HOPEWELLIAN REMAINS NEAR KANSAS CITY — WEDEL 105 



type of mound, which has so long puzzled students of prehistory in 

 the Kansas City region. 



Viewed in the light of Plains archeology, the complex briefly in- 

 ventoried above presents a number of totally new features com- 

 bined with others that have been known to workers in that area for 

 some time/ Widespread throughout Nebraska and apparently also 

 in Kansas are small often deeply buried sites distinguished by thick 

 coarsely tempered cord-roughened sherds, with or without the rim 

 bosses, which are much like the first type described above. These 

 have heretofore generally been classed as Woodland, and as already 

 stated stratigraphically they are believed to represent the earliest 

 known ceramic horizon in the region. Little is known of the asso- 

 ciated artifact types except that heavy stemmed projectile points 

 are usually present. On several occasions three-quarter grooved 

 axes have also been found on these camp sites. The relation between 

 these small widely distributed sites with their single distinctive 

 pottery type and such large and comparatively rich manifestations 

 as the Renner site is still obscure. Otherwise the sherds previously 

 described in this paper are of types not yet found in Nebraska, al- 

 though our work in the Kansas valley disclosed at least one camp 

 site with similar sherds near Manhattan, Kans., 120 miles west of 

 Kansas City. Metapodial beaming tools have been reported sporad- 

 ically from the Plains, but so far only in the precontact Upper Re- 

 publican or a related context. Antler projectile points are scarce 

 otherwise from the region save in the protohistoric Oneota and 

 Lower Loup (Pawnee) complexes. Besides the generally more 

 elaborate ceramic tradition, traits at the Reimer site that are either 

 rare or unknown in other described Plains archeological complexes 

 include stemmed scrapers, an unusual variety of chipped stone 

 objects, cone-shaped stone and clay artifacts, imitation bear teeth, 

 and "strainers." There is little resemblance to known protoliistoric 

 and historic remains in this portion of the Missouri Valley, and in 

 fact the complexion of the material is generally non-Plains. 



Despite the absence of a detailed tabular analysis by depths of the 

 Renner site materials, it seems evident that all these various artifact 

 types represent the remains of a single occupancy. Possibility of a 

 mechanical mixing of vestiges from distinct culture strata is ruled 



•See: Wedel, W. R., Reports on fleldwork by the Archeological Survey of the Nebraska 

 State Historical Society, May l-.Tuly 23, 1934, Nebraska Hist. Mag., vol. 15, pp. 132-255, 

 1934. — Strong, W. D., An introduction to Nebraska archeology, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., 

 vol. 93, no. 10, 1935. — Hill, A. T., and W«del, W. R., Excavations at the Leary Indian 

 village and burial site, Richardson County, Nebraska, Nebraska Hist. Mag., vol. 17, pp. 

 3-73, 1936. — Wedel, W. R., An introduction to Pawnee archeology, Bur. Amer. Ethnol. 

 Bull. 112, 1936. — Bell, E. H., et al.. Chapters in Nebraska archeology, vol. 1, University of 

 Nebraska, 1936. — HiU, A. T., and Cooper, Paul, papers in Nebraska Hist Mag., vol. 17, 

 pp. 222-292, 1937. 



