Claussen Site (14WB322)

By bobbie.athon | October 2, 2020

The field school was a partnership with the Kansas Anthropological Association, Odyssey Archaeological Research Fund at the University of Kansas, and the Kansas Historical Society.

Two components were investigated, one dating to the late Paleoindian/Early Archaic (8,800 years ago) and the other to the Ceramic Period (810 years ago). Chipped stone, mussel shell, gastropods, vertebrate fauna, and charcoal were recovered from the lower level.  In addition to features of in-place burning and a large faunal assemblage, especially mussel shells, the upper component yielded a modest number of artifacts, including shell-tempered pottery and chipped stone objects.

115 volunteers contributed 4,116 hours Reports: Dick Keck (2003) “New Investigations of Our Earliest Residents” Kansas Preservation 25(1):9-10; Rolfe D. Mandel (2003) “KU-KAA Partnership Studies Ancient Kansans” Kansas Preservation 25(5):7-8; Donna C. Roper (2003) “Claussen Site Study Continues” Kansas Preservation 25(6):17-18; Donna Roper and Robert T. Speakman (2005) “Ceramic Period Components at the Claussen Site, 14WB322, Wabaunsee County, Kansas” The Kansas Anthropologist 26: 65-120; R. D. Mandel, C. Widga, J. L. Hofman, S. Ryan, and K. Bruner (2006) “The Claussen Site (14WB322), in Guidebook of the 18th Biennial Meeting of the American Quaternary Association, edited by Rolfe D. Mandel, pp. 4-2 – 4-8, Kansas Geological Survey, Lawrence