OAS Journal - University of Oklahoma

VOLUME 53, NUMBER 1 

CONTENTS 

Trowel Marks.............................................................................................................................................................2 

Chapter Reports .........................................................................................................................................................3 

Welcome to the Society..............................................................................................................................................3 

Society Spotlight ........................................................................................................................................................4 

Book Reviews .............................................................................................................................................................5 

Rock Art .....................................................................................................................................................................7 

An Old-Fashioned Hoe, Down in Northwestern Oklahoma....................................................................................8 

The Certain Site Southern Plains Late Archaic Bison Kills..................................................................................16 

Rock Art ...................................................................................................................................................................18 

OAS Spring Dig at the Certain Site on the Flying W Guest Ranch ......................................................................19 

A Calf Creek Potpourri............................................................................................................................................20 

An Interesting Pottery Sherd from Tulsa County ..................................................................................................28 

Corner-tanged Knife................................................................................................................................................31 

An Unusual Occurrence of Ground Stone Items from Jackson County, Oklahoma ...........................................32 

Spring 2005 Seminars Set .......................................................................................................................................35 

FROM THE EDITORS: 

We continue to have a shortage of articles for the 2005 Journal year. 

Whether it’s a major article, an interesting find or a book review (book 

reviewers, please send in your reviews!), we have a place for it in the 2005 

Journal. 

© OKLAHOMA ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 2005 

1 

Oklahoma Archeology, Vol. 53, No. 1

Trowel Marks 

Hello Everyone, 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed 

the holidays. Winter is officially here now--time to 

stay indoors and dream and plan for sunny spring days 

and outdoor activities. Committees have been very 

busy planning our Spring Conference, Spring Dig, the 

Caddo Conference, Journal articles, certification 

seminars, perhaps even a Fall Dig. 

We had an excellent and informative January board 

meeting. Lois Albert mentioned there will be several 

certification seminars offered throughout this spring 

and during the dig. So watch for the dates if you are 

needing any of these seminars. 

The Caddo Conference will be March 17-19 at the 

Sam Noble Museum. Papers will be presented on 

Thursday and Friday, then on Saturday, the 19th, the 

Caddos will have a Powwow dance. Lois Albert is 

getting them all set up. 

Our OAS Spring Conference is Friday, May 6, and 

Saturday, May 7, at the Sam Noble Museum. Friday 

night is the social time with Don Wyckoff's band 

playing "Music under the Mammoth." Saturday is the 

board meeting, morning speakers, then in the 

afternoon we will have our panel of speakers 

discussing Critical Issues in Archaeology in 

Oklahoma, with an open discussion afterwards. Our 

speakers for the panel will be Pat Gilman, Lewis 

Vogele, Robert Brooks, Charles Wallis, Meeks 

Etchieson, Bob Blasing, John Hartley, Stephen 

Perkins, and KC Kraft. Saturday night is the banquet 

dinner, awards, and another guest speaker. I am still 

working on the fine details and will let you know 

more in the next issue of the Journal which will come 

out before our meeting. But it should be an interesting 

and thought provoking conference, and hopefully a lot 

of issues can be brought out into the open for 

discussion and some problems made aware of/or 

solved. 

The Spring Dig will be the Certain Site which is 

located 5 miles from Elk City. The dates are May 21- 

30. This is a late archaic bison kill site. The site is on 

the Flying W Dude Ranch and will have camping 

facilities. There is plenty of room and also a large 

dining hall for gatherings and seminars. Lee Bement 

is the archaeologist in charge and says that at this 

extensive site several hundred bison skeletons and 

many points have been found. More information will 

come later, but mark your calendar for these dates. 

On the east side of Lake Keystone is an area that is 

badly eroded and needs attention, as much has already 

been found there. But this may be a Fall Dig in the 

making. 

KC Kraft had a group meet at the Survey Department 

to clean up the big trailer, take inventory and repair 

equipment. Thanks to all who helped with this. 

The Fall Meeting will be at OSU. I will be making a 

few trips to Stillwater this summer to work on plans 

for the program with Dr. Stephen Perkins. I don't 

have any dates as yet. Dr. Perkins spoke about the 

Aztec Culture at our Central Chapter one night, so I 

know we can make this an interesting day. 

Pat Gilman told us that George Bass, who is the father 

of nautical archaeology, will be speaking March 3-4. 

And two visiting Chinese archaeologists will be 

speaking sometime in February on their work on the 

clay warriors. 

Diane Denton has come up with a project idea to 

bring in some money for the society. This is a bison 

skull necklace charm or pin with a red zigzag in either 

silver or gold. Lee Bement said he didn't see any 

problems with getting this set up. And this is 

exclusively Oklahoman!!!!! 

Archaeology Day is also still an idea for next fall. We 

think hands on things, outdoor activities, helpful 

archaeologists, and lots of information will bring in 

families....and new members. 

The downside news is that membership is down, and 

we need articles for the Journal. 

OAS has many exciting things planned for this year. I 

hope that with some good publicity, we can entice 

many who have wandered away to come back and 

reconnect with us, and that we can also get new 

individuals interested enough to join us. 

Kathy Gibbs, President 

2 


Chapter Reports 

Byrds Mill (Ada) Chapter 

They meet the 2nd Tuesday of each month with the 

exception of June, July, and August. They had a 

really good attendance for the November meeting. 

They have added one new member. They have good 

meetings planned through May, including a field trip 

planned to see cave art. 

Carl Gilley says that he is willing to go to McAlester 

and help them get set up again. He says there are 

some interested people there, and he will try to get it 

going. 

Report filed by Carl Gilley 

Tulsa Chapter 

The Tulsa chapter meets on the 4th Monday at 7 pm. 

at the Aaronson auditorium, downtown public library. 

Our Jan. 24th program was, The Osage, speaker 

Leonard Maker. On Feb 28th, our speaker will be 

Bryan Tapp, Ph.D. geologist, University of Tulsa. He 

will speak on the evolution of the Ouachita 

Mountains. Our March 28th speaker is Carol Eames. 

Her program is Walking South New Zealand. Carol is 

a retired Tulsa zoo educational curator. Our chapter 

president, Bill Obrien is going to speak to the Mayes 

County genealogical society Monday March the l4th 

in Pryor. His program is about the Texas road that 

passed between Pryor and Grand Lake. 

For an entertaining and enjoyable dinner come join us 

at Baxter Interurban, 727 S. Houston, about 5:00 p.m. 

before our monthly meeting. You may have the 

opportunity to meet our presenter and the conversation 

is never boring! Come see for yourself! 

Report filed by Charles Surber 

Central Chapter 

The Oklahoma City chapter of O.A.S. meets on the 

first Thursday of each month from 7 to 9 p.m. at the 

Garden Center in Will Rogers Park (on the southwest 

corner of N.W. 36 and I-44). 

The December meeting was a potluck dinner and 

“dirty Santa” gift exchange at the Staneks’ home. 

January’s meeting was cancelled because of ice. 

The March program (rescheduled from January) will 

be Dr. Fred Schneider, a retired anthropology 

professor, who will discuss how corn cultivation by 

Native Americans spread rapidly northward in what is 

now the U.S. 

Report filed by Charles Cheatham 

Welcome to the Society 

New Members, 12/01/2004 through 02/01/2005 

Contributing 

Chester L. Shaw, Sheridan, AR 

Dovie Warren, Granite 

Active 

Katherine Dickey, Weatherford 

Nicholas Johnson, Norman 

Lance L. Larey, Tulsa 

Billy Bob Ross, Ada 

Stewart J. Smith, OKC 

Alexander C. Ward, OKC 

Kay Weast, Weatherford 

3 


Society Spotlight 

Leland C. Bement 

Born in Texas during the fifth decade of the last 

century, I grew up in South Dakota along the Missouri 

River. Family outings along the river led to a lifetime 

infatuation with prehistoric cultures. Pot sherds make 

great skipping stones. After graduating from High 

School in El Salvador, I spent the summer 

volunteering at a late classic Maya site. My 

undergraduate career was accomplished at Fort Lewis 

College in Durango, Colorado. From there we (I 

picked up a wife and daughter along the way) moved 

to Austin, Texas so that I could continue my 

education. I received an MA and PhD from the 

University of Texas at Austin. Accompanying my 

graduate classes, I worked full time at the Texas 

Archaeological Survey (Later called TARL-SP) which 

provided a wide variety of experience in contract and 

research archaeology. My MA thesis included the 

Pleistocene animal remains from Bonfire Shelter in 

SW Texas. My PhD dissertation was the analysis of 

the human, animal, and artifactual remains from 

Bering sinkhole (also in Texas). These sites 

awakened an interest in animal bone analysis which 

continues today. Oh yes, Jason came along during 

that time. Upon completion of my PhD I searched for 

the perfect job. After turning down offers from 

prestigious contract firms I accepted a position with 

the Oklahoma Archeological Survey. I have just 

completed 13 years with the Oklahoma Archeological 

Survey—the longest I’ve stayed anywhere in my life. 

When UT plays OU at the Cotton Bowl, my team 

always wins! 

Favorite Food: Buffalo 

Favorite Animal: Buffalo 

Best Discovery: My wife, Terry, (and a painted bison 

skull) 

Favorite Activity: Do you need to ask? 

Hobby: Hunting with Jason. 

4 


Sign: Sagittarius 

Favorite Color: Blue 

Favorite Car: 1951 Chevy pickup 

Current Research: I am actively involved in the 

excavation and analysis of Paleoindian sites in 

western Oklahoma. Sites of particular note are Cooper 

and Jake Bluff. Other research interests include 

faunal analysis, bison kill sites, hunter-gatherer 

studies, and paleo-environmental reconstructions 

Book Reviews 

The Long Summer: How Climate Changed 

Civilization by Brian Fagan (Published by Basic 

Books, 2004, 284 pages, $26, ISBN: 0465022812). 

Reviewed by Jon Denton 

Brian Fagan is an archeologist known to value the 

effect of climate on history. He does not give in easily 

to alarm. That's what makes the last page of his latest 

book scary stuff. 

No doubt climate has had a great impact on human 

history. Humans have become adept at adaptation. Yet 

great societies have risen and fallen in response to the 

capricious pendulum of weather. Despite their selfproclaimed 

certainty of power, the story of many 

civilizations is written in the dust, says Fagan, an 

emeritus anthropologist at the University of 

California, Santa Barbara. 

"The collapses often came as a complete surprise to 

rulers and elites who believed in royal infallibility and 

espoused rigid ideologies of power. There is no reason 

to assume that we've somehow escaped this shaping 

process," he tells us. 

"The Long Summer" uses archeology to demonstrate 

how it happens. Most of mankind's history occurred 

during the last 15,000 years, the Holocene. As 

temperatures rose, glaciers receded and sea levels 

climbed. Human civilization responded to the long 

summer with technology, population growth and 

government. 

As he did in his previous two books linking weather 

and climate to human history -- "Floods, Famines, and 

Emperors" and "The Little Ice Age" -- Fagan shows us 

how climate influences us in positive and negative 

ways. He focuses on the rise of civilizations in what 

are now the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. 

A gradually warming earth led to a cattle herding 

culture among ancient Egyptians. Rising sea levels 

created the Persian Gulf and Fertile Crescent, which 

generated the rise of Mesopotamia. 

Not that all was wet and warm. Humans invented 

agricultural techniques in response to colder weather. 

That led them to build permanent cities and 

communities, follow rulers, devise governments, 

assemble armies and declare warfare. 

Sometimes it was simply warm or cold, with little 

moisture. Droughts in the Middle East spurred the 

deliberate cultivation of plant foods. A thousand-year 

chill, caused by a sudden shutdown of the Gulf 

Stream, led to the rise of a reindeer culture. 

The Vikings, suddenly frozen out of their excursions 

south to Europe and West to America, left discovery 

of much of the New World to the Spanish, Portuguese, 

English and French. 

Today the world is crowded with humans. Millions 

depend on a productive few for food and water. A 

sudden shift in climate could threaten a civilization 

that has become top heavy. 

That is the message Fagan's book makes clear. His 

book is an important and highly readable account of 

history, measured not by time but climate. It is 

recommended for anybody concerned about global 

warmth. 

Bison Hunting at Cooper Site 

Where Lightning Bolts Drew Thundering Herds 

By Leland C. Bement with a contribution by Brian J. 

Carter (Published by University of Oklahoma Press, 

1999, 256 pages, $19.95, ISBN: 0-8061-3053-9) 

Reviewed by Seth Hawkins 

On the far horizon, a brilliant orange-sun- drifts 

slowly below the rim of the earth. Beams of yellow 

5 


pierce the billowing white clouds as they grow ever 

larger and darker, an ominous portent of a gathering 

storm. To the south and west dark curtains of rain fall 

as jagged shafts of light split the western sky. Over the 

gently rolling, red sandstone hills, a carpet of lush 

grasses waves silently in the soft, cool breeze of the 

advancing twilight. The pungent "sage scent" of the 

prairie brushes over the landscape as the nighthawk 

dips and turns, winging its way through the darkening 

valley below. Slicing the broken divides, a sluggish, 

meandering river intrepidly makes its way to the south 

and east, twisting and tuning at the slightest 

obstruction, its murky waters carrying a heavy load of 

tawny brown silt from the high plains and the far 

distant mountains beyond. The last golden rays of 

sunlight peek over the distant western hills, reflecting 

a deep reddish hue from the broken terrace walls 

rising along the northern margins of the river's broad, 

level plain. 

The shadows quickly lengthen among the thick stands 

of elm and oak that populate the bottoms, while 

willow and cottonwood keep a solitary vigil over the 

river's dark, moody waters. With the disappearance of 

the sun's warming rays, an icy gale sweeps down off 

the high plains, transforming the serene green ribbon 

of forest into a turbulent cacophony. In the dark 

purple twilight of the eastern sky, an eerie, cloudshrouded 

moon hangs low over the darkening hills, 

her half-light giving a surreal cast to the world below. 

Overhead, cold, pulsating beacons of light pierce the 

darkness. The winter stars rise slowly over the eastern 

horizon, harbingers of a changing season, of biting 

wind and numbing cold. 

In the distance, along the river's mist filled bottoms, a 

finger-like promontory protrudes from the upland 

divide and forces its way into the serpentine valley. 

Like the ocean tide, the thick fog rolls in, lapping at 

the steeply eroded flanks of the rocky, windswept 

prominence. Atop its level expanse, a huge, roaring 

fire licks at the smothering darkness, its flame dancing 

against a backdrop of hide-draped pole shelters, 

haphazardly thrown up against the raw wind. A 

procession of dark silhouettes circles the warming 

blaze while other figures sit motionless before the 

flame, its golden light revealing bronzed, weathered 

faces, etched by wind and sun. Wrapped in hide 

blankets against the gathering cold, they dreamily 

ponder the mystic movement of wood, smoke, and 

flame. Other hearths flicker to life throughout the 

small encampment, turning back the menacing 

encroachment of darkness. Off in a distant comer, 

several young boys sit huddled together, stones in 

hand, greedily shattering the long "morrow bones" 

from the day's kill. In another comer of camp, a 

number of women kneel, bison robes pulled close, 

punching, sewing, and softening leather, nursing 

babies, and discussing the abundance of meat from the 

day's successful hunt. While in another corner of 

camp, kinsmen of the People gather around a small 

blaze tending sharpened sticks skewered with juicy 

chunks of red meat and inclined over sizzling, red 

coals. Young hunters excitedly hover around the 

elders, reenacting the events of the hunt earlier that 

day. 

A small group of bison slowly sauntered from the 

river's banks to graze on the upland pasture. As they 

made their way through the breaks, a small hunting 

party set the ambush. The small herd filed through a 

steep, narrow gorge. The hunters, armed with atlatls 

and darts tipped with dark grey and red banded, fluted 

points, followed the small herd up the draw, while 

others peered cautiously over the chasm's rim. The kill 

was fast and efficient. From above, a cloud of flint 

tipped lances descended on the unsuspecting prey with 

lightning speed. Suddenly panicked, the cows and 

their young stampeded up the steep-sided gulch. 

Thundering forward, the wild-eyed wave of brown 

bison trampled the bleached bones of their kindred 

scattered across the canyon floor. Grunting forms, 

hooves pounding, the air swirled with suffocating, 

powdery, red dust. Pushing, shoving, cows and calves 

alike struggled to keep their footing; they came 

bearing down on the grim form of a power-laden 

skull, horned and emblazoned across its brow with the 

mystical red zigzag of the lightning bolt. Careening 

forward, the lead cows came suddenly to the head of 

the draw, turning abruptly only to meet the remainder 

of the oncoming herd. Amid the chaos of colliding 

bodies, trampled in the wild confusion, frantic cows 

bellowed and men shrieked. Sleek, feathered darts 

pierced the choking dust swirling on the hot, dry air of 

that late summer day. 

For a time, the People will eat their fill. As in 

countless generations past, hunters have survived by 

the kill, while the old ones rekindle tales of bygone 

glories, of injuries, death, hunger, and starvation. The 

young sit silently on their haunches, listening intently, 

but ready to leap to their feet and recount their own 

brave deeds. Their shadows dance wildly against the 

shelter walls, and the flames from the central fire leap 

high into the night sky, reenacting its own ageless 

6 


dance. Beyond the wall of night, prowling carnivores 

make their presence known, warning cries fending off 

intruders from the remains of the old kill. 

Within the confines of fire and family, the small band 

is safe and warm, and bellies full for another day. 

These Folsom-age kills transpired in a side canyon of 

the Beaver River, not far from its -confluence- with – 

Wolf Creek and Ft. Supply. The site, its remains 

heavily eroded by the shifting course of the Beaver 

some eight hundred years previous, consisted of a 

once extensive bone bed created by three separate 

hunting episodes. All three kills were made in late 

summer or early autumn, after the rutting season, as 

was evident from tooth-eruption analysis and the 

absence of bull remains. Points from the first and 

second kills were manufactured from Alibates and a 

unique form of Edwards chert found along the 

northeast rim of the plateau. Points from the third 

episode were of Alibates and Niobrara. By comparing 

the degree of retooling to the point's length, and then 

comparing the Cooper points to those at Elida, Folsom 

and Lipscomb, it was hoped that some light could be 

shed on the population movements of these Folsom 

hunters. At Cooper, the skeletons were articulated, 

and the butchering concentrated primarily on 

retrieving the hump and shoulder meat, choice pieces. 

The tongue and brains were not utilized. This is in 

contrast to the butchering techniques used at the late 

Archaic Certain site west of Elk City. These Archaic 

hunters removed the long bones, tongues and brains. 

In addition, they knew how to set a good table, 

feasting on succulent, roasted ribs. 

archeologist's search continues and you can be a 

participant in this ongoing work. Start by delving into 

the mysteries being uncovered, the silent earth 

reluctantly revealing only some of its secrets as each 

layer of dark, pungent soil is peeled back like the 

pages of an ancient text. 

From the very beginning Lee tells his readers to 

bypass anything that seems overly technical or 

mundane. Hey, don't sell yourself short. You paid 

good money for this book and you are spending 

valuable time reading it. Slog your way through every 

printed word; digest every jot and tittle, and don't 

snooze through the boring stuff. Become a part of this 

grand adventure. The face of this primal land 

continues in a constant state of flux, but some things 

remain constant. The winds continue to blow; the 

heavenly bodies move along their timeless paths 

across the sky, and, in the evening calm, ominously 

billowing clouds once again climb above the western 

horizon, bringing with them their precious gift of rain. 

Though the People are now gone, their shadows 

remain. 

Rock Art 

By Seth Hawkins 

Who were these people? Where did they come from, 

and what became of them? By what name were they 

known? When they looked into the black night, what 

did they fear? What stories did the sun, moon, and 

stars tell them? What secret knowledge did their 

shamans posses? Who did they marry. and by what 

rules were they considered kin? What of their 

distinctive lithic technology? When, where and why 

was the fluted Folsom point developed, and when, 

why, and with what new technology was it replaced? 

We have only a "snapshot" of several of their kills at 

Cooper, but where did they establish their temporary 

camps in order to process those kills, to refit, to 

recuperate, and celebrate their good fortune? The 

7 


An Old-Fashioned Hoe, Down in Northwestern Oklahoma 

Michael W. McKay and Leland C. Bement 

The Late Prehistoric period on the southern Plains 

(1500-500 years B.P.), particularly in northwestern 

Oklahoma, is an expression of semi-sedentary bison 

hunters subsidizing their diet through generalized 

gathering of wild plants and small game. More 

importantly, however, is the evidence of burgeoning 

horticulture, particularly during the Plains Village 

period (1000-500 years B.P.) when subsistence 

regimes included farming of tropical cultigens such as 

beans, squash, and corn. Historical accounts suggest 

corn horticulture was the primary component of 

indigenous diets by the time of European contact 

(Bell, 1984, Brook 1989, 1994; Drass 1998, Lintz 

1984, Wedel 1961). 

The mixed but stable diet of the Late Prehistoric 

greatly altered native lifeways. Small-scale farming 

allowed villages to support larger numbers of people 

and this, in turn, necessitated settlement in areas 

where more arable land was accessible for farming. 

Plains Village period sites, in particular, are notable 

for their locations along major drainage systems and 

large tributaries. Generally, settlement density 

increases during the Plains Village period, and these 

settlements occupy steep terraces, high mesas, and 

elevated knolls within floodplain settings where 

porous, loamy sands are more amenable to hand 

cultivation. 

Four unique cultural complexes have been generated 

for the regions surrounding and including 

northwestern Oklahoma during the Late Prehistoric 

period (Figure 1). To the west, occupying what are 

presently the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, is the 

Antelope Creek phase of the Upper Canark variant. 

Aside from geographic positioning along major 

stream and riverbeds in the panhandle region, notable 

characteristics of Antelope Creek sites are an 

abundance of stone masonry foundation dwellings 

with central floor channels and platforms, large 

amounts of cordmarked ceramics and imported 

Puebloan-design ceramics from the southwestern 

U.S., and an affinity for Alibates agatized dolomite in 

the chipped stone inventory. Alibates was used to 

produce a characteristic Antelope Creek phase tool, 

the diamond-beveled knife (Brooks 1989, Lintz 1984, 

1986). 

8 

The second regionally associated Late Prehistoric 

complex is the Redbed Plains variant. Notable 

characteristics of the Redbed Plains variant are large 

villages located on the floodplains of the Washita 

River and its major tributaries in west-central 

Oklahoma. Redbed Plains groups farmed intensively 

along these floodplains, utilizing bone resources for 

their cultivation toolkit. Additionally, western Redbed 

Plains groups share the same affinities for Alibates 

agatized dolomite as do Antelope Creek peoples 

(Brooks 1987, 1989; Drass 1998). 

A third cultural tradition, known as the Zimms 

complex, is wedged between the Upper Canark and 

Redbed Plains groups. The Zimms complex is as yet 

poorly understood, and its definition is based upon an 

artifact assemblage that does not quite align with the 

cultural traditions on either side. Dating between A.D. 

1250 and 1450, Zimms peoples are thought to have 

occupied the westernmost reaches of the Washita 

River in far western Oklahoma, but were primarily 

located along the Canadian, Cimarron, and Beaver 

Rivers of northwest Oklahoma. Lintz (1986) views the 

Zimms complex as part of the Upper Canark variant 

since the three Zimms-related sites have dwellings 

with floor channels and platforms. Alternately, Drass 

and Moore (1987) have suggested that the Zimms 

complex is intrusive to western Oklahoma as Zimms 

sites lack the signature masonry foundations of Upper 

Canark dwellings, and unlike either Antelope Creek or 

the Redbed Plains groups, Zimms sites possess very 

limited numbers of bone horticultural implements and 

over 90% of the ceramic assemblage is plain, smoothsurfaced 

pottery (Brooks 1994; Drass and Moore 

1987; Drass et. al. 1987; Moore 1988; McKay et. al. 

2004). 

A fourth cultural complex lies to the north, 

geographically situated in what are presently 

Comanche, Clark, and Meade counties at the 

southwestern border of Kansas. The Wilmore complex 

was defined by Kansas State Historical Society 

archaeologists during a 1984 survey of four sites 

located on the upland hills above the breaks of major 

tributaries on the northern rim of the Cimarron River 

drainage (Bevitt 1994). Like the Zimms complex, the 

Wilmore complex is as yet poorly understood, being 

defined only by surface survey and limited 


Figure 1: Late Prehistoric cultural complexes and relevant site locations. 

excavation. Collectively, the Wilmore complex sites 

fit within the Plains Village tradition. The settlement 

pattern consists of small, dispersed individual 

habitations or small farming hamlets positioned along 

perennial, spring-fed streams. Dwellings generally 

have semi-subterranean floors; ceramics are 

characterized by decorated rim, smoothed cordmarked 

vessels; and chipped stone tools consist of Washita 

and Fresno arrow points, drills, perforaters??, gravers, 

and diamond-beveled or ovate knives. Horticultural 

tools are primarily of bison and deer bone. Bison 

scapula hoes are uniquely prepared through the 

removal of the glenoid head in addition to other blade 

reduction procedures such as removal of the scapular 

spine and beveling of the blade edge. Along with a 

large number of bison scapula hoes, there are many 

bison tibia digging stick tips, bison ulna picks, and a 

quantity of deer mandible sickles. 

Most Late Prehistoric artifact assemblages from 

northwestern Oklahoma and its surrounding regions 

produce quantities of fragmented and well-used bone 

9 

cultivation implements like bison and deer scapula 

hoes and tibia digging-stick tips. Rarely are there any 

chipped stone horticultural tools included in southern 

Plains assemblages. However, a recent find from the 

Smith #2 site (34HP138) in southeast Harper County 

(McKay et. al. 2004), as well as four other chipped 

stone hoes now document the use of stone hoes by 

Late Prehistoric groups. The five implements come 

from distinct but closely associated topographical 

settings and therefore, provide an opportunity for 

comparative analysis of variation in Late Prehistoric 

traditions of the northwestern Oklahoma region. 

Let’s Talk About the Hoe Collection 

The Lonker Site (34BV4) 

A fragment of a metamorphosed quartzite hoe was 

recovered during site mitigation from a badly 

disturbed, 110 x 90 x 25 cm refuse pit (Feature 5, see 

Figure 2), which held very little cultural material in 

total (Brooks 1994). Radiometric dating of associated 


Figure 2. Topographic view of the Lonker Site (34BV4) and the location of relevant features (based on Brooks 

1994:Figure 3). 

pit Features 3 and 4 produced calibrated dates of 715 

± 50 years B.P. (Beta-4716) and 750 ± 40 years B.P. 

(Beta-4717) respectively, indicating an occupation of 

the Lonker site circa A.D. 1260-1290. This time frame 

places the Lonker site in the middle of the southern 

Plains Village period, making site occupants 

contemporaneous with the early Upper Canark 

tradition (Brooks 1994, Lintz 1984, 1986). 

The hoe fragment’s definition was based upon its high 

degree of dorsal polish and a large number of linear 

striations (Brooks 1994). Unfortunately, the fragment 

is so small that striation direction is indeterminate. No 

dimensions were recorded for the hoe fragment nor 

was there discussion of material quality or color. 

Smith #2 Site (34HP138) 

A very large, elongated rectangular, bifacially 

knapped stone hoe was removed from the floor of a 

1m x 1m storage-turned-refuse pit at The Smith #2 

site. This site is positioned atop the ridge of a high, 

10 

upland knoll located at the edge of the southern breaks 

of the Cimarron River drainage in southeastern Harper 

County (McKay et. al. 2004). Radiometric dating of 

carbonized corn from the pit feature indicates site 

occupation circa A.D. 1400-1450 (Beta-195762 and 

Beta-189107) associating the site with the southern 

Plains Village period. Based upon the large quantity 

of associated surface artifacts and the presence of two 

burned post molds and a large storage pit, the site was 

most likely a small farming hamlet. The quantity of 

burned corn kernels and cob pieces removed during 

excavation of the pit feature suggests small-scale 

farming occurred either atop the knoll, or within the 

small playa zones encircling the knoll. The presence 

of Kansas pipestone as well as large quantities of Flint 

Hills chert in the artifact assemblage suggests that the 

Smith #2 occupants were involved in long distance 

exchange, or were non-local peoples that had 

imported non-local resources upon arrival. Such was 

the case with the chipped stone hoe. 

Measuring 24 x 8 x 4.3 cm, the hoe was manufactured 


Figure 3. Chipped stone hoes from northwestern Oklahoma. (a.) Siltstone hoe from Smith #2 site (34HP138); (b.) 

Day Creek chert hoe from Harper County; (c.) Florence B hoe from Texas County (IF 0-193). 

from a high-quality, chocolate-brown siltstone (Figure 

3a), similar in color but texturally different from some 

of the ferruginous Dakota quartzite found in local 

beds of Ogallala outwash gravels. The source of the 

siltstone material is unknown. Though amenable to 

knapping, the siltstone core is of a texture similar in 

coarseness to metaquartzite, making reduction 

thinning possible but difficult. The hoe, thus, has a 

high central ridge and faces that are somewhat 

convex. The convexity of both faces is equal; one face 

is not more flattened than the opposite. A small patch 

of cortex remains on the ridge of one face. The 

11 


implement is of considerable length, yet there is no 

curvature to the tool when viewed in profile. 

Therefore, it is thought that the hoe was manufactured 

from a tabular cobble or lensatic fragment of siltstone. 

The siltstone hoe is bifacially flaked by alternately 

removing a number of very large flakes from both 

sides and from each end. This knapping technique 

produced lateral edges that are straight and only 

slightly sinuous. One end of the stone is slightly 

broader than the other, and this wider end is the only 

point on the tool from which any small flakes have 

been bifacially removed, giving that end a serrated 

appearance. It is assumed that this broader, serrated 

end would have been the bit end. Neither end of the 

tool exhibits blunting/dulling nor polish. In fact, the 

only region where edge grinding appears to have been 

applied is along the lateral margins of both edges 

beginning at midline and moving distally 5 cm. 

Smoothing and slight polish across the midpoint of the 

implement suggests hafting of the tool. 

Due to its interment within the pit feature, one side of 

the hoe has been heavily calcined, leaving behind a 

patina which obscures any possible use-wear 

signatures that may be present. Other than edge 

grinding and slight polish, no notching or other 

indications of hafting technique are present. The lack 

of end or blade polish, striations, or blunting indicates 

that the tool had been deposited unused or with 

minimal use for storage and later retrieval. 

Sleeping Bear Creek Isolated Find, Harper County 

A large, elongated oval chert hoe was discovered atop 

an upland terrace overlooking Sleeping Bear Creek 

near the southern breaks of the Cimarron River 

drainage system in Harper County (Figure 3b). 

Obtained by a collector in the 1930’s, the exact 

provenience for this tool is uncertain. However, the 

general setting for this find is less than 8 kilometers (5 

miles) north of the Smith #2 site. Based upon its 

outward gray-mottled appearance and luminescence 

signature, the hoe was manufacture from Day Creek 

chert, a local lithic resource found atop the 

Cimarron/Beaver River divide in present-day Harper 

County. In fact, Day Creek chert sources are located 

only 3.2 kilometers north of the Smith #2 site 

discussed previously, and within 4.8 kilometers 

southeast of the zone where the Harper County 

Isolated Find was thought to have been discovered 

(see Figure 1). 

Judging by the convexity of the tool when viewed in 

profile, as well as the residual knapping platform on 

the poll end of the tool, the hoe was produced from a 

very large flake core. The flake core was bifacially 

flaked for thinning, leaving behind no cortex and 

producing a tool with a length of 17.6 cm, and an 

average thickness of 2.8 cm. The width of the tool’s 

bit end is 9.4 cm, while the poll measures 7.4 cm 

across. Because of large, deep flake scars, the lateral 

edges appear quite sinuous. Edge grinding is apparent 

around the tools lateral periphery. The hoe has an 

hourglass shape due to deep hafting notches placed 

immediately distal of midline. The hoe is 6.6 cm wide 

at the notches, and the notches have an average length 

of 3.6 cm and an average depth of 0.6 cm. The lateral 

edges of the notches are more heavily ground and 

blunted than the rest of the lateral periphery. 

The implement has a 2 cm wide, cream-colored vein, 

centrally located on the ventral face that courses the 

tool’s entire length. The cream-colored inclusion or 

defect is likely the reason this particular flake was 

chosen to produce a digging implement, rather than 

another tool form. Day Creek chert is often riddled 

with defects such as large phenocrystic vesicles, or 

veins of differing chert textures. In fact, the mixing of 

cream-, blue- and gray-colored material is common. 

The fact that the cream-colored portion of the flake 

has not been altered to a pink or rose color indicates 

that the flake core was probably not heat-treated. The 

cream-colored vein is not visible on the dorsal face. 

Use-related polish is apparent on both tool faces, but 

more prominent on the dorsal side of the flake 

implement. Polish on the dorsal side extends to within 

2 cm of the poll end of the tool. The bit is heavily 

battered and crushed. Flake scars on the dorsal side of 

the flake’s bit end are partially obliterated from usewear. 

Striations are not observed on either the dorsal 

or ventral surfaces, probably due to the hardness of 

Day Creek chert. 

Texas County Isolated Find 0-193 (part of the Ralph 

White Collection at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum 

of Natural History) 

As discussed by Lintz and White (1980), a teardropshaped 

stone hoe was discovered in a blowout along 

Goff Creek in what is now Texas County, Oklahoma. 

Similar to the topographical setting of Smith #2, the 

Goff Creek blowout was positioned within the gently 

rolling sand hills of the Beaver River’s northern 

breaks. Compared to the Smith #2 stone hoe, TXIF 0- 

12 


193 is much shorter, narrower, and thinner, measuring 

18 x 5 x 2.2 cm (Figure 3c). 

Based upon its original beige color, fragmented 

diatomaceous inclusions, and red color transformation 

caused by heat-treatment, it is thought that the chert 

resource used to produce TXIF 0-193 is a form of 

Florence B chert, found in the Flint Hills region of 

Kansas and extreme north-central Oklahoma 

(Oklahoma Archaeological Survey comparative 

collection: Florence chert #3). The chert cobble 

appears to have been heat-treated prior to knapping, 

making the material more brittle, texturally uniform, 

and amenable to controlled flake removal. There is no 

curvature of the tool when viewed in profile, 

suggesting the tool was manufactured from a tabular 

or lensatic cobble of chert, rather than from a large 

flake core. The lateral edges are straight, having been 

bifacially flaked. This has left not only a somewhat 

rounded central ridge grading into convex faces, but 

lateral edges that are minimally sinuous. Both faces 

are equal in convexity. 

The tool is teardrop-shaped. The wide end, thought to 

be the tool’s bit based upon the presence of heavy 

polish and linear striations, measures 2.2 cm across, 

while the opposite end measures 1.9 cm. The only 

cortex noted on the tool is a small platform of 

patinated material located adjacent to the poll or 

narrower end of the tool. The entire periphery of the 

tool appears to have been ground and blunted. The bit 

end has been crushed and rounded from continual 

battering. Either hafting or use polish is evident across 

the entire tool surface; however, one face has far more 

polish and linear striations, particularly near the bit 

end (see Lintz and White 1980:4, Figure 1). In fact, 

the polish is so extensive that it practically obliterates 

flake scars on the bit end. Because of the intensity of 

use-wear on one side versus the opposite, the 

implement is thought to be a hoe, rather than an adze 

or axe that would be expected to have equal wear on 

both sides. 

The Booth Site (14CM406) 

Radiocarbon dating suggests that the Booth site was 

occupied between A.D. 1307 and 1638. During its 

occupation, a number of pit features and dwelling 

structures had been constructed. A fragment of an 

elongated, leaf-shaped biface (see Bevitt 1994:84, 

Figure 23) manufactured from Dakota quartzite was 

recovered from one of these pit features during 

excavation. Feature 247 is a circular, straight-walled, 

flat-floor pit that appeared to have been truncated by a 

later semi-subterranean house structure (Feature 101). 

Feature 247 contained dense collections of mussel 

shell and bone fragments interspersed with ceramic 

and lithic artifacts, including the biface fragment. All 

materials were suspended in a dark, gray-brown soil 

matrix. The biface fragment was later matched with 

fragments from a donated surface collection. The 

complete implement exhibits extensive use-related 

abrasion on both ends and quite extensive abrasion 

along the central ridges of each face. No mention is 

made of residual hafting signatures, retained cortex, or 

the type of core (tabular or flake) from which the tool 

was produced. The lateral margins of the tool were 

heavily rounded from use, and a number of flake scars 

were nearly obliterated. Numerous striations were 

noted running parallel with the long axis of the tool 

and due to these characteristics the tool is considered 

to be a digging implement. 

Discussion 

There is a distance of more than 48.3 kilometers (30 

miles) between the Booth site in Comanche County, 

Kansas, and the Harper County finds and greater than 

64.3 kilometers (40 miles) between the Lonker site 

and the Harper County finds. There is an even greater 

distance between Lonker and the Goff Creek stone 

hoe further west in Texas County, yet all of these sites 

where chipped stone hoes have been recovered can 

still be considered regionally associated making it 

plausible that Late Prehistoric groups producing these 

rare hoes were culturally related. 

Contextual dates have been established on three of the 

chipped stone hoes - A.D. 1260-1290 for the Lonker 

site hoe fragment, A.D. 1400-1450 for the Smith #2 

siltstone hoe, and A.D. 1307-1638 for the Booth site 

hoe. All dates fall within the Plains Village period. 

The five chipped stone hoes in this collection were 

found on upland terraces adjacent to breaks feeding 

large tributaries of major river systems. This fact, 

coupled with the nature of Late Prehistoric lifestyles 

and the intensification of farming, leads to the 

assumption that the two isolated chipped stone hoes 

might also fit into the Plains Village temporal setting. 

While geographic and temporal similarities within the 

chipped stone hoe collection can be used to relate the 

regional groups producing chipped stone hoes, 

diagnostic features of each of the hoes produces quite 

a different picture. Each of the five hoes is quite 

unique, having been manufactured from distinct lithic 

13 


materials. Two of these lithic resources are not found 

locally. Both of the tools produced from non-local 

resources are manufactured from tabular cores, while 

the Day Creek chert hoe, made from a local resource, 

is produced from a large flake. Attributes of the parent 

cores for the Lonker and Booth site cores remain 

indeterminate. 

It appears that chipped stone hoes were heavily 

curated with a large quantity of labor invested in their 

production, use, and maintenance. All five implements 

were produced through bifacial flake reduction 

methods, removing the majority of the cortex from the 

core. The two implements manufactured from nonlocal 

resources were knapped in such a way as to 

leave straight, minimally sinuous lateral edges, while 

lateral edges that were quite sinuous were left on the 

Day Creek chert hoe. Additionally, only the Florence 

B hoe from Texas County appears to have been heattreated 

prior to manufacture. 

None of the complete stone hoes match in plan view. 

Each has a different morphology: teardrop, 

rectangular, leaf-shaped, and hourglass. However, all 

three are knapped such that a central ridge remains on 

both faces, and both faces on each tool are equally 

convex. Only the Day Creek chert hoe is notched for 

hafting. Slight grinding modifications are found on the 

lateral edges of the Smith #2, Booth, and Texas 

County hoes, but hafting polish can not be identified 

or distinguished from use-related polish. 

Due to the variability of resources used to 

manufacture the five chipped stone hoes, there is no 

consistent pattern in the use-wear signatures. The 

siltstone hoe from Smith #2 had been stored unused 

and therefore possessed little to no use-wear. In 

contrast, the Day Creek chert hoe from Harper County 

is heavily polished by the abrasion of silicates as the 

implement continually entered and pulled the sandyloam 

soils. The Lonker and Booth site hoe fragments 

and the Florence B chert hoe from Texas County all 

exhibit the same heavy polish as the Day Creek chert 

hoe. However, either because they were manufactured 

from softer lithic material than Day Creek chert or 

because they were used to perform different 

cultivating tasks than the Day Creek chert hoe, there 

are numerous linear striations present on their blade 

faces that are not apparent on the Day Creek chert 

hoe. 

The Florence B chert hoe exhibits greater polish and 

more striations on one side versus the other; however, 

it is unknown whether hoe blades were rotated and 

rehafted prehistorically, a technique that would have 

exposed each face to alternating intensities of wear 

during their use-life. In a study concerning wear 

patterns on bison scapula hoes from a number of 

Redbed Plains variant sites, Davis (1965) notes a usewear 

study performed on chipped stone hoes by 

Sergei Semenov (1964). Semenov states that the most 

prominent indicator of a tool being used as a hoe is the 

wear distribution across each face. Due to hafting and 

the angle of use, polish and linear striations will 

predominate on the outside face of a hoe blade. 

The stone hoes from Smith #2 and the Booth site 

broaden Late Prehistoric horticultural tool 

assemblages that already included bison scapula hoes 

and tibia digging stick tips. The presence of both stone 

and bone implements suggests the need for a digging 

implement that is stronger than bone. The upland 

setting of these finds provides contexts where stone 

implements are more desirable than bone. At Smith 

#2, the storage pit was dug into dune clay that would 

have been impervious to bone tools. In fact, because 

of the soil density, archaeologists had trouble cutting a 

clean profile across the feature’s face using modern 

steel shovels. In this regard, the modern definition of 

these stone implements might be closer to the 

description of a “mattock”, rather than a “hoe”. 

Finally, the setting from which all five chipped stone 

implements were recovered is intriguing. All five sites 

are located in the upland hills bordering breaks that 

are nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the sandchoked 

channels of braided stream systems. Most of 

the nearby streambeds tend to flow ephemerally, 

usually carrying only runoff precipitation. 

As discussed by Lintz and White (1980:5), 

horticulture in this upland dune setting is more akin to 

wild plant harvesting. Quoting ethnographic records, 

Lintz and White state that digging implements like 

chipped stone hoes were likely used to extract tubers 

and roots such “…as Indian turnip (Psoralea 

esculenta and hypogea), bush morning glory (Ipomoea 

ieptophylla), and Jerusalem artichoke (Helianhus 

tuberosus) (that) were important dietary supplements, 

while wild plum roots (Prunus spp.), and yucca 

(Yucca spp.) had medicinal uses.” The quantity of 

charred corn apparent in the Smith #2 storage pit 

indicates that upland farmers were participating in 

intensive cultivation of tropical cultigens, though 

charred blue-funnel lily corms in the pit fill 

substantiates at least the subsidizing of farming with 

14 


wild plant gathering including some subsurface plant 

parts. Extraction of the corms and probably other 

resources may, in fact, have necessitated the 

production and use of chipped stone implements 

(McKay et. al. 2004). 

References 

Bell, Robert E. 

1984 Prehistory of Oklahoma. Academic Press, 

Orlando. 

Brooks, Robert L. 

1987 The Arthur Site: Settlement and Subsistence 

Structure at a Washita River Phase Village. 

University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Archaeological 

Survey, Studies in Oklahoma’s Past 15, Norman. 

1989 The Village Farming Societies. In From 

Clovis to Comanchero: Archaeological Overview of 

the Southern Great Plains edited by J. L. Hofman, R. 

L. Brooks, J.S. Hays, D.W. Owsley, R.L. Jantz, M.K. 

Marks, and M.H. Manhein pp. 71-90. Arkansas 

Archaeological Survey, Research Series No. 35, 

Fayetteville. 

1994 Variability in Southern Plains Village Cultural 

Complexes: Archaeological Investigations at the 

Lonker Site in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Bulletin of 

the Oklahoma Anthropological Society Bulletin 43:1- 

27. 

Davis, Michael K. 

1965 A Study of Wear on Washita River Focus 

Buffalo Scapula Tools. Bulletin of the Oklahoma 

Anthropological Society 13:153-159. 

Drass, Richard R. 

1998 The Southern Plains Villagers. In 

Archaeology on the Great Plains edited by W. 

Raymond Wood, pp. 415-455. University Press of 

Kansas, Lawrence. 

Drass, Richard R. and Michael C. Moore 

1987 The Linville II Site (34RM92) and Plains 

Village Manifestations in the Mixed Grass Prairie. 

Plains Anthropologist 32:118:404-418. 

Drass, Richard R., Timothy G. Baugh, and Peggy 

Flynn 

1987 The Heerwald Site and Early Plains Village 

Adaptations in the Southern Plains. North American 

Archaeologist 8(2):151-190. 

Lintz, Christopher 

1984 The Plains Villagers: Antelope Creek. In 

Prehistory of Oklahoma edited by Robert E. Bell, pp. 

325-346. Academic Press, New York. 

1986 Architecture and Community Variability 

within the Antelope Creek Phase of the Texas 

Panhandle, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma 

Archaeological Survey, Studies in Oklahoma’s Past 

14. Norman. 

Lintz, Christopher and Bill White 

1980 A Chipped Stone Digging Implement from 

the Oklahoma Panhandle. Oklahoma Anthropological 

Society Newsletter 28:3. 

McKay, Michael W., Leland C. Bement, and Richard 

R. Drass 

2004 Testing Results of Four Late Holocene Sites 

Harper County, Oklahoma. University of Oklahoma, 

Oklahoma Archaeological Survey, Resource Survey 

Report No. 49. Norman. 

Moore, Michael C. 

1988 Additional Evidence for the Zimms Complex? 

A Re-evaluation of the Lamb-Miller Site, 34RM25, 

Roger Mills County, Oklahoma. Bulletin of the 

Oklahoma Anthropological Society 37:136-150. 

Semenov, Sergei A. (M. W. Thompson, translation) 

1964 Prehistoric Technology: An Experimental 

Study of the Oldest Tools and Artifacts from Traces of 

Manufacture and Wear. Cory, Adams, and MacKay, 

London. 

Wedel, Waldo R. 

1961 Prehistoric Man on the Great Plains. 

University of Oklahoma. Press, Norman. 

15 


The Certain Site Southern Plains Late Archaic Bison Kills 

Leland C. Bement and Kent J. Buehler 

Abstract 

Testing of a bison bone deposit at the base of a 25m 

sandstone cliff at the Certain site, 34BK46, western 

Oklahoma, yielded resharpening flakes and a 

butchering tool. These artifacts, plus the density of 

bison remains suggest this cliff was used as a bison 

jump. Bone from this deposit was radiocarbon dated 

to 2200 ybp, some 300-400 years older than the bones 

in the arroyo kills for which the site is best known. In 

addition, we found another bison bonebed two meters 

deeper than the first. Although little excavation has 

been accomplished in this lower bonebed, we did 

recover a chert chip suggesting it too is the result of a 

bison jump. The two deposits at the base of the cliff 

make the Certain site the second confirmed bison 

jump on the southern Plains. The geomorphological 

history of the canyon provides the mechanism leading 

to the abandoning of the jump technique for the arroyo 

trap technique. Evidence of a shift in environmental 

conditions from xeric to mesic ushered in the 

Woodland horticulturalists. 

Introduction 

Bison hunters on the North American plains employed 

communal kill techniques including arroyo traps, sand 

dune traps, pounds, surrounds, and jumps. Examples 

of each of these techniques are found in the 

archeological record on the northern plains (Frison 

1991). The same can not be said for the southern 

plains, where the majority of kills occurred in arroyo 

or sand dune traps. Bonfire Shelter (Dibble and 

Lorrain 1968; Bement 1986), in southwest Texas, has 

been the southern plains’ only example of a bison 

jump. Recent work at the Certain bison kill site, 

34BK46, in western Oklahoma yielded evidence for a 

second bison jump on the southern plains. Drawing on 

information provided by geomorphology, taphonomy, 

and archaeology, the Certain site jump may contain 

more than one jump episode. 

The Certain site is best known for its extensive arroyo 

trap kills located in several gullies along a 300m 

stretch of a spring fed tributary of Sandstone Creek 

(Bement and Buehler 1994; Buehler 1997). The 

arroyo kills date between 1800 and 1600 years ago. 

Large corner-notched dart points, hammerstones, and 

16 

resharpening flakes comprise the cultural material 

from these kills. Butchering and processing features 

accompany the kills, but, as yet, no formal camp site 

has been found. 

While the arroyo traps are located in short gullies on 

the north side of the canyon, the 25m high sandstone 

cliff is on the south side. At the base of this cliff, and 

on the downstream edge, are the bone deposits 

attributed to the jump (Figure 1, Area H). The bone 

deposit uncovered in 1997 dates 400 years older (2200 

bp) than the age of the arroyo kills. A second, lower 

bone deposit discovered during the 1998 excavation 

may extend the use of this site back further in time. 

Investigation of the upper bone deposit and the 

erosional surface bone in a 2x2m area yielded four 

resharpening flakes, one flake butchering tool, and the 

partial remains of at least seven individuals (based on 

the number of right mandibular diastema). The lower 

bone deposit was briefly exposed in a 50x50cm unit 

and contained portions of at least three bison (based 

on humerii) and a single chert chip. The lithics 

provide the cultural link to the bison remains. The 

context of the bones at the bottom of a 20+ m cliff 

offers the interpretation that this is a jump site. 

Evidence of in situ Context 

Our argument that the bonebeds at the bottom of the 

cliff are in situ, primary deposits is found in the soil 

development, articulation of skeletal elements, 

taphonomy, and presence of gray sediments resulting 

from the microbial breakdown of organics left from 

the butchering of the animals. A profile trench was cut 

along the downstream edge of the bone-bearing 

deposits. A description of the deposits in this trench 

(by Brian Carter, OSU) indicates roughly horizontal 

rather than vertical stratigraphy resulting from the 

erosion of sediments and then the collapse of more 

recent overburden to bury the exposed older deposit. 

The basic sequence is one of vertical bedrock face 

with vertically stratified sediment remnants set against 

it, then buried under colluvial materials from the top 

of the profile. The vertically stratified deposits are red 

silty sands with occasional small sandstone pebbles. 

Overlying colluvial material consists of mottled red 

and brown sandy loams with pockets of organic 

solum. 


Figure 1. Bison arroyo traps and jump, Area H, at the Certain site. 

Geomorphic History of the Canyon 

The surface and near-surface geology of this portion 

of western Oklahoma are dominated by late 

Pleistocene to Holocene age sand dunes; Ogallala 

formation sands and gravels; and redbed sandstones of 

Permian age. In the vicinity of the Certain site, the 

Ogallala deposits are merely deflated remnants 

composed primarily of gravels on hill tops or 

reworked into the drainage bottoms. Permian age 

sandstones outcrop in all drainages and most 

interfluvs. 

The canyon is cut into the Permian age sandstone and 

has undergone numerous cut and fill sequences--some 

of which we can date. By the time the gullies were 

employed, the main canyon had filled to within 3 

meters of the canyon rim, rendering the cliff to a 3 m 

drop and burying the cliff base deposits under 17 m of 

fill. 

The gullies and canyon continued to fill during and 

after the use of the arroyo traps. During the early 20th 

century, it was possible to drive a tractor from one 

bank of the canyon to the other. Now, due to extreme 

17 

erosion, the 25 m deep canyon is once again being 

flushed of deposits. 

Sustained research into the documentation and dating 

of soil formation events in the canyon systems of 

western Oklahoma by Pete Thurmond and Don 

Wyckoff has yielded evidence for cyclical xeric and 

mesic intervals averaging 400 years duration during 

the late Holocene. The period of arroyo use at Certain 

falls within one of the xeric periods. The cliff use 

predates the series documented by Thurmond and 

Wyckoff, but falls within a xeric period documented 

by others in the region (Ferring 1986; Hall 1982). 

Preliminary carbon isotopic analysis of bone from the 

various kill and processing events corroborates the use 

of the kill site during xeric periods. 

The sequence of site use has been reconstructed as 

follows. The cliff jump dates to around 2280 yrs. BP 

and carbon isotope analysis indicates these animals 

subsisted on a diet composed of 98% C4 xeric adapted 

grasses. The first of the arroyo traps (Trench C) dates 

to roughly 1760 yrs BP and these animals had a diet 

composed of nearly 95% C4 grasses. Trench A 

animals were killed around 1680 BP. By this time the 


diet sees an increase in the C3 grass component of the 

diet although C4 grasses still dominate at 80%. The 

last arroyo kill for which we have data (Trench G) 

occurred around 1570 BP by which time the animals’ 

diet consisted of only 61% C4 grasses. The nearly 

40% drop in C4 composition in the diet over a period 

of 200 years of arroyo kills indicates the grasslands in 

this area were shifting from a short grass prairie to a 

mixed grass prairie, suggesting an increase in 

precipitation. Immediately following Trench G 

utilization is the onslaught of the mesic episode of the 

interval defined by Thurmond and Wyckoff. 

The significance of the mesic episode is seen in the 

regional influx of incipient horticulturalists of the 

Woodland period. Because bison remains are rare at 

Woodland sites it is possible that concomitant with the 

influx of horticulturalists is the withdrawal of the 

bison range from this area of the plains. The 

environmental conditions conducive to horticulture 

may have been marginal for bison habitat. The 

possible displacement of the Late Archaic huntergatherers 

by Woodland horticulturalists may have 

been driven more by a shift in the environment and its 

affect on bison range conditions rather than in 

intercultural conflict or assimilation. 

In conclusion, the excavation at the Certain site has 

documented a bison jump that predates the use of the 

arroyo traps at the site. The shift from the jump 

technique to arroyo trap was prompted by the filling 

of the canyon with sediment, rendering the cliff 

ineffective while opening access to the side arroyos. 

By the time of the final use of the arroyo traps, the 

environment had become more moist and the bison 

range may have withdrawn to the west at the very 

time the Woodland horticulturalists, following the 

westward expansion of mesic conditions, moved into 

the region. 

References Cited 

Bement, Leland C. 

1986 Excavation of the Late Pleistocene Deposits 

of Bonfire Shelter, Val Verde County, Texas. Texas 

Archeological Survey Archeology Series 1. The 

University of Texas at Austin. 

Bement, Leland C. and Kent J. Buehler 

1994 Preliminary Results from the Certain Site: A 

Late Archaic Bison Kill in Western Oklahoma. Plains 

Anthropologist 39(148):173-183. 

Buehler, Kent J. 

1997 Where’s the Cliff?: Late Archaic Bison Kills 

in the Southern Plains. In Southern Plains Bison 

Procurement and Utilization From Paleoindian to 

Historic, edited by Leland C. Bement and Kent J. 

Buehler, pp. 135-143, Plains Anthropologist Memoir 

29. 

Dibble, David S. and Dessamae Lorrain 

1968 Bonfire Shelter: A Stratified Bison Kill Site, 

Val Verde County, Texas. Miscellaneous Paper 1. 

Austin: University of Texas, Texas Memorial 

Museum. 

Ferring, C. Reid 

1986 Late Holocene Cultural Ecology in the 

Southern Plains: Perspectives from Delaware Canyon, 

Oklahoma. Plains Anthropologist Memoir 21:55-82. 

Frison, George C. 

1991 Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains. 

Second Edition. Academic Press, New York. 

Hall, Stephen A. 

1982 Late Holocene Paleoecology of the Southern 

Plains. Quaternary Research 17:391-407. 

Rock Art 

By Seth Hawkins 

18 


OAS Spring Dig at the Certain Site on the Flying W Guest Ranch 

May 21-30, 2005 

The Flying W contains the largest bison kill site known for Oklahoma. Known by archaeologists as the Certain 

site, 34BK46, this site has the remains of an estimated 800 bison concentrated in five gullies. Additional animals 

are found at the base of a 30-foot high sandstone cliff. Between 500 B.C. and A.D. 300 spear-wielding hunters 

repeatedly killed bison at this site. The earliest kill technique was to drive a small bison herd over the sandstone 

cliff. The fall killed most of the animals while others staggered around until hunters dispatched them with spears. 

By A.D. 100, the canyon filled with sandy deposits, burying the cliff. This temporarily halted use of the site, 

however, by A.D. 200 steep-walled gullies (known as arroyos) began cutting into the deposits. Five arroyos 

eroded into the northern wall of the canyon. Bison attracted to the lush vegetation and water on the grassy canyon 

floor were rounded up and diverted into these arroyos where hunters lurked on the gully rims ready for the 

slaughter. The average size kill probably contained 20 to 30 animals, including bulls, cows, and calves. Following 

each kill event, the hunters turned butchers and skinned, disarticulated, and deboned the animals. Some cooking 

of the meat occurred while the remaining animals were being butchered. 

Archaeologists working since 1992 have uncovered portions of some of these kill deposits. Found among the 

bison bones are the spear points used to dispatch the animals. In addition, small flakes removed to sharpen dulled 

knife edges are scattered around the bones. Small fire hearths containing burned bone fragments identify areas 

where the hunters dined and rested during the butchering process. 

Archaeologists Lee Bement and Kent Buehler with the Oklahoma Archeological Survey, University of Oklahoma, 

have established a research station near the site and continue its exploration and excavation. The ongoing work at 

this site provides an exciting opportunity for the guests at the Flying W. Each guest that takes in the trail ride will 

visit the excavations. Also, materials from the excavation are on display at the museum. 

The Guest Ranch has camping hookups as well as primitive camping areas. Spring dig participants will be 

excavating in the bison bone deposits in the side gullies as well as at the foot of the cliff. More information will be 

contained in the next Journal. 

19 


A Calf Creek Potpourri 

Don G. Wyckoff 

Since the publication of the Oklahoma 

Anthropological Society’s Bulletins #40 and #42, a 

sustained interest in Calf Creek materials has resulted 

in inquiries and reports of distinctive artifacts from 

widely scattered places. Because they typically are 

single objects from diverse locations, it seems most 

appropriate to compile and briefly describe some of 

these artifacts here. Figure 1 is a map of the Central 

and Southern Plains with the find spots marked for the 

items described below. 

The continuing accumulation of radiocarbon dates for 

Calf Creek materials, especially those from 

Oklahoma’s Kubik site (Neal 2002), supports the 

conclusion that these artifacts are tied to a middle 

Holocene hunter-gatherer lifeway of some 5000 years 

ago. Such timing puts these artifacts and sites where 

they are found in good contexts near the end of the 

several millennial long, warm, dry spell known at the 

Altithermal. Given the sporadic occurrence of Calf 

Creek projectiles/knives with bison remains (Figure 2; 

Spivey et al. 1994), it may be that the widespread 

finds of Calf Creek tools (e.g., Wyckoff and Shockey 

1994, 1995) correlate with ameliorating climatic 

conditions, improved grasslands, and an uninhabited 

landscape suitable for wide ranging bands of huntergatherers. 

Monahans Area, Southwest Texas 

While teaching the Oklahoma Prehistory class here at 

O.U. a couple of years ago, one of the students 

brought a spectacular example of a Calf Creek point 

(Figure 3) in for my examination. This student was 

from the Midland-Odessa, Texas, area and said he had 

found the piece while hunting in the sand dunes near 

Monahans, Texas (Figure 1). 

to many examples of this style of spearpoint/knife. 

The material is a pale brown (Munsell 10YR 7/3) 

chert with a very lustrous shine. Most likely it is a 

heat-treated variety of Edwards chert, but when first 

shown to me its color and the presence of a few 

fusilinid-like inclusions caused me to think it might be 

of the Florence flint from north central Oklahoma. 

This point style is called Andice or Bell in Texas 

(Turner and Hester 1985), but the style was formally 

recognized and published as the Calf Creek type 

(Dickson 1968; Perino 1968) in Arkansas and 

Oklahoma before Bell and Andice were formally 

published as types in Texas. Calf Creek points are 

reported (Parker and Mitchell 1979) from a site near a 

playa on the Texas part of the Southern High Plains. 

From the library resources available to me, the 

occurrence of this style in southwestern Texas is not 

readily apparent. Nevertheless, the specimen 

illustrated and documented here attests to some kind 

of Calf Creek people’s presence in that area. 

McIntosh County, Oklahoma 

Two artifacts, and possibly a third, recently found at 

site 34MI136 in McIntosh County of eastern 

Oklahoma are believed representative of Calf Creek 

implements. Site 34MI136 has a Calf Creek collection 

that was extensively described (Duncan and Wyckoff 

1994) in the Society’s first volume on this distinctive 

material culture. This site was minimally cored and 

tested in 1995 with the cooperation of the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District. Though the 

findings were limited, well heat-treated resharpening 

flakes, like one would expect from the Calf Creek 

tools found there, were recovered some 60 cm deep in 

the aeolian sand that blankets this old river terrace. 

This Texas find is 7.8 cm in overall length, 5.0 cm in 

maximum width (across blade), 2.6 cm in stem length, 

1.8 cm in width at the stem’s base, and 0.58 cm in 

maximum thickness. The specimen is complete except 

for one barb broken off just below the notch 

termination. A noticeable juncture along the lower 

part of the remaining barb implicates the blade was 

probably more convex sided but has been resharpened 

several times. The nearly parallel sided stem was 

bifacially thinned from the base, giving it the 

distinctive wedge-like longitudinal section so common 

20 

The new finds include a nearly complete Calf Creek 

point (Figure 4), an extensively reworked Calf Creek 

point (Figure 5), and a flake knife (Figure 6). 

Inclusion of this latter in this article is somewhat 

speculative (due to its undiagnostic character), but the 

specimen is of the same brown Woodford chert as the 

nearly complete point reported here. The nearly 

complete Calf Creek point lacks only its stem (Figure 

4), but even in this broken condition the specimen 

constitutes an exceptional example of the flaking 

mastery associated with Calf Creek finished 


Figure 1. Locations of the various Calf Creek finds discussed in this brief report. 

21 


Figure 2. The Tulsa County find of a Calf Creek spearpoint in a juvenile bison skull. Scale is in centimeters. 

Photo courtesy of Mike Callahan, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. 

Figure 3. The Calf Creek biface found in the Monahans area of southwest Texas. 

22 


Figure 4. A Calf Creek biface from site 34Mi136. Material is Woodford chert. Scale is in centimeters. 

Figure 5. Extensively resharpened Calf Creek biface from 34Mi136. Material is Ogallala quartzite. Scale is in 

centimeters. 

23 


Figure 6. Flake tool of Woodford chert from site 34Mi136. Scale is in centimeters. 

bifaces. This specimen measures 7.8 cm in overall 

length (without the stem), 5.33 cm in maximum width 

(across lower part of blade), and 7.2 mm in maximum 

thickness. The barbs are 1.53 and 1.42 cm long; both 

display fine serrations along their edges. In fact, the 

entire length of both convex blade edges are finely 

serrated due to fine (2.2 to 3.3 mm wide and some 5 

mm long), continuous, usually bifacial, flake scars 

along most of the blade edges. The specimen is 

missing perhaps 3 mm of the tip due to a bend break, 

and, as noted, the stem is largely missing (3.9 mm 

remains) due, again, to a bend break. This exquisitely 

flaked biface is made from a dark grayish brown 

(2.5Y 4/2) chert; it retains a bit of tan cortex on one 

face of one barb. This chert appears to be the 

Woodford material like that found in the western 

Ouachita Mountains (Banks 1990). 

Because it is of the same material, a flake tool is also 

illustrated and described here, even though there is no 

way to assure it is of Calf Creek origin. Roughly 

diamond shaped (Figure 6) this flake tool measures 

4.54 cm long, 3.51 cm in maximum width, and .65 cm 

in maximum thickness. It is bifacially flaked with 

continuous, short (2 to 5 mm) flake scars along a 3.63 

cm long edge; the bifacial flaking forms an edge angle 

of 72 degrees. No abrasions or wear are evident on the 

edge or the ridges of the flake scars using a 20X hand 

lens. It may be that this bifacial flaking was a means 

to dull the edge for holding so that the opposite edge 

was the actual tool area. This opposite edge exhibits 

minute bifacial scalar scars and is very slightly dulled. 

24 

The third specimen from 34MI136 is a stem-blade 

section from a Calf Creek point (Figure 5). It is made 

from a slightly glossy pink (heated?) Ogallala 

quartzite. This artifact is 3.32 cm long, 2.09 cm wide 

across its incomplete blade, 1.83 cm in stem length, 

1.8 cm wide across the base, and 7.1 mm in maximum 

thickness. The blade remnant has an off-center tip, 

fine serrations on a beveled (due to retouching) edge, 

and missing corner due to a bend break. Clearly, the 

piece has been heavily used and resharpened. 

As noted above, these artifacts come from a McIntosh 

County site where a collection of Calf Creek 

diagnostics has already been reported (Duncan and 

Wyckoff 1994). The finds reported here do increase 

the evidence that Ouachita Mountains material was 

favored by Calf Creek campers at 34MI136. The 

Ogallala quartzite piece reported here is the first Calf 

Creek artifact of that material to be reported for the 

site. While Ogallala quartzite is usually perceived as 

being distributed mainly in western Oklahoma 

(Powell 1995; Thurmond and Wyckoff 1999), this 

material is being washed into eastern Oklahoma by 

rivers such as the Canadian. So, it is possible the 

34MI136 example was made and used locally rather 

than brought here from the west. 

Hoyt Locality, Oklahoma 

Known as the Hoyt Locality, the Canadian River 

below Eufaula Dam has yielded an astounding number 

and array of Paleoindian and Archaic artifacts and 

Pleistocene and Holocene fossils. A monograph 


documenting many of these objects is being compiled 

for publication by the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum 

of Natural History. The fossils and artifacts typically 

are found on gravel bars where time and water flow 

have sorted them according to size. Calf Creek 

diagnostics have been noted (Wyckoff 1995:Figure 8) 

to be among the interesting artifacts recovered at this 

location. Reported here is a rather unique artifact 

associated with the Calf Creek horizon. It was found 

by John and Ann Coffman and donated to the Sam 

Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History before 

they retired and moved to Colorado. 

The artifact in question is an example of what has 

been called Calf Creek “practice pieces” (Figure 7). 

Basically, this is a large flake with a notch chipped 

into it. The flake is probably a soft-hammer biface 

thinning flake of heat-treated Keokuk chert from the 

Ozarks. This lustrous, olive yellow (2.5Y 6/6) flake 

has a cortex platform and measures 5.1 cm long, 3.8 

cm wide, and 5.2 mm in maximum thickness. 

Originally, its distal termination was a slight hinge, 

and into this end a 2.12 cm long notch has been 

bifacially flaked. No signs of use are obvious, but, 

given its being found in the river, abrasion by silt and 

sand may have scoured away any clues to its function. 

Elsewhere, practice pieces have yet to disclose their 

use for a particular purpose (Neal 1994; Wyckoff et 

al. 1994), and it may be that objects such as this one 

were simply the result of practicing making the deep 

notches common to Calf Creek projectile points. 

Practice pieces such as this one occur sporadically at 

Calf Creek sites in central Oklahoma, but the example 

reported here is one of the few known to have been 

found in eastern Oklahoma. 

R.S. Kerr Lake, Haskell County 

Calf Creek artifacts continue to erode from a Haskell 

County site reported (Neal et al. 1994) in the eastern 

Oklahoma compilation of Calf Creek materials. This 

site is on Corps of Engineers property at R.S. Kerr 

Lake, and though the site has been reported to the 

Corps of Engineers archaeologists no plans have been 

made to assess or protect the site to date. Most 

recently, a burned rock feature has begun to erode out, 

and several of the artifacts reported at this time are 

believed associated with it. 

Ten Calf Creek bifaces are briefly reported here 

(Figure 8). Not illustrated but also recently found at 

the site are several Cossatot bifaces and a large T- 

shaped drill. The 10 specimens illustrated here are 

stems or stem-blade sections from broken or heavily 

used (resharpened) Calf Creek projectiles/knives. Two 

are of novaculite while three others are of Woodford 

chert; both of these materials are common to the 

Ouachita Mountains south of the site. The remaining 

five specimens are of lustrous (heat treated) cherts 

from the Ozarks north of the site. So, the raw 

materials of the Calf Creek diagnostic tools attest to 

the site’s occupants having ties to both physiographic 

regions. Two of the illustrated pieces are quite small 

(2.1 to 2.8 cm in maximum length) and both exhibit 

basal notching chipped into flakes that otherwise 

exhibit limited bifacial flaking. These almost 

miniature examples may be the products of very 

young knappers. The remaining specimens are either 

stems or are stems with segments of short, stubby 

blades. The two specimens with the largest blades 

have blade edges with fine serrations. 

This site has yielded many stems from Calf Creek and 

Cossatot spearpoints or knives, and the finds reported 

here add to the impression that the site was a notable 

base camp where hunting tools were being 

refurbished. 

Enterprise, Kansas 

Finally, a single artifact found by the late Bill 

Lambert, who resided at Enterprise, Kansas (Figure 1) 

merits mention here. Bill found this spearpoint/knife 

in the Kansas River there at Enterprise a couple of 

years ago. He kindly let me photograph it, so the 

available information is based on that brief 

examination and documentation. 

The specimen consists of a stem-blade section (Figure 

9). It is made from a white flint that is lustrous. Some 

of its shiny appearance may be due to river polishing, 

but I do believe the flint had also been heat treated. 

The stem is parallel sided and long (2.3 cm) like those 

on Calf Creek bifaces. The base, however, has a 

distinctive notch in it, and this is not common to Calf 

Creek points. The notch more resembles those seen on 

Cossatot points, which, in Oklahoma, often co-occur 

with Calf Creek. In many respects, the stem looks like 

those on Pedernales points (Turner and Hester 1985). 

The blade is asymmetrically triangular and includes a 

remnant where a barb had been. Overall, the piece 

shares attributes of Calf Creek, except for the notched 

base. 

25 


Figure 7. Calf Creek practice piece found in Canadian River at Hoyt Locality. 

Figure 8. Series of Calf Creek bifaces from site at R.S. Kerr Lake in Haskell County. Scale is in centimeters. 

26 


Figure 9. Spearpoint found in Kansas River at Enterprise, Kansas. 

Enterprise, Kansas, is not too far from the Coffey site 

(Schmits 1978) where a buried Archaic camp yielded 

a few bifaces reminiscent of the Calf Creek style. 

Moreover, the dates for the Coffey site are around 

5100 years ago, and that would be contemporaneous 

with the Kubik site results for Calf Creek. While the 

Enterprise find doesn’t particularly prove anything, it 

is another northern Kansas artifact that implicates at 

least some stylistic ties to Calf Creek. 

Conclusions 

Again, this compilation was meant to document a 

continued interest in the Calf Creek complex. While 

single artifacts don’t individually tell us much, they 

can help flesh out perspectives on the presence and 

movements of people using rather unique styles of 

tools. 

Often, as the case with the Enterprise find, such 

artifacts pose more questions than answers. But that is 

how knowledge comes…looking at things and asking 

questions. 


Banks, L.D. 

1990 From Mountain Peaks to Alligator Stomachs: 

A Review of Lithic Sources in the Trans-Mississippi 

South, the Southern Plains, and Adjacent Southwest. 

Oklahoma Anthropological Society, Memoir 4. 

Dickson, D.R. 

1968 Two Provisional Point Types. The Arkansas 

Amateur 7(6):5-7. 

Duncan, M. and D.G. Wyckoff 

1994 The McKellips Site: An Analysis of the Calf 

27 

Creek Component. Bulletin of the Oklahoma 


Neal, L. 

1994 A Calf Creek Component from the Lamar 

Site, 34Br8, Bryan County. Bulletin of the Oklahoma 


2002 Activities at the Kubik Site, 2002. Oklahoma 

Archeology, Journal of the Oklahoma 

Anthropological Society 50(3):5-7. 

Neal, L., D. Morgan, B. Ross, and D.G. Wyckoff 

1994 The Red Clay and Island Locations in Haskell 

County: Eastern Oklahoma Manifestations of the Calf 

Creek Horizon. Bulletin of the Oklahoma 


Parker, W. and J. Mitchell 

1979 Notes on Some Bell Points from a Site in 

Crosby County, Texas. La Tierra 6(2):26-27. 

Perino, G. 

1968 Guide to the Identification of Certain 

American Indian Projectile Points. Oklahoma 

Anthropological Society, Special Bulletin 3. 

Powell, V. 

1995 Bifaces of the Calf Creek Horizon: A 

Collection from Cedar Canyon, Oklahoma. Bulletin of 

the Oklahoma Anthropological Society 42:145-165. 

Schmits, L.J. 

1978 The Coffey Site: Environment and Cultural 

Adaptation at a Prairie Plains Archaic Site. Mid- 

Continent Journal of Archaeology 3(1):69-185. 

Spivey, T., F. Freese, and D.G. Wyckoff 

1994 The Frazier Site: A Calf Creek-Bison 


Association in the Southern Osage Plains, South- 

Central Oklahoma. Bulletin of the Oklahoma 


Thurmond, J.P. and D.G. Wyckoff. 

1999 The Calf Creek Horizon in Northwestern 

Oklahoma. Plains Anthropologist 44(169):231-250. 

Turner, E.S. and T.R. Hester 

1985. A Field Guide to Stone Artifacts of Texas 

Indians. Texas Monthly Press, Austin. 

Wyckoff, D.G. 

1995 A Summary of the Calf Creek Horizon in 

Oklahoma. Bulletin of the Oklahoma Anthropological 

Society 42:179-210. 

Wyckoff, D.G., W.L. Neal, and M. Duncan 

1994 The Primrose Site, 34Mr65, Murray County, 


Society 40:11-67. 

Wyckoff, D.G. and D. Shockey (editors) 

1994 Bulletin of the Oklahoma Anthropological 

Society 40. 

1995 Bulletin of the Oklahoma Anthropological 

Society 42. 

An Interesting Pottery Sherd from Tulsa County 

Don G. Wyckoff and Charles Rippy 

For almost 15 years we have been recording fossils 

and artifacts found in the Arkansas River in Tulsa 

County (Wyckoff and Rippy 1998). Most of the fossil 

finds were made between Keystone Dam and the town 

of Sand Springs. Recently, the junior author retired 

from the Tulsa Zoological Park. With his leaving, it 

was necessary to move the study collection from the 

zoo to the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural 

History (SNOMNH). There, the fossils and artifacts 

will be studied further and information on them 

compiled into a book documenting evidence for late 

Pleistocene and Holocene ecological settings and 

prehistoric people. The collection was moved in 

August of 2004. Once at Norman it was sorted by 

material with the paleontological objects going to Dr. 

Nick Czaplewski who will continue analyzing them 

for eventual publication. The artifacts, of course, went 

to the Department of Archaeology at SNOMNH. 

While organizing these by material, an interesting 

pottery sherd came to our attention. Pottery isn’t 

abundant in the river finds, and this particular sherd 

merited at least a brief note. 

This sherd (Figure 1) measures 10.0 cm in length, 

6.74 cm in maximum width, and 0.45 to 0.88 cm in 

thickness. Its exterior surface (Figure 1a) is 

predominantly pale brown (Munsell 10YR 6/3), 

whereas its interior surface (Figure 1b) and core are 

mainly gray (10YR 5/1). The sherd is from the 

shoulder area of a medium size jar. It is broken along 

the juncture where the rim would begin, so the rimshoulder 

profile (Figure 1c) is very incomplete. A 

1.55 cm hole at the rim-shoulder juncture has smooth 

sides and is evidence of a former loop handle, one that 

was never welded well to either the vessel wall or the 

interior surface. The interior surface and several 

recent breaks on the wall show that the sherd is 

tempered with coarse, rather large, platy fragments of 

mussel shell. Finally, the exterior surface is 

distinguished by a series of trailed lines, some as 

chevrons (apex up) and filled with roughly parallel 

lines, others as diagonal lines extending down from 

the rim-shoulder area and from the place where the 

loop handle was attached. 

In eastern Oklahoma, archaeologists have long 

recognized that crushed mussel shell used as a 

tempering material was a relatively late technological 

adaptation (Baerreis 1960; Freeman and Buck 1960; 

Orr 1946). If the numerous University of Wisconsin 

radiocarbon dates for mounds, villages, and 

rockshelters along Grand River in Delaware County 

are correct, then shell temper became a common 

addition to potters’ clays around 1000 years ago 

(Purrington 1970; Wyckoff 1980). Further south, in 

the Spiro area along the Arkansas River, shell 

tempered pottery certainly was being made by 700 

years ago (Brown 1996), and it dominates pottery 

assemblages used by 500 years ago (Rohrbaugh 1982; 

Wyckoff 1980). For the Tulsa area, late prehistoric 

occupations are little known and documented (Brooks 

and Stokes 2000), but the protohistoric (A.D. 1720s) 

28 


Figure 1 a) View of exterior surface of trailed pottery sherd from Arkansas River in Tulsa County, b) view of 

interior surface, c) longitudinal section of the sherd. 

Wichita site known as Lasley Vore yielded mostly 

shell tempered pottery (Odell 1998). Notably, the 

Lasley Vore site is only some 10 miles or so down the 

29 

Arkansas River from where this sherd was reportedly 

found. Upstream, shell tempered pottery is prevalent 

at the A.D. 1700s Wichita sites known as Deer Creek 


and Bryson-Paddock in Kay County (Hartley and 

Miller 1977; Sudbury 1976), and a few shell tempered 

vessels are reported for the earlier, culturally unusual 

Uncas site (Galm 1979; Vehik and Flynn 1982). 

Several attributes of the sherd reported here seem to 

correlate best with pottery at the Uncas site. In 

particular, the combination of the trailed (broadly 

incised) chevron and in-filling lines, the implicated 

loop (as opposed to a flattened strap) handle, and the 

shell temper are characteristics reported for one of the 

decorated shell-tempered wares at Uncas (Galm’s Lot 

K, “Coon Creek Incised” and Vehik-Flynn’s Lot A, 

“Coon Creek Incised”; Galm 1979, Vehik and Flynn 

1982). Also, this Uncas ware is reportedly a paddle 

and anvil product, and the Tulsa County sherd does 

not exhibit any breaks along welded coils so it appears 

to be paddle and anvil produced. Incised shell 

tempered pottery is reported for the protohistoric and 

historic Wichita sites (Hartley and Miller 1977; Odell 

1998; Sudbury 1976), including the nearby Lasley 

Vore hamlet, but the Wichita pottery typically has 

strap (not loop) handles and chevron designs that are 

incised (not trailed) in far more symmetrical and 

precise ways than manifest on this Tulsa County 

sherd. 

In conclusion, an unusual sherd from the Arkansas 

River in Tulsa County implicates a bit of prehistory 

and cultural affiliation not well known for the locality. 

Given that it was found in the river bed, we have no 

idea of whether it washed from a nearby camp, was 

lost over a canoe, or how it got there. The very sandy 

banks of the Arkansas River below Keystone dam 

have not exposed any buried camp sites of which we 

are aware. But those of you watching the river should 

keep your eyes peeled. 


Baerreis, D.A. 

1960 Shell Tempered Pottery in Northeastern 


Society 8:1-2. 

Brooks, R.L. and R.J. Stokes 

2000 Archaeological Investigations at Graystone 

Estates #1(34Tu129), Tulsa County, Oklahoma. 

Bulletin of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society 

49:43-61. 

Brown, J.A. 

1996 The Spiro Ceremonial Center, The 

Archaeology of Arkansas Valley Caddoan Culture in 

Eastern Oklahoma, Vol. 2. University of Michigan, 

Museum of Anthropology, Memoirs 29. Ann Arbor 

Freeman, J.E. and A.D. Buck 

1960 Woodward Plain and Neosho Punctate, Two 

Shell Tempered Pottery Types of Northeastern 


Society 8:3-16. 

Galm, J.R. 

1979 The Uncas Site: A Late Prehistoric 

Manifestation in the Southern Plains. University of 

Oklahoma, Archaeological Research and Management 

Center, Research Series 5. 

Hartley, J.D. and A.F. Miller 

1977 Archaeological Investigations at the Bryson- 

Paddock Site, An Early Contact Period Site on the 

Southern Plains. University of Oklahoma Research 

Institute, Oklahoma River Basin Surveys Project, 

Archaeological Site Report 32. Norman. 

Odell, G.H. 

1998 The Protohistoric Period in Eastern 

Oklahoma: Evidence from the Lasley Vore Site. 


47:83-118. 

2002 La Harpe’s Post, A Tale of French-Wichita 

Contact on the Eastern Plains. University of Alabama 

Press, Tuscaloosa. 

Orr, K.G. 

1946 The Archaeological Situation at Spiro, 

Oklahoma: A Preliminary Report. American Antiquity 

11(4):228-256. 

Purrington, B.L. 

1970 The Prehistory of Delaware County, 

Oklahoma: Cultural Continuity and Change on the 

Western Ozark Periphery. Ph.D. dissertation, 

Department of Anthropology, University of 

Wisconsin, Madison. 

Rohrbaugh, C.L. 

1982 Spiro and Fort Coffee Phases: Changing 

Cultural Complexes of the Caddoan Area. Ph.D. 

dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University 

of Wisconsin, Madison. 

Sudbury, B. 

1976 Ka-3, The Deer Creek Site, An Eighteenth 

Century French Contact Site. Bulletin of the 

30 



Vehik, S.C. and P. Flynn 

1982 Archaeological Excavations at the Early 

Plains Village Uncas Site (34Ka-172). Bulletin of the 


Wyckoff, D.G. 

1980 Caddoan Adaptive Strategies in the Arkansas 

Basin, Eastern Oklahoma. Ph.D. dissertation, 

Department of Anthropology, Washington State 

University, Pullman. 

Wyckoff, D.G. and C. Rippy 

1998 Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene People and 

Animals in Tulsa County: Some Preliminary Insights. 


47:5-37. 

Corner-tanged Knife 

Richard Drass 

The corner-tanged knife in the photograph was found by Robert Wickham in Osage County, Oklahoma. The knife 

is made of Foraker chert. The three dart point fragments pictured with the knife were found in the same area. 

These points are all made of Florence A chert. The points suggest a Late Archaic or Woodland period occupation. 

31 


An Unusual Occurrence of Ground Stone Items from Jackson County, 

Oklahoma 

Robert L. Brooks 

Introduction 

In November 1990, Elmer Craft, an avocational 

archaeologist and long time Society member who 

lived in southwest Oklahoma, passed away. Elmer had 

visited many of the significant archaeological sites in 

the southwestern part of the state, sharing what 

information he had found concerning the prehistoric 

occupants of the region. In 1993, his wife donated 

much of his collection from these sites to the 

Archeological Survey. This article represents the 

beginnings of an effort to document the extensive 

material collection of Mr. Craft. Here, the focus is on 

three sites in Jackson County that contained an 

unusual association of ground stone items. While 

other materials are present at these sites, two 

categories of ground stone, celts and Waco net 

sinkers, are discussed. 

These items are from the Hensley (34JK5), Edwards 

(34JK6), and 34JK7 sites located in southwestern 

Jackson County (Figure 1). The Hensley Site is 

located on the slope of a high terrace approximately 

50 meters west of the Salt Fork of the Red River. The 

nearby Edwards Site is situated on three small knolls 

on a terrace about 75 meters west of the Salt Fork of 

the Red River. The remaining site, 34JK7, is located 

on a high terrace overlooking the Red River proper 

with the river about 400 meters south of the site. All 

three sites are documented as containing late 

prehistoric materials: chipped stone including scrapers 

and Fresno arrow points, manos and metates, 

ceramics, and animal bone and shell. Additionally, 

34JK7 is also reported to have yielded obsidian arrow 

points and a Clovis spear point. 

Of concern here are the presence of ground stone celts 

and Waco net sinkers in Elmer Craft’s collection. In 

fact, a celt and net sinkers are the sole items from the 

Hensley and Edwards’ sites in the collection. There is 

a modest collection of chipped stone from 34JK7. 

Ground Stone Celts 

The ground stone celts are comparable to those from 

Plains Village sites in western Oklahoma, especially 

those of the Turkey Creek phase in west-central parts 

of the state (Drass 1997). They are uniformly made of 

an igneous material (diorite) and were manufactured 

by a process of pecking to shape with final shaping 

and finishing derived from grinding and polishing 

using an abrasive material. They all show clear 

evidence of use. 

34JK5 (Figure 2) 

Length: 76 mm. Width at Poll: 15.6 mm. Width at 

Midlength: 42.7 mm. 

Width at Bit: 31.9 mm. Thickness: 24.8 mm. Weight: 

128.8 grams. 

This celt displays edge blunting and some pitting on 

the bit with striations present perpendicular to the bit’s 

long axis. The poll end has a few chips removed. 


Length: fragmented. Width at Poll: N/A. Width at 

Midlength: N/A. 

Width at Bit: 42.1 mm. Thickness: 23.9 mm. Weight: 

136.8 grams. 

The celt has been fragmented by what appears to be a 

blow to the poll end that sheared-off a portion of the 

celt. The bit is moderately blunted and striations 

appear at a 75-80 degree angle to the long axis of the 

bit. This may represent some attempt at reuse after 

breakage. 


Length: 103.2 mm. Width at Poll: 18.1 mm. 

Width at Midlength: 44.9 mm. 

Width at Bit: 41.2 mm. Thickness: 36.8 mm. 

Weight: 279.5 grams. 

The celt is finely polished with some blunting of the 

bit edge. Striations are obscured by polishing. Poll end 

exhibits pecking and battering (?) but no evidence of 

shattering. The extreme polish is suggestive of a 

different material being worked or that the celt had a 

longer use life than the others. 

The three celts appear to have been used to work 

wood although the nature of the wood may have 

varied. The battering on the poll end of the celts also 

hints that they were used like wedges where they were 

hammered to split the wood. Certainly, the 

fragmentation of the celt from 34JK6 is suggestive of 

this approach. 

32 


33 


34 


Waco Net Sinkers 

Unlike the celts, the netsinkers varied in the material 

used in their manufacture. This probably suggests that 

composition of the rock (hardness, brittleness or lack 

thereof, and ease in shaping) were of less 

consideration in stone selection. The net sinkers were 

pecked to shape although with the exception of the 

grooved areas, there is only minimal grinding or 

polishing present. The sinkers are basically oblong in 

shape with a shallow groove extending along the 

midsection of the long axis of the object. 


Length: 49.3 mm. Width at Midpoint: 42.4 mm. 

Shallow U-shaped Groove: 9.7 mm in width. Groove 

Length: 128 mm. Weight: 110.1 grams. Material is a 

dense quartzite. 


Length: 50.8 mm. Width at Midpoint: 46.4 mm. 

Shallow U-shaped Groove: 7.9 mm in width. Groove 

Length: 154 mm. Weight: 125.1 grams. Material is 

granitic? 


Length: 52.8. Width at Midpoint: 48.1 mm. Shallow 

U-shaped Groove: 8.5 mm in width. Groove Length: 

158 mm. Weight: 146.2 grams. Material is a 

cemented quartz/quartzite. 

The Waco Sinker was initially described by Frank 

Watt (1938). They have been most frequently 

encountered in the central Texas area and have been 

previously identified with an early Archaic/Paleo- 

Indian cultural affiliation. Their function is rather 

ambiguous. Waco Sinkers, despite their attribution, 

have been variously described as net weights, bola 

stones, and atlatl weights. As all of those collected by 

Elmer Craft came from sites that represent essentially 

late prehistoric Plains Village occupations, it is 

doubtful that they are restricted to early 

Archaic/Paleo-Indian times. Functionally, use as a 

bola stone or net weight is more probable than as a 

weight for an atlatl where the shape of the item would 

not be very feasible. 

Concluding Comments 

In this paper, the intent is not to argue that there is 

some functional association between the celt and the 

Waco Sinkers. It is likely that the association of these 

pieces reflects the collecting interest of Elmer Craft 

when he was visiting prehistoric sites. If a relationship 

exists with these items, it must be realized through 

discovery in an excavation context. Elmer Craft’s 

visitation to these sites in Jackson County, though, has 

added some new insights on southwestern Oklahoma 

prehistory. The Waco Sinkers, while reported for 

Oklahoma, are not documented for the more studied 

Plains Village cultures (e.g., Washita River and 

Turkey Creek phases). Thus, does the presence of 

Waco Sinkers at Plains Village sites in Jackson 

County point to distinctions in material assemblages 

in the region? Or, are these items from earlier 

occupations at these sites? With the exception of the 

one Clovis-like item from 34JK7, there is little 

evidence to suggest multiple components at these 

sites, and the Waco Sinkers are interpreted as part of 

the Plains Village assemblage. 


Drass, Richard R. 

1997 Culture Change on the Eastern Margins of the 

Southern Plains. University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma 

Archeological Survey, Studies in Oklahoma’s Past 19 

and Oklahoma Anthropological Society Memoir 7. 

Watt, Frank 

1938 The Waco Sinker. Central Texas Archaeology 

4: 21-70. 

Spring 2005 Seminars Set 

Lois E. Albert 

Chair, Certification Council 

Thanks to Bob Brooks’ efforts, we now have a place for the General Survey Techniques (S2) seminar. However, 

because of other commitments (such as Caddo Conference) during this spring, we couldn’t find a weekend for it. 

We have permission from The Nature Conservancy to survey two of their preserves, one in western Oklahoma 

and one in the northeastern part of the state. I plan to visit the one in the northeast soon to see what the area is 

like. Because of the heavy vegetation, the ticks, and the poison ivy, we’ll have to wait until late fall before we can 

schedule a survey here. Don’t give up, we will get this seminar scheduled at a time that will work yet! 

35 


Several seminars are on the list for spring. The first of these is Report Writing (S12) to be taught by Richard Drass 

on February 26. The next up is Organic Remains: Floral Remains (S9A) with Dr. Paul Minnis on April 9, 

followed by Maps and Mapping (S5) on April 23. The latter will be taught by Lois Albert, Richard Drass, and 

others to be announced later. If tentative plans for the Spring Dig work out, General Survey Techniques (S3) will 

be offered on the first Saturday of the dig, May 21, with possibly other seminars the next weekend, which will be 

Memorial Day. 

ENROLLMENT FORM FOR CERTIFICATION PROGRAM SEMINARS 

_____ S12 Report Writing. Saturday, February 26, 2005, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 + p.m.. Oklahoma Archeological Survey 

Conference Room. Instructor: Richard Drass. 

_____ S9A Organic Remains: Floral Remains. Saturday, April 9, 2005, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 + p.m. Small Lab, Basement 

of Dale Hall, University of Oklahoma campus. Instructor: Dr. Paul Minnis, Department of Anthropology. 

_____ S5 Maps and Mapping. Saturday, April 23, 2005, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 + p.m. Oklahoma Archeological Survey 

Conference Room. Instructors: Lois Albert, Richard Drass, and others tba. 

_____ S3 General Excavation Techniques. Saturday, May 21, 2005 (tentative), 8:30 a.m. - ? Spring Dig site. 

Instructor: Lois Albert. 

Please include $2.00 per seminar as an enrollment fee (make checks payable to OU/Archeological Survey). In seminars with 

limited enrollment, preference will be given to members who are in the Certification Program. Some seminars may have an 

additional fee for reading or study materials; this is usually a nominal amount. 

Indicate: ___ I am a current OAS member. ___ I am enrolled in the Certification Program. 

Name: ____________________________________________________________________ 

Address: ____________________________________________________________________ 

City/State/Zip: ________________________________________________________________ 

Telephone: (____) _______________ (W), (____) _______________ (H) 

email address: 

Send this completed form with your payment (check/money order - make check to OU/Oklahoma Archeological Survey) 

to: 

Lois Albert, Certification Council Chair 

Oklahoma Archeological Survey 

The University of Oklahoma 

111 E. Chesapeake 

Norman OK 73019-5111 

Telephone: (405) 325-7207; FAX (405) 325-7604 

e-mail: lealbert@ou.edu 

36

OAS Journal - University of Oklahoma

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