Adze or Axe from 14MN328
Date: 1500-1800 CE
This chipped stone tool, possibly either an adze or an axe, was most likely used for woodworking. A fossil embedded in the chert was not removed by the original flintknapper. It was excavated in 1986 by Kansas Historical Society archeologists from 14MN328, a Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita) site in Marion County.

Annals of Kansas
Creator: Wilder, Daniel W. (Daniel Webster), 1832-1911
Date: 1886
Daniel Webster Wilder compiled a chronological history of Kansas from the first European contact (1541) to 1885. The early portion has entries for specific years but beginning in 1854, the entries are for specific days, providing detail about many events. The volume also contains charts with crop production, livestock holdings, precipitation, etc. A detailed index begins on page 1171.

Bone Awl from the Saxman Site, 14RC301
Date: 1500-1650 CE
This awl was found at the Saxman village in Rice County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 2014. Awls such as this one are usually made from deer bone. They were used to make holes in soft material, like hides, and possibly in basket and pottery manufacturing.

Bone Awl from the Saxman Site, 14RC301
Date: 1500-1650 CE
This awl was found at the Saxman village in Rice County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 2014. Awls such as this one are usually made from deer bone. They were used to make holes in soft material, like hides, and possibly in basket and pottery manufacturing.

Bone Awl from the Saxman Site, 14RC301
Date: 1500-1650 CE
This awl was found at the Saxman village in Rice County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 2014. Awls such as this one are usually made from deer bone. They were used to make holes in soft material, like hides, and possibly in basket and pottery manufacturing.

Bone Rasps from the Saxman Site, 14RC301
Date: 1500-1650 CE
These four bone rasps were recovered from the Saxman village site in Rice County and donated in 2016 to the Kansas Historical Society. Archeologists believe that artifacts like these rasps could have been used as musical instruments by drawing a stick across the grooves. The Saxman site is a Late Great Bend aspect village site lived in by ancestral Wichita Indians.

Carved Hematite Rabbit from 14CO385
Date: 1400-1700 CE
This is a rendering of a rabbit carved into a concretion of hematite recovered from archeological site number 14CO385, a village near Arkansas City, Kansas occupied between 1400 CE and 1700 CE by the ancestors of the modern-day Wichita and Affiliated Tribes. It was found in the 1990s by Kansas Historical Society archeologists excavating a large, deep food storage pit that later was filled with village trash. The specimen is 20.97 mm long, 11.12 mm high, 6.42 mm thick, and weighs 1.6 grams. Apparently, the artist saw the image of a rabbit in the naturally formed concretion and improved on it with a few well-placed modifications. It is unique for this site, this time period, and this group of people. There is no clear evidence that would suggest how it was used by the person that possessed it.

Catlinite Pipe from Jefferson County
Date: 1350-1850 CE
This Catlinite pipe was found in Jefferson County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1925. In Kansas, these pipes generally were made by American Indians between 1350 to 1850. The soft fine grain material of Catlinite enabled the pipe's maker to carve it into its rectangular shape. Pipes were used during trade negotiations and to mark special occasions.

Effigy Pipe from Atchison County
Date: 1350-1850 CE
This partial effigy pipe was found in Atchison County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1925. The soft, fine-grained material of the pipestone enabled the carver to shape and smooth the pipe, carve the effigy on the bottom and drill holes for the bowl and stem. The bowl and part of the effigy have been broken off. In Kansas, these pipes generally were carved by American Indians between 1350 to 1850 CE, though they continue to be made today. Pipes were used during trade negotiations and to mark special occasions.

Fresno Arrow Point from the Mem Site, 14MN328
Date: 1500-1800 CE
Archeologists identify Fresno arrow points as being unnotched with a triangular shape. Though small and thin, it would have been extremely effective on the hunt. The Mem site, in Marion County, was a Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita) site occupied periodically from late in the Late Ceramic Period to the Protohistoric Period.

Great Bend aspect Little River focus Vessel from the Paint Creek Site, 14MP1
Date: 1300-1650 CE
This pottery vessel was found at the Paint Creek village in McPherson County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1971. The pot was reconstructed from two large sherds, with the spaces filled in with plaster. The Paint Creek site is part of the Little River focus of the Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita), whose people practiced fishing, hunting, gathering, and agriculture.

Great Bend aspect Little River focus Vessel from the Paint Creek Site, 14MP1
Date: 1300-1650 CE
This pottery vessel was found at the Paint Creek village in McPherson County. It was donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1971. The pot, which is shell tempered, was reconstructed from many individual sherds, with the spaces filled in with plaster. The Paint Creek site is part of the Little River focus of the Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita), whose people practiced fishing, hunting, gathering, and agriculture.

Great Bend aspect Little River focus Vessel from the Paint Creek Site, 14MP1
Date: 1300-1650 CE
This pottery vessel was found at the Paint Creek village in McPherson County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1971. The pot was reconstructed from two large sherds, with the spaces filled in with plaster. The Paint Creek site is part of the Little River focus of the Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita), whose people practiced fishing, hunting, gathering, and agriculture.

Great Bend aspect Lower Walnut focus (ancestral Wichita) Cooking Pot from the Larcom-Haggard Site, 14CO1
Date: ca. 1568 CE
This ceramic cooking pot is from an ancestral Wichita archeological site near Arkansas City, Kansas, the Larcom-Haggard site. It was excavated by Kansas Historical Society archeologists in advance of the construction of US 166. It is typical of early Wichita pots, which are distinct from most North American aboriginal pottery in having flat bottoms. Other characteristics include the inclusion of burned shell mixed with the clay to strengthen the pot and paired handles. This pot came from a trash-filled storage pit with a radiocarbon date of ca. 1568 CE. Pottery like this, along with the remains of grass thatched houses and a variety of distinctive stone and bone tools, are part of a set of characteristics that archeologists call the Great Bend aspect, which existed between 1400-1700 CE in central and south-central Kansas. A Great Bend aspect grass thatched house and associated artifacts types, including ceramic pots, are on exhibit in the Kansas Museum of History.

Great Bend aspect Vessel from 14MN328
Date: 1500-1800 CE
These fragments of a Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita) vessel were discovered at an archeological site in Marion County. The fragments were recovered from a bell-shaped pit feature and refitted later. The lugs protruding from below the rim may have been used as decoration or to suspend the vessel over a fire. The lugs were attached using rivets made of clay, one of which can be seen at the broken edge of the vessel. The site was excavated in 1986 by Kansas Historical Society archeologists and Kansas Anthropological Association volunteers.

Hematite Artifact from Greenwood County
Date: 1350-1850 CE
This hematite artifact was found in Greenwood County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1984. The broken artifact still shows four grooved lines, though what its original function was is unknown. Hematite is a relatively soft and fine-grained mineral form of iron oxide. It is easily carved and polished.

Hetzel biface
Date: Unknown
This large biface was found in Shawnee County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1886. It may have been stored for future use (what Archeologists call a cache), meant for trade, or had some other significance we today do not know. It was broken prior to its donation. It is made from a large slab of Smoky Hill Jasper, which outcrops in north central and northwestern Kansas.

Map of the new islands which are called the islands of the West or of the Indies
Creator: Munster, Sebastian, 1489-1552
Date: Between A.D. 1552 and A.D. 1568
Hand-tinted woodcut map of the New World. The map's text is in Latin, except for a French title that translates as, "Map of the new islands which are called the islands of the West or of the Indies." This map was the first to depict North and South America as separate from the rest of the world's land masses yet connected to each other by land. North America is labeled "Terra florida." Forests and mountains are indicated on the continents, and cannibals are depicted as living in present-day Brazil. All land masses and oceans are presented out of proper perspective. This map appeared in a French edition of the book Cosmographia by the German cartographer Sebastian Münster. The book was widely read, with about forty editions printed during the century following its first appearance in 1544.

Metal Arrow Point
Date: 1540-1850 CE
This metal arrow point was recovered from Shawnee County in 1991. The notched or serrated stem may have made it easier to haft the point onto the arrow shaft. Some metal points were made by Indians from scraps of metal such as barrel bands. Others were manufactured and traded to them by Europeans and Americans.

Metal Arrow Point
Date: 1540-1850 CE
This metal arrow point was recovered from Kingman County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1966. The notched or serrated stem may have made it easier to haft the point onto the arrow shaft. Some metal points were made by Indians from scraps of metal such as barrel bands. Others were manufactured and traded to them by Europeans and Americans.

Metal Arrow Point
Date: 1540-1850 CE
This is a metal arrow point that was donated in 1962 to the Kansas Historical Society. It is thought to have been made from a serving fork with two of the tines removed.

Metal Arrow Point
Date: 1540-1850 CE
This metal arrow point was recovered from Kingman County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1966. The notched or serrated stem may have made it easier to haft the point onto the arrow shaft. Some metal points were made by Indians from scraps of metal such as barrel bands. Others were manufactured and traded to them by Europeans and Americans.

Metal Arrow Point from Russell County
Date: 1540-1850 CE
This metal arrow point was recovered from Russell County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1902. The notched stem may have made it easier to haft the point onto the arrow shaft. Some metal points were made by Indians from scraps of metal such as barrel bands. Others were manufactured and traded to them by Europeans and Americans.

Native American villiage Protohistoric Period
Creator: Irvin, Michael
Date: 1995
This illustration shows what a Native American village may have looked like during the Protohistoric Period of 1500-1800 CE. This is a period of time that is before and after the arrival of Europeans in the New World.

Pipestone Artifact
Date: 1350-1850 CE
Several of these carved pipestone items have been found in Northeast Kansas. The show up in different sites, and are likely historic American Indian in origin. They may have been used for molds for softer metals, such as lead or pewter. Only one that we know of comes from an excavated context, a Kansa village site, which was occupied from 1828-1844 CE.