A team of graduate students and faculty from the University of Oklahoma and University of Iowa recently investigated the White Cat Village site in Nebraska. This site rests right along the edge of a terrace overlooking Harlan County Reservoir and erosion has led to the destruction of much of the site. In 2015, our team conducted a bank survey (in challenging conditions) to see if any artifacts were eroding out of the cut bank. We found several artifacts and three burned features. [caption id="attachment_208" align="alignright" width="300"] Bank Survey[/caption] Our goals of the 2016 work was to excavate these features and to see if any additional artifacts could be found along…

Sarah Trabert recently joined a team of archaeologists from the Oklahoma Archaeological Survey, University of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State University in the investigation of the Deer Creek Site, a fortified ancestral Wichita site. [caption id="attachment_199" align="alignleft" width="200"] Excavating a fortification ditch at Deer Creek[/caption] Deer Creek dates to the mid-18th century when many Native peoples, such as Wichita, had very complex relationships with French and Spanish explorers as well as other neighboring tribes. Deer Creek is one of only a few fortified sites on the Southern Plains where Native peoples built a series of ditches, ramparts, and possibly wooden walls to protect their villages. The Deer Creek site had not…

A team of graduate students and faculty from the University of Oklahoma and University of Iowa recently investigated the White Cat Village site in Nebraska. This site rests right along the edge of a terrace overlooking Harlan County Reservoir and erosion has led to the destruction of much of the site. In 2015, our team conducted a bank survey (in challenging conditions) to see if any artifacts were eroding out of the cut bank. We found several artifacts and three burned features. [caption id="attachment_208" align="alignright" width="300"] Bank Survey[/caption] Our goals of the 2016 work was to excavate these features and to see if any additional artifacts could be found along…

Sarah Trabert recently joined a team of archaeologists from the Oklahoma Archaeological Survey, University of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State University in the investigation of the Deer Creek Site, a fortified ancestral Wichita site. [caption id="attachment_199" align="alignleft" width="200"] Excavating a fortification ditch at Deer Creek[/caption] Deer Creek dates to the mid-18th century when many Native peoples, such as Wichita, had very complex relationships with French and Spanish explorers as well as other neighboring tribes. Deer Creek is one of only a few fortified sites on the Southern Plains where Native peoples built a series of ditches, ramparts, and possibly wooden walls to protect their villages. The Deer Creek site had not…