ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MISSOURI 209 



the general nature and distribution of this vaguely defined horizon, 

 which centers in the Mississippi Valley between the mouth of the 

 Arkansas and the Missouri but occurs also in varying forms over a 

 vast territory from the Ozark upland eastward to Alabama and 

 Florida, and from Mississippi northward nearly to the Great Lakes. 

 He has further indicated (1940, p. 364) that northward up the Mis- 

 sissippi, Missouri, and Ohio "it fades with progressive attenuation 

 into 'Upper Mississippi* and 'Plains'." As might be expected from 

 the geographic position of the Platte County remains, marginal to 

 the Mississippi Valley, the Steed-Kisker site lacks many of the most 

 conspicuous and arresting features exhibited by Middle Mississippi 

 sites nearer the presumed center of development and dispersion. 



There are, for example, no temple mounds or other monumental 

 earthworks at Steed-Kisker, and, if we except the earthen burial 

 mounds some of which may belong to the complex, it appears that 

 such features are absent generally from the Platte County locality. 

 Lacking, too, are the stone hoes, spades, and long blades, the mono- 

 lithic ax, polished discoidals, palettes, sculptured stone vessels, stone 

 figurines or "idols," engraved marine shells and skillfully carved 

 shell gorgets, copper plates and other objects, and a considerable 

 number of pottery elements. It is possible, of course, that some of 

 these artifact types will come to light when more extensive excava- 

 tions are undertaken. Meanwhile, about the best that can be done 

 is to compare our brief list from Steed-Kisker with the longer inven- 

 tories from other Middle Mississippi sites, and to determine how far 

 the Platte County remains are comformable. 



The semihorticultural basis of Middle Mississippi society seems to 

 be generally accepted (Cole and Deuel, 1937, p. 20; Phillips, 1940, 

 p. 350) , although for the northern centers at least there appears to be 

 very little direct evidence as to the crops grown or the methods fol- 

 lowed. Agricultural implements of shell and stone are reported from 

 Cahokia (Moorehead, 1922a, 1928; Titterington, 1938, p. 5), Aztalan 

 (Barrett, 1933, p. 356), Fonts village site in Fulton County, 111. (Cole 

 and Deuel, 1937, p. 118), and Kingston village site in Peoria County, 

 111. (Simpson, 1939) . The single perforated mussel-shell hoe at Steed- 

 Kjsker is identical with specimens from all these sites. Barrett men- 

 tions "a few squash seeds" and notes "an area occupied by 'corn 

 hills' " at Aztalan. At Kingston, Simpson reports a subsistence com- 

 plex that, except for the absence of domestic sunflowers, must have 

 been substantial!}^ like that at Steed-Kisker (see also table 11). Here 

 also were found 49 deer-mandible artifacts identified as hoes, which 

 from the description and rather unclear illustration (Simpson, 1939, 

 p. 10) resemble closely the worked mandible fragment recovered from 



