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These two obsidian artifacts were excavated at the Thompson site in Rice County during the 1986 Kansas Archeological Training Program field school. There is no natural source of obsidian in Rice County, so it was likely traded from a volcanic source such as the Yellowstone region of Wyoming or Taos, New Mexico. The small artifact may be an arrow point, while the other may be either a knife tip or a biface. The site, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, was a Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita) village occupied during the Late Ceramic Period. Archeologists are interested in what the artifacts, even the smallest of artifacts, can tell about how people used resources, moved across their landscapes and interacted with other groups.
Date: 1500-1800 CE
Item Number: 449010
Call Number: 14RC9-586-141 & 14RC9-696-151
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 449010
Built Environment - National Register of Historic Places
Collections - Archeology
Objects and Artifacts - Archeological Artifacts - Artifact Class - Chipped Stone
Objects and Artifacts - Archeological Artifacts - Artifact Type - Biface
Objects and Artifacts - Archeological Artifacts - Artifact Type - Knife
Objects and Artifacts - Archeological Artifacts - Artifact Type - Projectile Point
Objects and Artifacts - Archeological Artifacts - Material/Stone Type - Obsidian
Objects and Artifacts - Archeological Artifacts - Site Name - Thompson
People - American Indians - Prehistoric Cultures - Great Bend aspect
Places - Counties - Rice
Thematic Time Period - Early Peoples, 10000 BCE - 1820 CE - Late Ceramic, 1500 - 1820 CE
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/449010