In the Midwest, the MiddleArchaic period is marked by a shift insettlement toward major river valleymargins and increasing use of aquaticresources by larger populations.Prairies displaced forests in mostupland physiographic zones. Severaltechnological innovations occurredduring this period. Manos were usedfor processing plant foods. Drills,abraders, awls, and needles attest to a


Figure 3. Early Archaic Rice Lobed and Kirk SpearPoint from Miller Cave and Red Oak Rock Shelter.

Figure 4. Miller Cave overlooking the Big Piney River.

Figure 5. Early Archaic Rice Lanceolate spear points from Miller and SadiesCave.

rich material culture and new adapta-tions to local environments. New tooltypes such as ground stone groovedaxes, celts, and atlatl weights appear inthe Middle Archaic and along with theintroduction of the spear thrower oth-erwise known as the atlatl. Spearthrowers spread rapidly across theeastern and middle North America andNative Americans immediately utilizedthis lethal weaponry on large gamethat once roamed the forests andprairies like elk, bison and bear.Groups occupying a variety of baseand small camps organized subsistenceactivities in planned seasonal move-ments producing sites that archaeolo-gists call resource and extraction sites.

While the Middle Archaic archaeologi-cal data is based on a few familiarsites, there is evidence from across FortLeonard Wood that indicates our pop-ulation was growing. We find MiddleArchaic artifacts in most of our caves,rock shelters, bluff tops, and terraces.Middle Archaic artifacts are againdominated by stone tools which tendto be smaller and this trend continuesthroughout the Archaic. Another trendis the almost exclusive use of localflints. In the early part of the MiddleArchaic, there are distinctive pointsnoted such as Jakie stemmed (6,000-5,000 BC) and Godar/Raddatz. The

Godar point, and similar points likeRaddatz, Big Sandy, and Osceola(5,500-3,000 BC) have deep notches ori-ented perpendicular to the blade (Fig-ures 9-10). At the end of the periodthere seems to be a resurgence in pointstyles that continue into the LateArchaic, including two corner notchedpoints, Smith and Stone Square, astemmed spear point called TableRock, and a side notched point calledBig Creek.

A series of excavations at Little Free-man Cave provided numerous MiddleArchaic artifacts, radiocarbon dates,and environmental data. The primaryuse of Little Freeman Cave took placebetween 5,500-2,000 BC. It was thenused sporadically until around AD 900when Little Freeman, like many of thelarge caves at Fort Leonard, served as along-term base camp within a greaterneighborhood of sites.

At Sadies Cave, excavations also yield-ed evidence on the intense use of thecave throughout the Middle Archaic,including the warming period men-tioned above. Radiocarbon dates(5,500-3,000 BC) bracket the occupationand several spear points, food remains,and environmental data were recov-ered from the site. As with Little Free-man Cave, Sadies Cave was part of an

evolving neighborhood of sites thatincluded Miller Cave, a bluff top site,and sites in the valley below.

Returning to the Hypsithermal climaticepisode, the same cave excavationsdescribed above produced environ-mental data that proves our region wasgreatly affected but our local popula-tions did not alter their lifestyle or useof our caves. This is vastly differentthan the adjustments made in themajor river valleys or secondary val-leys, like the Pomme de Terre, that con-tained caves that were abandoned dueto prolonged drought. In our area, theHypsithermal created more extensiveoak barrens and available nut trees,which in turn attracted more deer.Archaeological evidence from LittleFreeman and Sadies Caves yieldedsnails, or gastropods, that represent themost drought tolerant species. TheMiddle Archaic mussel collectionincludes a greater proportion of shal-low water species. Finally, our streamterraces show marked developmentduring the Hypsithermal. Although theFort Leonard Wood Middle Archaicarchaeological record does indicatethat major cultural changes occurred asa result of the warming period, theflexibility in adapting to climaticchanges seemed to be a characteristicof northern Ozark Native Americans.

The Late Archaic (3,000-1,000 BC)

In many parts of the Midwest, the LateArchaic period is synonymous withwidespread societal and economicchanges including population growth,the development of interregional trade,the use of native and tropical domesti-cated plants, the differential burial ofthe dead in mounds, the introductionof pottery and the presence of sitesacross all landscapes. Locally, the LateArchaic represents the beginning of acultural shift inward. From Late Archa-ic times to the historic era, the northernOzarks developed and moved at theirown pace and accepted or rejectedinnovations and cultural trends in thegreater Midwest. Although this trendwould be more obvious in later prehis-toric periods, the beginnings are clear-ly evident in the Late Archaic.

One of the hallmarks of the LateArchaic is population growth. Thequantity and kinds of sites indicatepopulation increases across the Mid-west but it also gives us a glimpse intothe kinds of hunter gatherer lifestylesprevalent in the eastern Woodlands.For example, a possible Late Archaichunting and gathering year wouldinclude wild plant harvests, with fish,aquatic animals, and small game con-


Figure 6 (left).Excavation atSadies Cave.

Figure 6a (right).Protective Gate atSadies Cave.

Figure 7. Rock Removal at Little Freeman Cave. Rock-lined Nut Processing Feature above Freeman Cave. Figure 8. Early Archaic 7000 Kirk Spear Point, Joy Cave.

sumed in the summer sea-son. Several bands wouldprobably unite to performrituals, trade, affirmalliances and marriage pos-sibilities. During the fall,nuts, wild plants, and thehunting of white-tailed deer,bear, and elk would be har-vested. Upland plant andanimal species took Native

Americans to their greatestrange from bluff top caves andriver terrace base camps. In thewinter, cave base camp inhabi-

tants utilized stored foods and hunt-ing. With spring, the cycle began againwith special task groups reoccupyingupland habitats. Floodplain resources,largely dormant in the winter, againsupplied settlements with a variety ofwild and cultivated plants, smallgame, and aquatic species.

Archaeologically, we have evidence atSadies, Little Freeman, Kerr, Joy, Salt-peter, and Proffitt Caves, Albertson,Jacke, Surprise, and Red Oak Shelters,and numerous base camps and smallercamps spread across the Fort LeonardWood landscape. New ground stoneaxes, made of diorite or rhyolite, celts,pitted cobbles, grinding stones, andmanos coincide with the more frequentoccurrence of plant remains. In someareas, banner stones, (spear throwerweights), become much fancierthrough the use of banded slate. Whenbone preservation is good like in ourcaves, we find a variety of bone toolssuch as awls, fish hooks, hide scrapers,and gouges.

Not surprisingly, chipped stone toolsdominate all stone tools. Spear pointsare generally smaller with more varia-tion in notching, however, largerpoints that may have functioned asknives or in ceremonial contexts arealso found across the Midwest. AtSadies and Little Freeman Caves, vari-

ous kinds of spear point styles weremade including side and cornernotched (Stone and Smith ca. 3,000-1,000 BC) expanded and contractingstemmed (Big Creek and Table Rock)and the most ancient of styles, thelance. Apparently point styles, like ourwide or narrow ties and lower or high-er hemlines, went in and out of fash-ion. This time, the beautifully madeSedalia point carried on the traditionof the lance. The point type foundmost frequently at Fort Leonard Woodand seems to have been popular forabout 3,000 years is the expandedstemmed point called Big Creek.

The effects of the Hypsithermal areobvious at the Big Eddy site with rela-tively few Middle Archaic artifacts, butoccupations were reestablished in theLate Archaic. The earliest Late Archaiclevel is called Williams (2,400-1,600 BC)after a spear point similar to our BigCreek. Next, a level contains the cornernotched Smith and a new spear pointcalled Etley (2,100-1,600 BC), which wehave found at Little Freeman Cave andother sites. Etley points were very pop-ular across Missouri and western Illi-nois. Next, the Stealth level, appears tobe only associated with deposits thatdate to 1,500 BC. We found a similarpoint at Little Freeman Cave. TheKings level contains a large number ofKings Corner notched points which


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Figure 10. Big Creek Spear Points fromVarious Sites on Fort Leonard Wood.

Figure 9. Middle and Late Archaic SpearPoints: Top row - Radatz and Godar SpearPoints from Little Freeman Cave; Middleand Bottom Rows - Stone, Smith, and EtleySpear Points from Little Freeman Cave.

dates to around 1,800-1,000 BC; howev-er, our version of this point is found inthis period and subsequent time peri-ods like the Early and Middle Wood-land. Finally, a terminal Late Archaicpoint called the Afton point was foundabove the Kings level and was recov-ered at Miller and Sadies Caves withradiocarbon samples that date to 1,700-1000 BC.

As you can see, the dated contextsfrom the Big Eddy site align nicelywith the diagnostic point types foundat our cave sites. While our sites do notcontain radiocarbon samples withinsealed soil layers, we do have strati-graphic positioning and radiocarbondates associated with our spear points.At Sadies Cave, we have four radiocar-bon dates that range from 2,400-1,800BC and are associated with Big Creekand Afton points. The quantity andkinds of artifacts suggest that SadiesCave and possibly Miller Cave contin-ued to be used in much the same wayas the Middle Archaic. At Little Free-man Cave, there is evidence of occupa-tion from the Middle into the LateArchaic without any break with Stoneand Afton points, and radiocarbondates that range from 3,800-2,100 BC.On the ridge crest above Little Free-man Cave is a large open base campwith extensive Middle and Late Archa-ic archaeological evidence including

Stone, Smith and Big Creek spearpoints, hearths, and stone lined pits.The presence of stone metates and nut-ting stones indicate that this site servedLittle Freeman cave dwellers as a fallnut/plant processing site (See Figure7).

Twenty other archaeological sites onFort Leonard contain Late Archaic arti-facts, radiocarbon dates, intact stratig-raphy, and plant and animal remains.Perhaps one of the more interestingfinds is the Benton spear point foundnear charcoal dated at 1,800 BC (Figure11). Overall, the archaeological investi-gations at these sites have shown thatthe Middle to Late Archaic settlementsin the Fort Leonard Wood area arewidespread and occupy all landscapes.

Late Archaic wood use reflects patternsthat began in the Early Archaic. Oakspecies are the most prevalent fuelwood followed by cedar, pine, andhickory, although some bottomlandspecies such as maple, black gum, andelm occur infrequently. Nut species, aregular part of our plant remains, aremostly hickory and black walnut withminor amounts of hazelnut, and oak.Occasional seed plants like goosefoot,amaranth, and grape are found butmake up a very low percentage. Inmany parts of the Midwest, the use oftropical (squash and gourd) and native(goosefoot, sunflower, marshelder)plants would increase in the terminalLate Archaic period to a fully devel-oped horticultural complex. This trendis not applicable to the northernOzarks. The behaviors required tocommit to a horticultural complex and

later maize agriculture is not evident atFort Leonard Wood. This brings meback to the Pomme de Terre, whichexperienced severe drought during thepreceding Middle Archaic. A majorrebound occurred evidenced by theexcavations at the Phillips Springs sitethat produced a series of hearths, pits,and house floors. The site is alsoremarkable for the preservation ofbotanical remains including edibleseeds and rinds of bottle gourd andsquash, wooden digging sticks, andSedalia points. Radiocarbon dates of2700 BC make the discovery of gourdand squash remains some of the earli-est evidence for plant domestication onthe continent.

General Trends in the Archaic

Excavations across the Midwest allowus to determine how the region func-tioned through time. We know thatpopulation increased, we know thatclearly defined regional cultures tookhold, and we know that by the end ofthe Late Archaic, long distance trade ofshell and copper, horticulture, moundbuilding, and the introduction of pot-tery were in place. All of these changesmay have altered the nature of settle-ments and how Archaic groups occu-pied the landscape. From our compar-isons of archaeological data with thegreater Midwest, we can then propose


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Figure 11. Benton Spear Points from Albertson Rock Shelter.

trends that typify the northern Ozarks.The first is that spear point stylesdecrease in size and in geographic dis-tribution; the latter a reflection of clear-ly defined regional cultures. Second,although affected by the Hypsithermal,northern Ozark Native Americans didnot change lifestyle or settlements.Third, the number of sites and intensi-ty of site use increases though timereflecting population increase. Fourth,from the Late Archaic onward, thereappears to be an attempt towards con-tinuity and conservatism. Artifactsfrom the well-known regional artifactssuch as Sedalia and James River arerare. The cultural elaboration citedabove (trade, horticulture, moundbuilding, and pottery) is also not foundin our region. Hunting and gatheringparadise aside, it is doubtful given thewidespread communication through-out most of the Archaic that northernOzark Native Americans wereunaware of the major changes thatwere beginning and would continue tounfold over the next three thousandyears. Their response to these changesreflects selective isolation. This topicsets the stage for the next major timeperiod in Midwest and northern Ozarkprehistory known as the WoodlandPeriod.

The Woodland Period(1000 BC-AD 1400)

Continuity and the Late WoodlandTransformation

Across the Midwest, major changesoccurred that would have implicationsthat would last into the protohistoric.Extensive archaeological investigationsat Fort Leonard Wood reveal that dur-ing the Early and Middle Woodlandperiods our region had a permanentpopulation and willfully employed aselective isolation. In other words, theyworked hard to maintain cultural tra-ditions but from time to time borrowedideas and innovations from the majorriver valleys.

Early Woodland(1,000 BC-200 BC)

The Early Woodland period Midwest isrecognized by the initial appearanceand widespread use of pottery. It is

also a time when horticulture becamemore elaborate and more earthenmounds were built to bury honoreddead. In our region, the entire EarlyWoodland period is devoid of potteryor other cultural markers like burialmounds. The first Midwestern EarlyWoodland culture is called Marion,easily identified by thick walled fiberpottery and Kramer corner notchedspear points. Aquatic resources wereimportant and we find more evidencefor a growing horticultural baseincluding goosefoot, maygrass,knotweed, little barley, andmarshelder.

The Midwestern Black Sand culturefollows shortly after Marion and is rec-ognizable by thinner, more decoratedpottery, spear points called Dickson,Gary or Langtry, and radiocarbondates to range from 500 BC to AD 0.The presence of Marion and BlackSand cultures makes for a distinctiveEarly Woodland archaeological expres-sion encompassing parts of northernMissouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa, andWisconsin. In the southern Midwest,we find similar dated expressions inthe Crab Orchard, Alexander, andBaumer cultures of southern Illinois,western Tennessee, and Missourirespectively.

On Fort Leonard Wood, AlbertsonRock Shelter yielded artifacts andradiocarbon dates of 770 BC. The keyhere is no pottery was found. OtherEarly Woodland Roubidoux Creekinclude the Renoir Site, a small cave,with an ash lens dating to 100-160 BC.Again no pottery was found; however,bone, shell, and spear points, similar toVercamp Stemmed, and turtle, birds,and bowfish bones (Figure 12). ProffittCave, located on Smith Branch,revealed an undisturbed series of lay-ers that date to 140 BC, Big Creek spearpoints, and a high density of stone tooldebris.

Our most complete evidence comesfrom Freeman Cave, and includesradiocarbon dates of 700-550 BC, dis-tinctive large and small corner-notchedspear points (Stealth and deep notchedexpanded stemmed), and high densi-ties of bone, mussel shell, and stone

artifacts (Figure13). The stonetool debrisfound on everysite appears tobe like Late

Archaic artifacts suggesting again simi-larities in site function and duration.Food remains from Freeman, Kerr, andProffitt Caves, and Red Oak, Turnbull,and Albertson Rock Shelters do notreveal any major differences in hunt-ing, fishing, or gathering strategies andoverall look like preceding periods.Nuts often comprise the single largestcategory of plant foods. Keep in mindthis is one thousand years before maizewould take hold across North America.We do find the presence of seed plantsbut this is not comparable to the largernumbers of wild and domesticatedplants found in the horticultural soci-eties of the major river valleys. Gener-ally, animal remains reflect some diver-sity with an adherence to earlierArchaic patterns such as low fishremains and a high emphasis onupland and bottomland animals.

The artifacts from Fort Leonard Wooddemonstrate that there was a perma-nent Early Woodland population; how-ever, our version is different than otherregions from a variety of perspectives.We have no pottery, we have nomounds, we have no long distancetrade items or exotic raw materials,and we have little change in subsis-tence and settlement from the preced-ing Late Archaic. None of the potteryrelated to the Marion or Black Sandcited above have been found in any ofthe dated contexts in the region. Inaddition, many Early Woodland spearpoints have their origins in the LateArchaic, although we do have a fewdistinctive types (Stealth and Expand-ing Stemmed-ES2) and some sidenotched points are similar to finelyflaked Black Sand points. Nevertheless,while we lack the items mentionedabove, our evidence points for a strongtradition of cultural stability and conti-nuity. Early Woodland peoples in ourregion were aware of the changes tak-ing place in the major river valleys butchose not to interact, willful isolationthat would even be more profound inthe subsequent Middle Woodland Peri-od.

Middle Woodland Period(200 BC- AD 400)

Throughout the eastern United States,the Middle Woodland period is viewedas a time of great cultural change. Theelaboration of decorated pottery, theuse of native and domesticated plants,increased intercontinental trade,mound building, geometric earth-

works, elaborate tomb burials, andchanges in society are best representedin Ohio and Illinois. In these areas,some members of society achievedgreat status, and this is reflected intheir deaths since many of their tombscontain exotic flints, pottery, copper,shell, and obsidian works of art.Similar to the Early Woodland Period,archaeologists have been uncertain asto the occupation of the northernOzarks during the Middle Woodlandperiod. The few diagnostic MiddleWoodland pottery fragments foundhint to ties to the Mississippi River Val-ley, but the low numbers also suggestthat the northern Ozarks was not partof a greater Midwest cultural phenom-enon. Many Missouri archaeologistsembraced this interpretation since theregion was not close to a MiddleWoodland mound center in the lowerIllinois Havana Hopewell, Central Mis-sissippi River American Bottom, theBig Bend Missouri Valley, or KansasCity regions. The lack of distinctivepottery, mound building, or pan-regional exchange made it easy to pro-claim our region as devoid of people.

What we do have are artifacts andradiocarbon dates that prove we had apermanent population. RoubidouxCreek sites, Renoir and Chuck’s Caves,and Red Oak Shelter produced dates of160 BC-AD 230. All of the sites con-tained a variety of food remains, stonetool debris, and spear points like theVerkamp stemmed. Located acrossRoubidoux Creek, Davis and SaltpeterCaves also produced Middle Wood-land artifacts and dates of 100 BC-AD390. Other sites on the Roubidouxinclude Surprise and Albertson RockShelters that produced Middle Wood-land radiocarbon dates and an exoticpottery fragment similar to styles inthe lower Illinois Valley, called HavanaHopewell.

Above the golf course, Farview RockShelter is located on the trail betweenLittle Freeman and Freeman Caves(Figure 14). Mussel shell, nut remains,and stone tool debris, a stone lined pit,a Kings corner notched spear point,and a radiocarbon sample that dates toAD 280 were found. Given its locationand kinds of artifacts, the site appearsto be a resource station associated withthe Little and Freeman Caves.

Although Middle Woodland spearpoints and pottery are not abundant inour area, they do exist. Many of our


Figures 12-13. Freeman Cave and Early Woodland Verkamp Stemmed, Expanding Stemmed (ES2), and Stealth Spear Points fromRenoir, Chuck’s and Freeman Caves

Middle Woodland sites have the diag-nostic spear points Snyder and nar-rower versions such as Manker andAnsell (Figure 15). We also have carry-overs like Gary and Langtry that beginin the Early Woodland and continueinto the Middle Woodland. However,the lack of Middle Woodland locallymade pottery separates our regionfrom the larger Midwest. We do have afew imported specimens of HavanaHopewell (Illinois) style pottery, and aplain-surfaced and cordmarked potterymost likely from the Bootheel region.Chuck’s and Miller Caves, and Albert-son Rock Shelter contained these arti-fact types; however, they were import-ed suggesting that the Middle Wood-land resident population had somecontact with the major river valleys.

In general, the suite of archaeologicalevidence such as subsistence, settle-ment, and mortuary behavior points tolittle change from the preceding EarlyWoodland period or, for that matter,the Late Archaic period. Whereas, theMississippi, Ohio, and Missouri RiverValleys contained horticultural com-munities that supplemented theirhunting and gathering, we find littleevidence throughout the northernOzark. Regardless of our region’s lackof participation in the greater Midwestcultural florescence, we can definitelystate that a resident population didcoexist with the great mound buildingcultures to the east. Again, our caves,rock shelters, and open sites providesubstantial archaeological evidencethat refutes long-held beliefs that ourregion was abandoned, or, at best, ahunting zone. Based on a review ofarchaeological site files at the Universi-ty of Missouri, it is also clear that Mid-dle Woodland peoples lived along thecourse of the Gasconade and tradedfrequently with cultures to the east andsouth. This seems to be a pattern thatwill last for the next several centuriesand sets the stage for the last and mostunique prehistoric archaeological cul-ture recorded on Fort Leonard Woodknown as the Late Woodland.


Goodrich Gas

Figure 14. Early and Middle Woodland Gary and Langtry Spear Points from Miller and Freeman Caves.

Figure 15. Middle Woodland Snyders Spear Points and Exotic Imported Potteryfrom Miller and Chuck’s Cave.

Late Woodland (AD 500-1400)

orthe Transformation

The Shaman is above all a connecting fig-ure, bridging several worlds for his people,traveling between this world, the under-world, and the heavens. He transformshimself into an animal, talks with ghosts,the dead, the deities, the ancestors. He diesand revives. He brings back knowledgefrom the shadow realm, thus linking hispeople to the spirits and places which wereonce mythically accessible to all.

(Barbara Meyerhoff in Archaeology55(1), “The Flight of the Shaman” byChristine Van Pool)

By the end of the Middle Woodlandperiod (AD 400) all of the majorHopewell centers, mound building,and trade networks were in decline orceased to exist. The general LateWoodland period across the Midwestand the eastern United States appearsin contrast to be a time of reorganiza-tion. The Late Woodland is now con-sidered by archaeologists as the begin-ning of a new cycle of growth, flores-cence, and in our case, transformation.

The Late Woodland transformationlasted about a century (AD 400-500).After that point, the northern Ozarkssettled in, sometimes dealing withmore complex cultures to the east andoften not. The Late Woodland transfor-mation and succeeding centuries con-tains the first evidence for widespreaduse of locally-made pottery (AD 500)several centuries after its first appear-ance in the Midwest. The earliest pot-tery vessels are typically smooth orcord marked. Archaeologists call themjars but they are pots (Figure 16). Thereare some incremental changes throughtime such as change in form, decora-tion, or technology. After AD 1000,changes are noted in new forms(bowls, plates, and occasional bottles)and in the kinds of clay and elements(temper) used to make pottery.

One of the most profound changes thatswept across the continent was theintroduction of the bow and arrow.Around AD 700 in most regions of theMidwest, we begin to find arrowpoints along with spear points. Theearliest arrow points were large butwell made and called Lowe and in our

region the Rice side notched (Figure17). Bow and arrow technology becamemore and more efficient and the pointsbecame smaller and better made.Locally, the Scallorn arrow point isfound at every site after AD 1000 untilthe end of the prehistoric period.

Subsistence trends in the Midwest dur-ing the early part of the Late Wood-land period reflect even greateremphasis on seed plants that set thestage for full blown maize (corn) agri-culture. Although archaeologists havefound maize at a few Middle Wood-land sites in Ohio and Illinois, its usewas sporadic. We now know thatmaize began its dominance across theeastern United States as early as AD700. By AD 1000, maize was the majorplant staple across North America;however, its development and entryinto the eastern United States is contro-versial since maize supposedly camefrom the Southwestern U.S. and wasgrown there much earlier. A reanalysisof Southwestern maize radiocarbondates and the early recorded maizefrom the east shows that maize intro-duction in both areas was not that dif-ferent. This in turn has altered ourviews on how maize came into easternNorth America and how it could beadapted to grow from southern Cana-da to Florida. In the Gasconadedrainage, it is likely that maize andnew pottery techniques arrived in thenorthern Ozarks around AD 1100.Although our Late Woodland botanicaldata clearly shows that a maize-basedhorticultural system existed, evidencefor a continued heavy reliance on nuts,in association with low numbers ofthese plants, points to some level ofconservatism.

While there is no doubt that NativeAmericans in our region buried theirdead in caves for thousands of years,the early Late Woodland period marksthe beginning of mound building. Inour region, the burial mound wasexclusively made of rock (Figure 18).In the early 1980s, archaeologists atFort Leonard Wood excavated portionsof 11 rock mounds across the installa-tion. They found that human remainswere placed on bedrock and stoneswere piled up to form a mound. Later,burials were placed at the periphery ofthe original mound, creating an accre-tional group of rocks with multipleconstruction stages. They also discov-ered that all of our rock mounds had

fragmentary skeletal material or bun-dle burials. This meant that the burialwas a portion of an elaborate mortuaryprocess in which the individual wasplaced on a scaffold or in the open fora period of time, wrapped in a bundle,and then placed into the mound. Bun-dle burials, therefore, represent a longprocess of mourning that tied the com-munity together. In neighboringregions to the north and west, burialmounds were often constructed of acombination of rock and earth, whileearth mounds are more common backeast (like the Adena and Hopewellmounds). As important as they were tothe functioning of society, rock moundswere only one part of a mortuary sys-tem that included caves, rock shelters,and village areas.

The last major aspect of the transfor-mation involves settlements. In manyareas of the Midwest, larger communi-ties fragmented during this periodonly to reform into the larger and larg-er settlements, a dispersal and regener-ation that would result in large townsand mound centers along the Missis-sippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Rivers afterAD 900. Our region shows an aggre-gate trend. First, large villages arefound throughout the Gasconadedrainage often located on high riverterraces near the confluence of perma-nent tributary streams and rivers likethe Gasconade and Big Piney. Second,other sites ,including base camps andupland resource sites, were essential tohunting and collecting. These basecamps included both caves and rockshelters and large sites above thesecaves and in the valley below. Third,rock mounds located on bluff topsoverlooking caves and rock art com-pleted a neighborhood of sites, that wenow call the site complex. Site com-plexes are clusters of sites related bytime and function. Caves, rockmounds, and rock art served as thefocus of ritual activity and these ritualsites are fully integrated with the secu-lar habitation and resource sites near-by. The difference between our regionand similar regions is that our diversesets of sites function in a complementa-ry fashion intentionally incorporating avariety of secular and ritual sites

By AD 1000, there are significantlymore sites with Late Woodland arti-facts and cultural layers than are repre-sented in earlier time periods.Nowhere is this better represented

than the site complex. In the last fewyears we have discovered six site com-plexes, including Miller, Ramsey,Lohraff, Wilson, Kerr, and Davis. Manyof these complexes contain the cavesites that I have mentioned before withArchaic and earlier Woodland compo-nents. However, the emergence of thesite complex as the fundamental typeof settlement is very different than pre-vious periods. This shift towards anaggregated system represents a newinnovation in the region and stands incontrast to the settlements that seemedto be extremely stable that lasted forseveral thousand years. Such a newsystem, without any prior evidence,may have come about through theintroduction of people into our region.With these exciting implications, Iwould now like to return to the neigh-borhood of sites I began this articlewith, known as the Lohraff Complex.Lohraff, and all of the site complexes,constitute a unique settlement and rit-ual system that may have been ances-tral to historic tribes.

Lohraff Complex consists of a rockmound, rock art site, a large open-airhabitation site, a cave, two rock shel-ters (one is Albertson Rock Shelter),and an extensive open-air site on a ter-race nearby called Lohraff Base CampIII (Figure 19). The array of sites thatcomprise the “secular” component ofthe Lohraff Complex yielded animpressive array of stone tools, pottery,food remains and radiocarbon dates. Awide variety of vessel forms and deco-rated ceramics were recovered fromlevels that date from AD 900 to 1400.In keeping with the pottery traditionthat began around AD 500 in ourregion, nearly all of the pottery foundat Late Woodland sites, including ourcomplexes, is well-made thin walledpots (jars, bowls, and occasional bot-tles). Occasionally, we find uniquepottery fragments indicative of tradewith the outside. One example foundat Albertson Rock Shelter (in theLohraff Complex) is a flared-rim frag-ment from a globular jar that dates toAD 1370. Its shape and technologicalattributes suggest interaction withprairie cultures in northern Missouriand southern Iowa.

Lohraff, and the other site complexes,represent the remains of prehistoriccommunities, therefore sites such ascaves, rock mounds, and rock art arearchaeological evidence of prehistoric


Figure 16. Late Woodland Pot fromWilson Cave.

Figure 17. Late Woodland Rice Side Notched and Scallorn ArrowPoints from Various Sites Across Fort Leonard Wood.

Figure 18. Late Woodland Rock Burial Mound(Glueck’s Cairn). Note the central damage by looters.

rituals that helped maintain these com-munities. The ritual significance ofeach of these site types is related toboth their function and the placementon the landscape. The ritual elementsthat comprise the Lohraff Complexinclude Lohraff Cave, Rock Moundand Rock Art (Figure 20). Lohraff Cavecontains multiple chambers and nearlywhole Late Woodland pots on the sur-face. Two low, oval earth/rock moundswithin the southeast chamber stronglysuggest human burials. Only mappingwas completed at this site, due to itspristine nature and human remains.The Lohraff Rock Burial Mound, locat-

ed on the bluff crest above LohraffCave, was recorded but no excavationsattempted due to the sensitivity ofunearthing human remains. Rockmounds are linked directly to LateWoodland mortuary ritual. Thus rockmounds were likely focal points forreligious and social ceremonies inaddition to being mortuary sites.

The Lohraff Rock Art site, located ontwo large boulders (Figure 20), is avery significant ritual space. The sym-bols can be divided into two groupsrepresenting earth and sky (Figure 21).The earth motifs are found on the

largest boulder and are primarilybisected ovals or fertility symbols, rep-resenting the Earth Mother or MotherCorn, a deity represented in the pan-theon of many historic Midwest prairieand Plains tribes. Rock art experts alsosuggest that the bisected oval may rep-resent a mortar and pestle or Ho'-e-ga,the Osage ritual name for earth.

Located on the same rock is a figureidentified as a shaman or medicineman, the mediator between earth andsky. This figure is positioned withelbows bent and arms raised. The headseems to be in profile and its shapeindicates either a hair knot at the backor a ‘beak’ if the figure is wearing amask or headdress. There is an objectin the raised hand to the left that couldportray a rattle, and the right handappears to hold a baton or rattle. In thespring of 2004, 3-D mapping specialists

scanned the rocks at Lohraff Complexand revealed that the shaman is wear-ing a mask and headdress.

The most prominent sky symbols arelocated on a separate rock to the northand are a bird with a spotted breastthat represents a hawk or eagle, andbird prints (Figure 22). Many NorthAmerican oral traditions describe twinsons of the Earth Mother called the“thunderers”, one of which is civilizedand the other wild. In several accounts,the wild boy is killed and then resur-rected as a spotted hawk or eagle. Thepresence of this motif could symbolizea vision quest in which a person seeksa guiding spirit or signify a territorialmarker for a sky-related clan group.

Based on the images and placement ofrock art at Lohraff, it is likely that thesite was the actual location of death,


It was a cold and icy evening in 1914, when Ivan was born, the 5th son, of 7 children, to Henry and Nora Bowling. Atbirth, the doctor spanked and rubbed Ivan to no avail. Sadly, he pronounced Ivan dead to Nora, but Nora, a woman ofgreat faith, knew that this son was destined to serve her God and directed the doctor to hand the baby over to her.

Whereupon, Nora, without having had any knowledge or training, revived her son with mouth to mouth resuscitation,Ivan grew to be a strong and healthy boy.

Ivan first met Irene when he was four years old. Irene planted a kiss on Ivan and he promptly pushed her away andsaid, “I like you Irene, but I don’t like you that much.” Little did the two know they were destined to be together for therest of their lives.

Ivan attended Pleasant Grove Country School, where after graduating from the 8th grade, he went on to attend Way-nesville High School, graduating in the class of 1933. During high school, Ivan played on the basketball team. He creditshis coach, Tom Turpin, for having had a positive influence on his life. Times were tough; Ivan borrowed $80.00 from hisbrother so that he could go to high school and participate on the team. Ivan walked 12 miles to Richland, the nearest store,to purchase clothing and school supplies such as a pair of shoes, 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of slacks and jockey shorts. Whenhe went to ball trips and they stopped to eat, Ivan would sit at a table with Catsup, order a bowl of Chili and stretch it outby adding to it lots of catsup.

When Ivan graduated from high school, the country was still suffering from the Great Depression and jobs were few and far between. Ivan was fortunate to get ajob working at filling station, where he received $0.25 for a 12 hour workday, in addition to a place to sleep and food to eat.

In November 1933, Ivan traveled to Glasgow, Montana to work with his older brother Adrain on the Fort Peck Dam. Shortly after Ivan had been working in Mon-tana, a law was passed where only Montana residents could work on the dam, forcing Ivan to lose his job. Ivan hopped a train to California where he lived with hisuncle’s family and worked on a farm. Later he picked oranges and lemons in the San Joaquin Valley. At Christmas time, he hitchhiked back to Missouri to see hisfamily where he and Irene started their courtship. When Ivan returned to California, he took a job in Los Angeles, making tires for $1.25 an hour. During this time,he and Irene wrote letters to each other.

In 1937, Irene, her parents and her brother Warford and his wife, drove to California where on 22 May 1937 they were married. Ivan got on the Los Angeles FireDepartment where he faithfully served as a firefighter for 26 years. Ivan and Irene have 3 children, 7 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. Ivan gardens, fishesand advises friends on how to use herbs and other healthful foods. He and Irene exercise daily. Ivan walks 2-3 miles a day and he recently walked the entire 9 milesfor Genesis, leaving many much younger men and women in his 91 years of dust. He and Irene attend Westside Baptist Church, where they will be celebrating their70th wedding anniversary with family and friends on 23 June 2007.

I n a time when the average marriage lasts between 5-8 years, Arthur Ivan Bowling (Ivan) and Hazel Irene Bowling (Irene) recently celebrated their 69th weddinganniversary. Happy 69th anniversary to Ivan and Irene Bowling. You continue to be a blessing in this community and in our church. We thank you and we love you!

To all of our Firemen, we are greatly indebted to your selfless and dedicated service to us. May God keep a hedge of protection around you and your families.GOD BLESS AMERICA!

DEBORAH A. HOOPERAttorney at Law

119 N. Benton StreetWaynesville, MO 65583

Figure 19. Lohraff Complex. The Rock Art Boulder is thrusting to the sky. Figure 20. Lohraff Cave, and Boulder Containing Rock Art. The Complex alsocontains a Rock Mound.

identity, fertility, clan, or vision questrituals, a central focus of the lives ofNative Americans. Rock art sites arefound on prominent ridge crests, thatwhen viewed from below appear tothrust into the sky representing (ritual)access to the sky. These same ridgeshave caves in their slopes, where thereis easy access to the earth. Creation ofboth earth- and sky-related rock artimages near caves and rock moundsindicates that both concepts wereimportant as a ritual duality where nei-ther earth nor sky can exist without theother, and both earth- and sky-relatedrituals were necessary elements in thelives of our Late Woodland peoples.Such dualities are expressed in thesocial organization, kinship, and cos-mology of many native historic NorthAmerican groups, including the Osage.In this regard, the presence of earthand sky motifs suggests Osage socialand political structure which was cre-ated as a model of the cosmos with theearth and sky as the two main divi-sions. This duality is reflected in vil-lage plan, organization of the clan sys-tem, and clan/tribal priesthoods.

Late Woodland spiritual and secularworlds were intertwined with secularsites (short-term occupation, special-function/processing, and long-termhabitation), intentionally interspersedwith ritual sites (caves, rock mounds,and rock art). Site complexes, there-fore, are the archaeological remnants oflocal Late Woodland settlement andritual systems and my interpretation ofthe rock art images as an earth/skyduality with well-dated archaeologicaldeposits indicate that this dualistic cos-mology has considerable antiquity.

Cahokia and the Gasconade Autonomy

After about AD 900 to 1000 in portionsof the Midwest and Southeast, a newcycle of cultural florescence wouldeclipse the Hopewell, known as Missis-sippian. This period is marked by thecommitment to maize agriculture,large mound centers, the developmentof social and political hierarchies, tech-nological changes (elaborate pottery indiverse forms), and elite burial ceremo-nialism. Nowhere is this cultural flo-rescence better represented than at thesite of Cahokia, the largest prehistoricarchaeological site in North America(north of Mexico). Located two hoursfrom Fort Leonard

Wood, Cahokia was the first, largest,and most spectacular. It is also themost puzzling. While the largest Mis-sissippian mound groups in the U.S.contain twenty to thirty round andplatform mounds, Cahokia containsover a hundred. While most majortowns contained hundreds and per-haps a few thousand people, Cahokiagrew to hold up to ten thousand and, ifyou count the suburbs, upwards totwenty thousand people. There wouldnot be another city of Cahokia’s size inNorth America until Philadelphia inthe early 1800s. Immense flattopmounds, like Monks Mound, rival thepyramids at Giza in size and we nowknow Cahokians had their version ofStonehenge called Woodhenge.

According to some archaeologists,Cahokia became a vortex of nativesocial, political, economic, and reli-gious activity. And Cahokia, like manyof the northern Mississippian centers,was removed in time and space fromEuropean intrigues. This means its riseand fall has to be explained by pre-Columbian causes. Regardless, some ofits prominence and meteoric rise wasdue to its location. Located at the con-fluence of the Mississippi, Missouriand Illinois Rivers, Cahokians utilizedthe rivers, oxbows, fertile soils, andabundant game. They undoubtedlywere in a position to manipulate traderoutes as the nexus for the middle andeastern half of the country.

If one looks at a road map today, thedistance from Fort Leonard Wood toCahokia is around 195 km by canoe.The relatively short distance and navi-gable rivers made interactions withMississippian cultures to the north,east, and south not only possible butalmost inevitable. It is inconceivable tothink that people living in the Ozarkswere not aware of Cahokia, or, for thatmatter, the large Mississippian moundcenters in the Bootheel. Nevertheless,the archaeological evidence againpoints to a very limited degree of inter-action. Obviously, maize and potterystyles were slowly entering into ourregion. We do have a very suspiciouswater bottle fragment found in Laugh-lin Cairns above Laughlin Cemetery.However, what are profoundly absentare the social and organizational prin-cipals, ceremonialism, and widespreadtrade of Mississippian material culture.The awareness of Mississippian cul-tures so close to our region begs the

question of why the Gasconadedrainage remained apart. One explana-tion is that Cahokians and others werenot interested in an established LateWoodland culture. Another explana-tion could be the geographic separa-tion. Still another explanation is thatour region did trade and interactintensely with adjacent regions like theMeramec River and with the LateWoodland Boone culture located to thenorth. These areas, in turn, probablyhad steady contact with their easternneighbors.

Maintaining lifestyles and beliefs,while larger and more complex cul-tures swirled around you for almost500 years, means that our region tookgreat lengths to maintain traditions.The site complexes described above isone example of a culture that main-tained their own traditions and identi-ty. Undoubtedly, geographic separationhelped but we think it also had to dowith incompatibility of cultures.Regardless, there seems to be somewell defined boundaries between ourLate Woodland culture and the Missis-sippian World.

It is clear that we have an establishedand distinctive Late Woodland culturethat began around AD 500 and lasteduntil AD 1430. The transformation,including the introduction of pottery,burial mounds, and unique settle-ments, indicates that new populationscame into the northern Ozarks, settledin, and then persisted for a thousandyears. During this time, our regiondefinitely communicated with the out-side world while maintaining its tradi-tions until abandonment around AD1450. I have refuted the term abandon-ment when describing our regionbecause it simply does not apply dur-ing our great span of time. After AD1450, it does apply. This leads me intomy final discussion on our Protohis-toric period (AD 1400-1690).

Protohistoric Period(AD 1400-1690)

orthe Mysterious Period Redux

Of all the Prehistoric periods, exclud-ing pre-Paleo, the Proto historic is themost mysterious. In many parts ofNorth America, especially the northernMississippian communities, changewas in the air. Whether it was broughtabout by social or environmental caus-

es or a combination of the two, manyareas were simply abandoned.Although the De Soto entrada docu-ments numerous mound centers in theSoutheastern United States, our regionand the northern Mississippian areasincluding Cahokia, were not occupied.The disconnect between solid archaeo-logical evidence for the Late Prehis-toric Period and zero archeological evi-dence for the protohistoric causedarchaeologists to throw in the towelregarding links between prehistoriccultures and historic era tribes. All ofour investigations at Fort LeonardWood have failed to record even onesite with artifacts or radiocarbon datesthat post date AD 1430; however, aproposed link to historic tribes is diffi-cult but not impossible.

At this point allow me to speculate.Until now, I have relied on solidarchaeological information to tell thestory of longevity and uniqueness. Thelack of archaeological data for the pro-tohistoric presents me with an oppor-tunity to hypothesize and push theenvelope, so to speak. The northernOzarks are often referred to as historicOsage jurisdictional territory, althoughthis assumption should take intoaccount linguistic data and populationdispersal during the Late Prehistoric.First, the Dhegiha Siouan speakingpeoples (Osage, Kaw, Omaha, Ponca,and Quapaw) tell of an eastern originand migration across the MississippiRiver. Second, the migration storiesand linguistic data point to oneSiouan–speaking entity during thisperiod. Third, our Late Woodlandtransformation dates to AD 400-500.This is a time of great change in thenorthern Ozarks, a time of populationmovement into our region. I suggestthis population was the Dhegiha.Fourth, ritual clusters within site com-plexes, including rock mounds, rockart and caves, provide clues that sug-gest Siouan social and religious struc-ture. And, finally, our region was aban-doned in the early 1400s. In 1690, wefind the Osage and Kaw in westernMissouri.

It is not satisfying to end my discus-sion of ten thousand years of prehisto-ry on a note of uncertainty and specu-lation. But for now, that is goodenough. The abandonment of ourregion and lack of archaeological evi-dence is not especially disturbing tome. The archaeological record of North


Figure 21. Line drawing of bisected ovals and photographof shaman. Figure 22. Line Drawing, Photograph, and Photograph of Snowy Hawk or Eagle.

America is replete with abandonmentsfrom Chaco to Mesa Verde or Cahokiato the Ohio River Valley. I find it ironic,to say the least, that I know moreabout ten thousand year old Daltonpoints than I do of how our region wasoccupied only four hundred years ago.The protohistoric has caused a lot ofheartburn in archaeology across thecountry and like any other time period,it will take archaeological evidence andcreativity to fill in the gaps that puzzleus. Unfortunately, the linkage betweenarchaeological cultures and historicremains is also political and in thatworld speculation and not evidencemay rule.

Conclusions

Our archaeological record shows thatfor several thousands of years ourNative American cultures were part ofa vast hunting and gathering paradise.Communication with the drainages tothe east and south was constant. How-ever, once pronounced regional tradi-tions were formed, our region began toturn inward. Some of it had to do withgeographic separation, but, later intime it, was willful. And it ebbed andflowed. Sometimes interaction andinnovation were accepted and some-times they were not. Communicationseemed to be constant since our regionwas clearly aware of both of the two

major cultural climaxes in the eastknown as the Hopewell and Mississip-pian.

As post archaeologist, I am often askedtwo questions. How long have NativeAmerican tribes been at Fort LeonardWood and who were they? The firstquestion is 10, 000 years with almostcontinuous occupation. As you haveread, the second question is more diffi-cult. For thousands of years, the highlyadaptable and successful ancestors toour historic tribes were not recogniza-ble as a tribe. They probably spoke anancestral Siouan language but the timedepth is too great to think about realconnections. From the Late Woodlandtransformation onward, the links aremore plausible, thanks to our enor-mous data base that includes the rockmounds and rock art.

The goal of an archaeologist is to gath-er evidence and tell a story of theworld as it was. I have been fortunateto work at an installation that takespride in its history: Native American,American settler, and military. As anarchaeologist, I have tried over theyears to excavate important sites whennecessary, preserve when possible, andsimply avoid archaeological sites thatdo not need our help or, by their sensi-tivity, should remain untouched. Overthe years, we have generated an enor-

mous data base that allows us to tell anearly complete story of our NativeAmerican people. I think it is incredi-bly cool that we have artifacts that dateto the end of the Ice Age and rock artthat offers glimpses into prehistoric rit-ual. Along the way, we felt it alsoimportant to move beyond the sheerbeauty of our artifacts and tell a storythat sounds familiar to mostOzarkians. The themes of adaptation,longevity, uniqueness, and resilienceresonate across time and link ourancient Native Americans with theirhistoric American counterparts. It alsoprovides us with a frame of referencefor comparing and contrasting ourregion with the greater Midwest. Tome, this is what archaeologists do best

They count and study artifacts tochronicle minute and long-termchange. And, in the end, they tell astory of a particular region, especiallya region that is as rich and diverse asthe northern Ozarks.

Finally, it is my hope that you willtravel to Cahokia or visit a mysticalplace like my neighborhood of sites.The voices of the past are not reallysilent. They are out there whisperingon a windswept bluff, or in a museum,on a dig, or maybe your backyard!.Take the time to enjoy Missouri’sbountiful prehistorical and historicalheritage!


Meeks Country CornerAccounting

Downtown Beauti-fication

Smith and Turley Dianna Linnenbringer

Looking at Miller Cave from across the Big Piney River

from dalton to shamans: ten thousand years of pulaski...

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