Abrader from 14HV301
Date: 1000-1500 CE
This sandstone abrader was recovered from a Middle Ceramic period site in Harvey County. Archeologists call abraders groundstone tools as they are shaped by grinding. This sandstone abrader has been used to sharpen another tool, such as a bone needle or awl.

Abrader from the Bell Site, 14CM407
Date: 1000-1500 CE
This sandstone abrader was recovered from the Bell village site in Comanche County during the 1984 Kansas Archeology Training Program field school. Archeologists call these groundstone tools as they are shaped by grinding. Sandstone abraders could be used as pairs, one on each side, to smooth a wood shaft. The Bell site is a Middle Ceramic period Wilmore complex site occupied by people who gardened, fished, and hunted, primarily bison, in south central Kansas and north central Oklahoma.

Abrader from the Minneapolis Site, 14OT5
Date: 1232-1409 CE
This abrader was recovered from the Minneapolis archeological site in Ottawa County during excavation in 1934 and was donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1987. Archeologists call these groundstone tools as they are shaped by grinding. Sandstone abraders could be used as pairs, one on each side, to smooth a wood shaft. The Minneapolis site was a Smoky Hill aspect village occupied during the Middle Ceramic time period.

Abraders from 14CW301
Date: 1000-1500 CE
These abrader fragments were recovered from a Middle Ceramic period site in Crawford County. Archeologists call these abraders groundstone tools as they are shaped by grinding. The sandstone abraders could be used as pairs, one on each side, to smooth a wood shaft or individually to sharpen or smooth other items.

Abraders from 14SA409
Date: 1-1500 CE
These three abraders were recovered from the surface of a Saline County camp site and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 2017. The site was occupied during the Upper Republican and Smoky Hill phases in the Early and Middle Ceramic periods. Archeologists call these groundstone tools as they are shaped by grinding. The sandstone abraders could be used as pairs, one on each side, to smooth a wood shaft.

Abraders from the Fanning Site, 14DP1
Date: 1500-1700 CE
These abraders were recovered from Doniphan County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1981. Archeologists call these abraders groundstone tools as they are shaped by grinding. The sandstone abraders could be used as pairs, one on each side, to smooth a wood shaft or individually to sharpen or smooth other items. The Fanning site was a Late Ceramic to early Contact Period village occupied by the Kansa.

Abraders from the Killdeer Site, 14CO501
Date: 1500-1750 CE
These two abraders were among the many that were recovered during the 1994 Kansas Archeology Training Program field school at the Killdeer site, since destroyed by construction. Archeologists call these groundstone tools as they are shaped by grinding. The sandstone abraders could sometimes be used as pairs, one on each side, to smooth a wood arrow shaft. The Killdeer site was a Lower Walnut focus Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita) site in Cowley County with numerous pits, basins and post molds.

Abraders from the Kohr Site, 14SA414
Date: 780-860 CE
These abraders were collected in the 1930s from Kohr House No. 1, a large village site in Saline County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1971. Archeologists call these groundstone tools as they are shaped by grinding. The sandstone abraders could be used as pairs, one on each side, to smooth a wood shaft. All four artifacts were made of Dakota sandstone. The two on the bottom row are in the process of manufacture, enabling us to see how they were made. The Kohr site was occupied by Smoky Hill aspect people and had several rectangular houses. Radiocarbon dates on maize indicate it was occupied during the Early Ceramic period.

Abraders from the Lamar Site, 14OT304
Date: 1000-1400 CE
These three abraders were excavated in 1935 from the Lamar site in Ottawa County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1971. The Smoky Hill phase occupation site had a single, almost square, house and four cache pits. Archeologists call these groundstone tools as they are shaped by grinding. The sandstone abraders could be used as pairs, one on each side, to smooth a wood shaft.

Abraders from the Nulik Site, 14SR305
Date: 1000-1500 CE
These four abrader fragments were recovered during excavations by Kansas Historical Society archeologists at the Nulik site in Sumner County. Archeologists call these groundstone tools as they are shaped by grinding. The sandstone abraders could be used as pairs, one on each side, to smooth a wood shaft. The excavations revealed a Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita) house and associated midden (refuse heap or mound).

Abraders from the Tobias Site, 14RC8
Date: 1400-1700 CE
Shown are four abraders recovered from the excavations during the 2019 Kansas Archeology Training Program field school at the Tobias site in Rice County. Archeologists call these abraders groundstone tools as they are shaped by grinding. The sandstone abraders could be used as pairs, one on each side, to smooth a wood shaft or individually to sharpen or smooth other items. The Tobias site is a Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita) village that had dense artifact deposits, house remains, and numerous deep trash-filled storage pits. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Abraders from the Tobias Site, 14RC8
Date: 1400-1700 CE
Shown are a few of the many abraders and shaft smoothers recovered from the excavations during the 1977 and 1978 Kansas Archeology Training Program field schools at the Tobias site in Rice County. Archeologists call these groundstone tools as they are shaped by grinding. The sandstone abraders could be used as pairs, one on each side, to smooth a wood shaft or individually to sharpen or smooth items. The Tobias site is a Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita) village that had dense artifact deposits, house remains, and numerous deep trash-filled storage pits. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Abraders from the Wullschleger Site, 14MH301
Date: 1-1800 CE
These three Dakota sandstone abraders were collected from the Wullschleger Site in Marshall County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1961. Archeologists call abraders like these groundstone tools, as they are shaped by grinding. Some of the abraders could be used in pairs, one on each side, to smooth a wood shaft. The village site was occupied periodically from the Early Ceramic to the Late Ceramic periods.

Central Plains tradition Abrader from the Wollenberg Site, 14WH319
Date: 1280-1400 CE
This abrader was recovered from the Wollenberg village in Washington County in 1991. Archeologists call abraders groundstone tools as they are shaped by grinding. This sandstone abrader has been used to sharpen another tool, such as a bone needle or awl.

Central Plains tradition Abraders from the Wollenberg Site, 14WH319
Date: 1280-1400 CE
These three abraders were recovered from the Wollenberg village in Washington County in 1991. Archeologists call these groundstone tools as they are shaped by grinding. The sandstone abraders could be used as pairs, one on each side, to smooth a wood shaft.

Digging Stick Weights from the Tobias Site, 14RC8
Date: 1400-1700 CE
These two Dakota sandstone artifacts have a "Doughnut" or torus shape. Archeologists think artifacts like these were used as spindle whorls in indicate a well-developed fiber technology. They were recovered from excavations during the 1977 and 1978 Kansas Archeology Training Program field schools at the Tobias site in Rice County. The Tobias site is a Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita) village site that had dense artifact deposits, house remains, and numerous deep trash-filled storage pits. The site is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Fossil Leaf from the Tobias Site, 14RC8
Date: 1400-1600 CE
This imprint of a leaf on Dakota Sandstone was created long before people occupied the Tobias site, a Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita) village that had dense artifact deposits, house remains, and numerous deep trash-filled storage pits. The site was the focus of excavations during the 1977 and 1978 Kansas Archeology Training Program field schools. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Fully-Grooved Axe from Marshall County
Date: Unknown
This fully-grooved axe was found near Beattie, Kansas in Marshall County. The axe, used as a woodworking tool, was donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1929. Axes like these are made by pecking a hard stone into a rough shape and then grinding and polishing it into its final state. They get their name from the hafting groove, which fully encircles the axe body.

Grinding Slab from 14SA415
Date: 1200-1299 CE
This basin type grinding slab was recovered from excavations at 14SA415 in the 1970s and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 2020. This slab is the lowermost millstone for grinding foods or pigments by hand. It was recovered just a few feet away from a central hearth in a lodge occupied during the Smoky Hill phase of the Middle Ceramic period in Saline County.

Knife from 14RU306
Date: Unknown
This knife was one of nine chipped stone knives found atop a sandstone outcrop in Russell County. It is made of Smoky Hill silicified chalk, a type of chert that outcrops in western Kansas and north into Nebraska. Archeologists believe that knives shaped like this one could have been used for bison butchering. It is unknown if these knives were forgotten or deliberately left atop that sandstone outcrop.

Mano from 14SA409
Date: 1-1500 CE
This mano was recovered from the surface of a Saline County archeological site and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 2020. Manos were the upper, hand-held millstone used for grinding foods and pigments. Groundstone tools like this one are made by pecking a hard stone into a rough shape and then grinding and polishing it into its final state. The site was occupied during the Upper Republican and Smoky Hill phases during the Early and Middle Ceramic periods.

Metate Fragment from the Country Club Site, 14CO3
Date: 1400-1725 CE
A metate or grinding slab is the lowermost millstone for grinding foods or pigments by hand. They are different shapes and sizes. This one was excavated from a Great Bend aspect village site (ancestral Wichita) in Cowley County during Phase IV archeological investigations in 1995. The site had been much impacted by a water line, golf greens, roads, and highways. Excavations had been occurring at the site since 1916.

Petroglyph from Western Kansas
Date: 1400-1900
This petroglyph example from western Kansas was donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1968. Depicted are a deer-like figure with horns and vertical lines. The glyph was chiseled from the rock face, not only destroying the rock face but also any association with other glyphs at the site. It is best to leave petroglyphs where they are, unaltered, so they can continue to be studied and enjoyed by all.

Petroglyphs from 14EW305
Date: 1978
Shown are four slides of some of the petroglyphs at 14EW305 in Ellsworth County. They were on boulders that had spalled off of a sandstone bluff. Documented in 1978, the site has circular glyphs, an anthropomorphic glyph, rectangular holes that form an unrecognizable curvilinear glyph, and modern graffiti.

Petroglyphs from the Indian Hill Site, 14EW1
Date: 1867-1984
The Indian Hill site is a series of petroglyphs on an outcrop of Dakota sandstone. They were first photographed in 1867 by Alexander Gardner. Carlyle Smith, noted archaeologist and anthropologist from the University of Kansas, suggested in 1949 that the Cheyenne or Arapaho may have created some of the later glyphs, particularily those representing horses. The petroglyphs depict owls, bison, beaver, cervids, humans, equestrian figures, bison tracks, thunderbirds, serpintine figures, and ladder-like figures. In more recent time, grafitti and vandalism have been added.