Geoarchaeology of the Coffey Site, Northeastern Kansas: Implications for Finding the Material Remains of Paleoamericans in the Eastern Plains, USA

Summary

The Coffey site in the Big Blue River valley of northeastern Kansas is best known for its stratified Middle Archaic components. However, recent investigations at the site recorded stratified Late and Middle Paleoindian cultural deposits and what may be an Early Paleoindian or Pre-Clovis component in the late member of the Severance Formation, a Wisconsinan-age lithostratigraphic unit that occurs as a remnant beneath the T-1 terrace of the Blue River. The late member of the Severance Formation appears to span Marine Isotope Stage 2 and records valley activity just prior to and during cool and dry conditions that coincide with the accumulation of Peoria Loess and related eolian sand on the T-2 terrace and upland landscapes. This paper addresses the stratigraphic context of the Paleoindian components in the Severance Formation at the Coffey site and considers the potential for pre-Clovis cultural deposits in the Severance at Coffey and elsewhere in the Eastern Plains of the U.S.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17671