Whiteford (Price) Archeological Site

Last updated

Whiteford (Price) Archeological Site
WhitefordPriceSite.png
The site in 1975
USA Kansas location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Nearest city New Cambria, Kansas
Area135 acres (55 ha)
Built1000
NRHP reference No. 66000350
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966 [1]
Designated NHLJuly 19, 1964 [2]

The Whiteford (Price) Archeological Site, designated by the Smithsonian trinomial 14SA1, is an archaeological site located in a rural area between Salina and New Cambria, Kansas, United States. [2] [3] As a National Historic Landmark, it is an important Central Plains habitation site, with an unusually well-preserved burial complex. It is on private land, and is not open to the public.

Contents

Overview

The site is located on private property in rural Saline County, Kansas, between the cities of Salina and New Cambria, southeast of the corner of U.S. Route 40 and Simpson Rd, and north of Smoky Hill River. [4] It occupies a portion of alluvial flood plain between the Smoky Hill and Saline Rivers, whose confluence lies to the east. It is unknown exactly what courses the rivers would have followed at the time of the site's occupation. [3]

The site's features are interpreted as being of a small village, with twelve to fifteen low mounds, identified as house sites in the 1930s. The features were destroyed since by agriculture. These sites, and others that may have predated that survey, are now identifiable only by shallow deposits of cultural materials. Dating of finds at the site yields an occupation time of about 1000 to 1350 CE. [3]

A former Kansas Historical Marker sign along U.S. Route 40 described it as follows:

Several hundred years ago, perhaps more than a thousand, this valley was inhabited by men whose average height was probably well over six feet. These were not the indians of quivira, whose "7-foot warriors" Coronado described in 1541, but an even earlier people. Here they lived in earth lodges, tilling the soil, hunting and fishing, and here they left records of unusual archaeological importance. One mile southeast of this marker is a burial pit containing more than 140 skeletal remains that demonstrate the remarkable size and strength of these prehistoric indians. The pit was discovered in 1936. It has been scientifically excavated, with the skeletons still preserved in the same flexed positions of their burial centuries ago. Among the objects found in the pit are pieces of pottery, a grinding stone, parched corn and beans. A stone tomahawk, ceremonial flint knives, and clam-shell beads and ear pendants. [5]

History

In 1873, Benjamin Marlin accidentally encountered bones when he was constructing a dugout home on his land. In 1936, Guy and Mabel Whiteford started excavating the site. [6] For many decades, it was a tourist trap called the Indian Burial Pit or Salina Burial Pit. [7] [5] It was declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1964. [2] [3] In 1989, the state of Kansas purchased the site. In 1990, the pit was filled with sand and covered with a concrete cap to protect it, then covered with dirt and grass.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saline County, Kansas</span> County in Kansas, United States

Saline County is located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and largest city is Salina. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 54,303. The county was named after the Saline River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salina, Kansas</span> City in Saline County, Kansas

Salina is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,889.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoky Hill River</span> River in the United States

The Smoky Hill River is a 575-mile (925 km) river in the central Great Plains of North America, running through Colorado and Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aztalan State Park</span> United States historic place

Aztalan State Park is a Wisconsin state park in the Town of Aztalan, Jefferson County. Established in 1952, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The park covers 172 acres (70 ha) along the Crawfish River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">El Cuartelejo</span> Region in Colorado and Kansas, United States

El Cuartelejo, or El Quartelejo, is a region in eastern Colorado and western Kansas where Plains Apache cohabited with Puebloans. Subject to religious persecution, Puebloans fled the Spanish Nuevo México territory and cohabitated with the Cuartelejo villagers in the 1600s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoky Hills</span> Region in the United States

The Smoky Hills are an upland region of hills in the central Great Plains of North America. They are located in the Midwestern United States, encompassing north-central Kansas and a small portion of south-central Nebraska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Kansas</span>

There are over 1,600 buildings, sites, districts, and objects in Kansas listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas. NRHP listings appear in 101 of the state's 105 counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Pennsylvania</span>

This is a list of properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania. As of 2015, there are over 3,000 listed sites in Pennsylvania. All 67 counties in Pennsylvania have listings on the National Register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kolomoki Mounds</span> Archaeological site in Georgia, US

The Kolomoki Mounds is one of the largest and earliest Woodland period earthwork mound complexes in the Southeastern United States and is the largest in Georgia. Constructed from 350CE to 600CE, the mound complex is located in southwest Georgia, in present-day Early County near the Chattahoochee River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elitch Gardens Carousel</span> United States historic place

Elitch Gardens Carousel, also known as Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel #6 or as the Kit Carson County Carousel, is a 1905 Philadelphia Toboggan Company carousel located in Burlington, Colorado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saline River (Kansas)</span> River in the United States

The Saline River is a 397-mile-long (639 km) tributary of the Smoky Hill River in the central Great Plains of North America. The entire length of the river lies in the U.S. state of Kansas in the northwest part of the state. Its name comes from the French translation of its Native name Ne Miskua, referring to its salty content.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenkins' Ferry Battleground State Park</span> State park in Arkansas

The Jenkins' Ferry Battleground State Park is the site of the American Civil War battle of Jenkins' Ferry, also known as the Engagement at Jenkins' Ferry, fought on Saturday, April 30, 1864, in present-day Grant County, Arkansas. The park was listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on January 21, 1970, and, with seven other sites, is part of the Camden Expedition Sites National Historic Landmark, designated a National Historic Landmark District on April 19, 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arch Street Friends Meeting House</span> Historic church in Pennsylvania, United States

The Arch Street Meeting House, at 320 Arch Street at the corner of 4th Street in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Built to reflect Friends' testimonies of simplicity and equality, this building is little changed after more than two centuries of continuous use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site</span> Archaeological site near Marksville, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana

Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site, also known as the Marksville site, is a Marksville culture archaeological site located 1 mile (1.6 km) southeast of Marksville in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. The site features numerous earthworks built by the prehistoric indigenous peoples of southeastern North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norton Mound group</span> Archaeological site in Michigan, United States

The Norton Mound group,, is a prehistoric Goodall focus mounds site in Wyoming, Michigan that is under the protection of the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leary Site</span> Archaeological site in Nebraska, US

Leary Site, also known as 25-RH-1 or Leary-Kelly Site is an archaeological site near Rulo, Nebraska and the Big Nemaha River. The site now lies entirely on the reservation of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. The area was once a village and burial site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in McPherson County, Kansas</span>

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in McPherson County, Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pompano Beach Mound</span> Historic Florida Tequesta burial mound

The Pompano Beach Mound, located at Indian Mound Park in Pompano Beach, Florida, in Broward County, is a 100-foot (30 m) wide, 7-foot (2.1 m) tall oval Tequesta burial mound. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimball Village</span> United States historic place

Kimball Village is an archaeological site located in the vicinity of Westfield, Iowa, United States. It is one of six known Big Sioux phase villages from the Middle Missouri tradition that existed between 1100-1250 C.E. The site, located on a terrace overlooking the Big Sioux River, has well-preserved features, including earth lodge and storage pits, and evidence of fortifaction. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010, and as a National Historic Landmark in 2016.

The Minneapolis Archeological Site (14OT5) near Minneapolis, Kansas, United States, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 for its information potential as an archeological site.

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 "Whiteford (Price) Site". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on September 29, 2012. Retrieved April 3, 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Francine Weiss (November 1975). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Whiteford (Price) Site 14SA1" (pdf). National Park Service. and Accompanying 9 photos, from c.1936 and 1975  (32 KB)
  4. ↑ "General Highway Map of Saline County, Kansas" (PDF). Kansas Department of Transportation. 1947. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 29, 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Historical marker, Indian burial pit, Saline County". Kansas Memory.
  6. ↑ "The Whiteford Family of Salina - Mid-Twentieth Century Avocational Archeologists" (PDF). Kansas Historical Society . 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 29, 2017. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Indian Burial Pit brochure". On The Road Again. Archived from the original on July 29, 2017. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
Articles
Videos
Photos

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.