Artifacts Suggest 2 Indian Groups Had Ties 5,000 Years Ago
An archeological dig has uncovered artifacts that suggest that American Indians in northeast Kansas and the Illinois River Valley had connections 1,000 years earlier then previously thought.
Scientists unveiled their findings July 31 from the dig site, which sits atop a scenic Fort Leavenworth hill.
They found artifacts from a culture that roamed the area 1,000 years ago and from a separate group that had settled there more than 4,000 years earlier.
“‘I’ve been an archeologist 20 years, and I’d never seen a site like this, “ said Brad Logan, associate curator of the University of Kansas Museum of Anthropology. “To find evidence of not just one but two complexes is very rare.”
The most significant find was that a connection between setllements along the Illinois River Valley near St. Louis ad in northeast Kansas probably existed 5,000 years ago, instead of 4,000 years ago as has been generally accepted, Logan said.
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