K-State began professional archaeological research and training in the area around Manhattan, Kansas. Archaeological survey west of Manhattan's city limits in the early 1960s resulted in recording a number of sites with evidence of past human use of specific places in the landscape. The Lonergan site was among those and, like many others, was discovered as it was impacted by modern farming practices. The name assigned to the site after that of a nearby trailer manufacturing business (seen in the upper right corner of the picture below). The archaeological remains found here were much older. They represent the activities of people who lived at the site roughly 700 years ago.
Dr. Stanislawski leading students in excavation of the floor of an ancient house floor at the Lonergan site.
Dr. Stanislawski brought K-State students to this site to learn about archaeological field methods and to gather information that would provide information about who, when, and how did people live here in the past. Following mapping and gridding the surface of the site, the students commenced careful excavations. Through this process, they uncovered about two-thirds of the floor of a long-gone house of Native farmers. They found artifacts such as broken pieces of pottery, tools made from stone, such as cutting tools, hide scrapers, arrow points, and drills, as well as stones used for grinding things like corn and other plant seeds and nuts. These were found in association with evidence for a former house. This was indicated by differences in the sediments that show where posts were once set in the ground and a fireplace or hearth once existed. This evidence indicated that a Native family once lived here.
When Dr. Stanislawski left K-State in 1967, there was more evidence to recover and more to learn. The department's newest member, Dr. Patricia J. O'Brien, had steady contact with Dr. Stanislawski through conferences and letters. He encouraged her to continue research and student training at this local site.
A rough plan map of the archaeological features outlining the early Native house at the Lonergan site.
Dr. O'Brien decided to take on the challenge with students over the next two school years. At that time, the site was on the outskirts of Manhattan, which made it accessible for the class.
Part of the preliminary work at any site is clearing and preparing it for investigation. At the start of the third year of fieldwork vegetation in the cultivated field had to be cleared before resuming work.
"We removed sunflowers from the site and cleared off the whole area" - September 13, 1969
Much of the excavation focused on identifying the remaining support posts for this Indigenous shelter and revealing the rest of the house's floor. This evidence showed that four major post were placed around a central hearth. Other vertical posts outlined the house walls and its extended entryway. These also supported horizontal beams that held the roof of this structure. Other features that were found to be associated with this house were remnants of pits that were used for storing goods.
"Terry found a ring of posts around F[eature] 17 [a storage pit], as if to strengthen the corner of the house." - May 9th, 1970"Much bone and shell and chert. Bone tools...and bison scapula fragments in bottom [of the pit]."
Students made some exciting discoveries, including a large bone from the shoulder of a bison. This large flat bone was ideal for making gardening hoes, thin knives for cutting soft materials, such as squash or pumpkins, and other tools.
"In the south plot, was found a rather sizeable bone, Miss O'Brien believed it to be a Bison scapula bone. It was burnt and rather delicate to lift or remove from its foundation." - November 23, 1968
Any excavation results in many artifacts that must be properly cataloged and stored to preserve the materials for future analysis. Once the artifacts are all in a lab and properly cataloged and otherwise processed and the field notes, maps, and photographs are labeled and archived, the collection can be closely studied. This allows researchers to fully analyze each artifact and the context or specific setting in which was found. Archaeologists combine all this information to develop a credible interpretation of the people who previously lived at this site.
"After we washed our artifacts thoroughly, we laid them out to dry. It is most important that the things dry from 24-48 hours before one attempts to examine them in detail or closely" - October 5, 1968
"Worked in the lab cataloging all of the artifacts. I had the job of putting numbers on all of the stuff." - October 18, 1969
After the last field season, Dr. O'Brien declared in her field journal, the excavation complete.
"The site is done!!!" - May 19, 1970
Over a period of five years, she, Dr. Stanislawski, and their K-State students had uncovered the floor of the former house of a Native farming family and evidence of many of the activities they conducted there. The style of the artifacts and radiocarbon dates indicate they made this place home roughly 700 years ago. This was the start of continuing student training and investigation of the ancestral Native American lifeways in the area around present-day Manhattan by each of the archaeologists who came to work at K-State between 1963 and 2024.
Back Through the Decades: 1960s
