K-State archaeology began the 1980s with a community-based excavation in Manhattan. In September 1980, Dr. O'Brien was notified by a construction foreman at the building site for a new Holiday Inn motel (the Holidome) that ancestral Native American artifacts had been uncovered while preparing the location for construction. Wanting to salvage some of these archaeological clues and learn something about how earlier indigenous peoples used this site, Dr. O'Brien convinced the Brock Hotel Corporation and construction crew to allow archaeological work there over one weekend. At her request, a 25 by 30-foot area was roped off for further inspection by Dr. O'Brien, her students, and community volunteers.
K-State students enrolled in the Saturday Archaeological Field and Laboratory Methods course and community volunteers aided with the salvage operation. First, they worked with a heavy machinery operator to carefully remove the upper disturbed sediments from the site area. They watched for archaeological remains, ancient soil disturbances, or archaeological features as this upper plowzone was removed. The location of these finds was noted, and a grid was established over the area with the greatest potential for yielding undisturbed cultural deposits. The grid was used to guide the controlled excavations that followed. This allowed the exact location (provenience) of each find to be recorded. The excavated sediments were screened to recover small artifacts and organic remains. Students and volunteers found ancient plant remains, wood charcoal, fragments of animal bone, stone tools, potsherds (broken pottery), and other clues of past activities at this site.
An early hypothesis, posed by a newspaper journalist prior to formal work at the site, was that this was the site of a Pawnee ‘Earth Lodge.' This turned out not to be the case. Clear evidence for a house (lodge) was not found. Additionally, the site was found to pre-date the historic Pawnee.
Analysis of the recovered remains indicates that ancestral Native Americans used this location between 1100 and 1350 CE. Archaeologists classify the remains dating to this period as part of the Central Plains tradition. The local Native peoples living in this area then were the first sedentary farmers to raise corn, beans, squash, sunflowers, and other native plants their ancestors had domesticated. They also gathered wild plants and hunted and trapped the wide range of animals that were abundant in the stream valley along which they lived. Their tools were made out of wood, bone, hides, plant fibers, clay, and stone. They flaked or chipped local flint (or chert) to make sharp-edged knives, arrow points, and scrapers. Slabs of local limestone were used as grinding stones to crack and process dried kernels or seeds. They could also be used to shape or sharpen other tools. The people who lived at this site were culturally related to those who lived nearby at the Lonergan and Young Buck sites and, at a somewhat greater distance, the Witt lodge site.
The Holidome excavation serves as an example of community involvement in archaeology through the help of volunteers and support from the Brock Hotel Corporation. Although unwilling to delay construction to allow additional collection of archaeological clues from the site, the Brock Corporation donated $3,000 to hire students to process and analyze the cultural materials recovered from that portion of the site that was inspected. The gift also provided funds for radiocarbon dating and a botanist to identify the recovered plant remains. As noted by Dr. O'Brien, it would have taken years to process the materials collected from the site without the financial donation from the Brock Hotel Corporation and the assistance of volunteers, students, and relevant experts.
In addition to salvaging information that would have otherwise been lost, the Holidome project also served as a tool for student training in the field and lab. Former and present students provided assistance at the site and processing the materials that were recovered. Artifacts were washed and cataloged. Samples of dirt were processed using water to recover preserved plant parts. Using this flotation technique and sorting the resultant remains by hand, sometimes under magnifying lenses, students recovered very small and fragile items, like seeds, burned wood, small bones, and fish scales. This laboratory training allowed students to practice methods used in professional archaeology work. Objects, large and small, and information about the specific setting from which they were recovered facilitate interpretation of the significance of this site. Although many of the finds may seem unimportant at the outset, they all provide invaluable clues to the activities and lifeways of those ancestral Native Americans who lived here prior to the arrival of foreign settlers to this area.
After Dr. O'Brien and her students analyzed the recovered archaeological remains, they constructed an exhibit to education the public of their findings. Local residents and visitors to Manhattan may remember this display that remained at the motel for many years. After several changes in ownership of the motel, the exhibit was removed. The archaeological remains and documentation are curated at Kansas State University.
Back Through the Decades: 1980s
