Quantifying the Qualitative: Locating North-Central Kansas Burial Mounds

Summary

Scattered through parts of northeastern and north-central Kansas are prehistoric burial sites in the form of low rock and earthen mounds located atop bluffs overlooking stream valleys. In Kansas, the Unmarked Burial Sites Preservation Act exists to protect these sites, but this law is only effective if the location of these features is known. Most prehistoric mounds in this region are subtle in appearance, making them difficult to recognize. If sites are not recorded and protected, they may be unintentionally or intentionally destroyed. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software and the Kanas State Historical Society Archaeological Site Inventory, a map was created pinpointing the locations of recorded burial mounds in Clay, Geary, Pottawatomie, Riley, and Wabaunsee counties. Geographic associations of known mounds relative to topographic and hydrologic features were highlighted in order to recognize spatial patterns and simple statistical procedures were used to predict areas with high potential for past use as prehistoric burial sites. Samples of these areas were targeted for pedestrian survey to identify and record additional burial mound features with the overall goal of helping protect prehistoric burial sites in northeastern Kansas. Four burial mound sites were recorded because of these surveys.  

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20668