WSU archeologists surveying Sand Creek sites

An archeological survey is being conducted on sites along Sand Creek to uncover information about people who used to live in the area — and to honor several North Newton archeologists who made significant contributions in their field.

Dr. David Hughes, associate professor at Wichita State University, approached North Newton city administrator John Torline last fall to see about undertaking a project to honor the centennial of archaeologist Waldo Wedel’s birth, as well as highlight other famous archeologists who have ties to North Newton and Bethel College.

Wedel was born in what was then Newton and is now North Newton and attended Bethel College.

Rachel Pannabecker, director of Kauffman Museum in North Newton, said Wedel was affiliated with the Smithsonian and is considered the father of Great Plains archaeology.

Hughes said Wedel “defined what we know and need to learn about Plains archaeology in several books, and attained an international reputation for scholarship, diligence, and pioneering efforts and improving our understanding of prehistory and history.”

Dr. Emil Haury also was from North Newton and attended Bethel College. Haury completed his career at the University of Arizona and the Arizona State Museum, Hughes said.

“He was seminal in our understanding of the first Americans, exploring sites in Arizona that date to more than 12,000 years ago while also enhancing our understanding of the prehistoric puebloan peoples of Arizona and later times,” Hughes said. “He pioneered the application of tree-ring dating of archeological sites during the 1930s and went on to define many central elements of archaeology in the southwestern United States.”

Pannabecker said Haury is considered the father of southwestern archaeology.

Pannabecker noted another archaeologist, Roland Richert, who worked with the National Park Service. Richert, who also attended Bethel College, did work related to the southwest part of the country, particularly related to the Navajo Indians.

“Each of these three men made a very huge contribution to interpreting the archaeological significance of Native American cultures,” Pannabecker said.

Project details

Recognition of these archeologists ties in with a current North Newton project. Torline, North Newton’s city administrator, said North Newton received a grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation for eight interpretive signs along Sand Creek.

The signs will tell the story of different features and history of the area, including one for Bethel College, and one to discuss the history of the Chisholm Trail ruts in the area.

Two of the signs will be directly related to the work of the current archaeological survey.

One will recognize the work of some of North Newton’s famous archeologists, while one will tell the story of past people groups with information collected through the survey.

North Newton provided funding for basic costs such as vehicle and equipment usage, Hughes said, with much of the work being done by WSU student volunteers who donate their afternoons and weekends to the project.

Besides providing North Newton with information, other purposes will be accomplished, Hughes said.

“The end result is going to be some new information for Kansas Archeology, a technical report that will be given to the Kansas State Historical Society, and a short report or pamphlet written for the general public that will explain what we have been doing and what we have found,” Hughes said.

A public presentation about Waldo Wedel will be hosted this fall by Bethel College, Hughes said.

What has

been found

Hughes said the North Newton project is an archeological survey, not a dig.

“Most people think of archeologists as digging, but the truth is, we spend far more time conducting archeological survey than we do on excavation,” Hughes said. “Excavation of an archeological site destroys the site as surely a bulldozer or other mechanical excavation can. We try to mitigate the damage our excavations cause by keeping records and the materials we find, but the site will still be destroyed. More often, we put intense effort into locating the traces of past peoples that can be found on the ground surface. This is an archeological survey.”

When conducting a survey, the people involved select a tract of land to examine and walk slowly back and forth across closely spaced parallel lines, Hughes said. In the process, archeologists look for items to provide clues about past peoples. Some examples Hughes listed are flint flakes and chips, bits of prehistoric clay pottery, and “all too rarely” he said, an artifact such as an arrow point or spearpoint.

“We look for the kinds of things that are always left behind with the passage of human habitation,” Hughes said. “From keeping detailed records of what is found where, we can begin to develop some ideas of how prehistoric people used the landscape we see today. From the shape and style of the artifacts, we can estimate how long ago those people were here and to an extent what they were doing here.”

Hughes said the team has found several archeological sites along Sand Creek “marked by the kinds of debris” he mentioned. While the finds may not be exciting to the average person, Hughes said, those with some training about how to “decode the past” see an increase in excitement.

Exactly what items are found and where is not usually released to the public out of respect for private landowners and the archaeological sites, Hughes said.

“Well-intentioned curiosity seekers can cause problems with trespass and trampling crops,” he said. “Less well-intentioned relic collectors may decide to dig holes in the sites, destroying evidence that might have been useful in understanding more about that particular piece of the past.”

What have the archeologists learned? Hughes said the items founds show “trace evidence of Kansas farms and communities from almost 1,000 years ago.” These people are related to the archeological culture known as the Great Bend Aspect — a term defined by Waldo Wedel.

The people were farmers, hunters and foragers who lived in small villages of a few houses along the banks of the more reliable streams in the area, Hughes said.

“What we have found is bits of pottery, flint tools, and possibly some daubing, these indicating the storage and cooking pots they used (the pottery), the tools they made, used and discarded on the sites (the flint tools), and daubing would indicate the presence of mud-and-stick covered houses along the banks of Sand Creek a thousand years ago,” he said.