2021 Fall Newsletter

( Tools that had cutting edges on both sides). They also had ground stone celts (a type of axe).

People from this time frame lived in large oval houses. Each large house contained storage pits and several hearths. Some of the houses mea sured 32 X 65 ft. That’s the same size as a mod ern 2000 sq ft house. These houses also had solid daub walls. The Hertha-Phase people engaged in hunting, gathering, and pottery making. Typical pottery had pale, almost pink surfaces and a dark core. The exterior surface was smooth.

Specific tools used in cluded large cornered-notched points and bifac es. Photo Courtesy KSHS Greenwood Phase The Greenwood phase spans between 400 AD and 1000 AD at the Hillsdale site and roughly cor responds to the Middle to Late Woodland Period (which lasted from 1200 AD to 1400 AD).

During warm seasonal occupation, evidence sug gests hunting and butchering happened, along with hide working, food processing, and tool man ufacturing. From artifacts found we can interpret their diet to have consisted of: Hickory Nut, Black Walnut, Pig weed Seed (Young leaves can be eaten raw or cooked like spinach), Carpet Weed Seed (edible), Nut Rush (edible nut), Kingnut (hickory nut). Ani mal remains found at sites of this cultural pattern primarily consist of bison, deer, elk, antelope, and a variety of small game. Interesting finds also include plants those mod ern herbalists use for medicinal purposes. Found at these sites include: Pokeweed; Seeds used to treat epilepsy, anxiety and neurological disorders, and cancer. Euphorbia; Possibly used as medicinal to reduce swelling. This is one of the 50 top Chinese funda mental herbs.

Sites of this cultural pattern are found across much of Southeastern Kansas, primarily along the Neo sho, Cottonwood, Verdigris, Elk, and Marais de Sygnes rivers. Settlements during the Greenwood phase consisted of villages (up to 8 houses) that were themselves part of a larger settlement that included several hundred people. Houses found at Greenwood phase had long, oval dwellings. Hearths and basin-shaped pits occur within hous es and are also found scattered throughout the village. Some of the deeper pits may have been used for storage. Subsistence practices consisted of hunting and gathering.

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