American Indian Site in Hodgeman County, 14HO306
Date: 1985
Shown are two views from slides of an American Indian site located in a valley in Hodgeman County. The site, in the Pawnee River basin, had bison bone exposed from a later component at the site. Charcoal recovered from the site yielded two dates: an Archaic occupation dating to 3080 - 2400 BCE and a possible Keith variant occupation dating to 1300 - 1420 CE.

Arrow Point from 14PA320
Date: 500-1100 CE
This arrow point was recovered from a Keith phase Early Ceramic period archeological site in Pawnee County. Archeologists consider corner-notched points to be the earliest form of arrow points that are found in the Great Plains. The notches aided in hafting the arrow point to the arrow shaft.

Arrow Point from 14PH342
Date: 500-1100 CE
This arrow point was recovered from a Keith phase archeological site in Phillips County. The arrow point has corner-notches to aid in hafting the point to the arrow shaft. The Keith phase site would have been occupied sometime between 500 and 1100 CE. The people who lived here were semi-sedentary hunters and gatherers.

Beads from the Forrest Site, 14PA303
Date: 500-1100 CE
These bone and shell beads were recovered at the Forrest site, a Keith phase site in Pawnee County during excavations by Kansas Historical Society and University of Kansas archeologists in 1967. The flat disk bead was cut from a mussel shell and drilled. The bone beads were made from small animal bones. They were scored, then cut or snapped, and finally had their edges smoothed, to form the tubular beads. Incised spirals and rings were added to each bead for decoration. The site was occupied sometime between 500 and 1100 CE. The people who lived here were semi-sedentary hunters and gatherers.

Biface from the Forrest Site, 14PA303
Date: 11000-7000 BCE
This thin biface was recovered at the Forrest site, a Keith phase site in Pawnee County during excavations by Kansas Historical Society and University of Kansas archeologists in 1967. The oblique parallel flaking on the biface is an attribute more typical of the Paleoindian time period (11000 to 7000 BCE). The site was occupied between 500 and 1100 CE.

Bone Rasp from the Forrest Site, 14PA303
Date: 500-1100 CE
This bone rasp fragment was recovered at the Forrest site, a Keith phase site in Pawnee County during excavations by Kansas Historical Society and University of Kansas archeologists in 1967. The rasp was made by cutting grooves into a deer rib. Archeologists believe that artifacts like these could have been used as musical instruments, by drawing a stick across the grooves, or as tally sticks. This rasp has a series of six long and twenty short lines. The site was occupied sometime between 500 and 1100 CE. The people who lived here were semi-sedentary hunters and gatherers.

Bone Tool from the Kraus Site, 14EL313
Date: 500-1100 CE
This bone tool was recovered from the Kraus site in Ellis county during the 2015 Kansas Archeology Training Program. It is possibly some type of multi-purpose tool, though its specific function is unknown. It was made from a fragment of an animal's long bone. The Kraus site is a Keith Phase occupation in western Kansas.

Corner-Notched Arrow Point from 14HO326
Date: 500-1000 CE
This fragment of a corner-notched arrow point was recovered from the surface of an Early Ceramic period archeological site during a survey by a Kansas Historical Society archeologist in 1995. The point has been broken at the tip and on one barb. The site may perhaps be a Keith focus or variant site, generally found in western Kansas and Nebraska.

Corner-Notched Arrow Points from 14EL313
Date: 1000-1100 CE
These six arrow points were just a few of those recovered at the Kraus site in Ellis County during the 2015 Kansas Archeology Training Program field school. Archeologists consider corner-notched points to be the earliest form of arrow points that are found in the Great Plains. The notches aided in hafting the point to the arrow shaft.

Corner-Notched Arrow Points from the Forrest Site, 14PA303
Date: 500-1100 CE
These arrow points were recovered at the Forrest site, a Keith phase site in Pawnee County during excavations by Kansas Historical Society and University of Kansas archeologists in 1967. These arrow points are what archeologists call corner-notched. The notches aided in hafting the point to the arrow shaft. The site was occupied sometime between 500 and 1100 CE. The people who lived here were semi-sedentary hunters and gatherers.

Dart Projectile Point from 14EL313
Date: 500-1100 CE
This corner-notched dart projectile point was recovered from excavations at 14EL313 in Ellis county. The occupation site, excavated at the 2015 Kansas Archeology Training Program, recovered many arrow points, but only this single dart point. Dart points would be mounted to the dart foreshaft, which would in turn be connected to the dart shaft. The assembled dart would then be thrown with an atlatl (spearthrower). The Kraus site is part of the Keith Phase occupation in western Kansas which dates between 500 and 1100 CE.

Middle Ceramic Pottery Sherd from the Kraus 1 Site, 14EL313
Date: 1000 CE
This small piece of pottery was recovered from excavations at 14EL313 during the 2015 Kansas Archeology Training Program field school. After cleaning the sherd very carefully, a volunteer discovered that it showed three different areas or zones of decorations: a punctate filled zone (tiny indentations), a smooth zone bordered by two straight lines, and a slight indication of parallel diagonal lines. This pottery may have arrived at the Keith Phase site as a trade item.

Ornament from 14EL313
Date: 1000-1100 CE
While sorting artifacts recovered from excavations at 14EL313 in Ellis county, a volunteer in the Archeology Lab discovered this uniquely decorated stone. Perhaps once a ornament, the artifact now shows seven incised horizontal lines on one side and vertical straitions on the reverse. 14EL313 was excavated at the 2015 Kansas Archeology Training Program. It is part of the Keith Phase occupation in western Kansas which dates between 500 and 1100 CE.

Pottery from 14PA320
Date: 500-1100 CE
These reconstructed body sherds were recovered from a Keith phase Early Ceramic period archeological site in Pawnee County. The sherds are sand tempered and cord marked, a technique where a cord-wrapped paddle was used to make the roughened surface treatment.

Pottery from the Forrest Site, 14PA303
Date: 500-1100 CE
These pottery fragments were recovered at the Forrest site, a Keith phase site in Pawnee County during excavations by Kansas Historical Society and University of Kansas archeologists in 1967. The reconstructed fragments are thick, cord-marked, and have crushed calcite temper, a type of pottery called Harlan Cord-Roughened Ware. The site was occupied sometime between 500 and 1100 CE. The people who lived here were semi-sedentary hunters and gatherers.

Pottery from the Vohs Site, 14OB401
Date: 500-1500 CE
These body sherds were recovered during the 1969 Kansas Archeology Training Program field school at the Vohs site in Osborne County. The cord-marked sherds have grit and sand temper, which was added to the clay to help form, dry, and fire the pottery. The site was discovered during land leveling operations. The Vohs site is a multicomponent site, meaning there was more than one occupation. The site was first occupied by people that left an archeological assemblage with characteristics of the Keith phase and later by people that left an archeological assemblage with characteristics of the Smoky Hill aspect. These names were assigned by researchers to a specific set of archeological characteristics and are not the names these groups would have called themselves.

Projectile Point Preforms from the Kraus Site, 14EL313
Date: 1000-1100 CE
These two thin preforms are in the final manufacturing stage before finishing them into arrow points. They were recovered from excavation at the Kraus site in Ellis County during the 2015 Kansas Archeology Training Program. The Kraus site is a late Keith Phase (500 to 1100 CE) occupation site.

Side-Notched Arrow Points from the Kraus Site, 14EL313
Date: 1200 CE
These two arrow points were recovered from the Kraus site in Ellis County during the 2015 Kansas Archeology Training Program field school. Side-notched arrow points were used from about 800 years ago until the Native Americans changed to metal arrow points in the 18th- and 19th-centuries. The Kraus site is a Keith Phase occupation site in western Kansas and during the excavations numerous small arrow points were collected.