Flint Hills Archaeological Conference

46th Annual

Flint Hills Archaeological Conference

Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29, 2025
Smoky Hill Museum, 211 W. Iron Avenue, Salina KS 67401

Friday, March 28, 2025, Pre-Conference Field Trip

Rice County; Tour of River View Farm and the Little River Archeological District

9:45 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. (Details Below)

Saturday, March 29, 2025, Annual Conference

10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (2^nd Floor Community Room)

Free Museum Admission and Conference Registration

Saturday Conference Agenda

10:00 a.m. Welcome

10:10 a.m. Presentations

• 10:10-10:30: KSHS Updates and Upcoming Collaboration, Paige Bump and Doug Kressly, Kansas Historical Society
• 10:30-10:50: History of Kansas State Archaeology, Brinna Wellington, Kansas State University
• 10:50-11:10: City Archaeologist Office of Wichita Kansas: Past, Present Future, Crystal A. Dozier and Brogan Gillmore, Wichita State University and Stantec
• 11:10-11:30: Ritchie Cemetery: A Historic African American Burial Ground in Topeka, Kansas, Robert J. Hoard, Kansas Historical Society (retired)

11:30-12:45 p.m. Lunch Break (visit local restaurant of your choice)

12:50 p.m. Presentations

• 12:50-1:10: Examples of Clovis Long Distance Lithic Movements in the Central Great Plains, Steven Holen, Center for American Paleolithic Research
• 1:10-1:30: Rediscovering the Brady Artifact Site: A Glimpse inot Nebraska's Early Archaic Period, Kailyn Drain, University of Nebraska State Museum
• 1:30-1:50: Results from a cultural resources assessment of the E-65 Canal in South Central Nebraska, Jennifer Banks and Nolan Johnson, Nebraska State Historical Society
• 1:50-2:10: The Flintlock Site: An Early 19th Century Fur Trading Post on the Marais des Cygnes in Eastern Kansas, Barbara M. Crable, Jack L. Hofman, and J.C. Parkin, Kansas Historical Society

2:10-2:30 p.m. Break

2:30 p.m. Presentations

• 2:30-2:50: Quantifying Evidence of Marrow Extraction on Large Animal Bones, Kathleen Holen, Center for American Paleolithic Research 
• 2:50-3:10: Heading South: Smoky Hill Jasper Biface Caches in the Uplands of Southwestern Kansas, Jack L. Hofman, Randy Thies, and Max Liggett, University of Kansas

3:15 p.m. PAK Annual Meeting

3:15 p.m. Poster Session

• Surface Surveys West and South of the Tobias Site (14RC8), Chris Kurtz, Independent Researcher
• Fluvial Erosion’s Impact on Kansas Archaeological Sites, Max Gosch, Wichita State University

4:15 p.m. Conclusion

Friday, March 28, 2025, Pre-Conference Field Trip

A 500-Year Journey Through Rice County; The Historic River View Farm and the Great Bend Aspect

A new opportunity for archeologists and historians, the River View Farm offers unique and diverse historical content dating to 1871.  Pressured by family involvement in civil war espionage, the young Hodgson family moved west to Kansas from Virginia.  Traveling by rail to Salina, Kansas, and then by buckboard south to present-day rural Little River, the displaced family settled in a dugout across from a Native American village.  Documented accounts illustrate the pioneers encountered Santa Fe Trail travelers, survived devastating fires, mourned the loss of nearly an entire generation of children to disease and much more.  Still residing on the original farmstead, historic documentation such as family journals, letters, articles, artifacts and agricultural inventories provide a rare, comprehensive snapshot of time. 

The tour will continue to the Little River Archeological District for an exploration of two Great Bend Aspect sites, the 80-acre Tobias Site (14RC8) and the Peverly Petroglyph site (4RC10) for an immersion into Central Plains pre-history.

To register for free, email your name and phone number to Lynn Gentine at Lgentine@yahoo.com

Tour Schedule

9:45AM – 10:00AM         Gather outside Salina Smoky Hill Museum to carpool

10:00AM – 11:00AM      Travel from Salina Smoky Hill Museum to River View Farm (south of Little River)

11:00PM- 2:00PM          Tour of historic River View Farm and Santa Fe Trail (BRING A SACK LUNCH)

2:00PM – 2:20PM            Travel to Tobias Site (14RC8)

3:00PM – 3:10PM            Travel to Peverly Petroglyph Site (14RC10)

3:40PM – 4:30PM            Return to Salina, Kansas

Archive:

45th Annual

Flint Hills Archaeological Conference

Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23, 2024
Woolsey Hall, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas

The Department of Anthropology at Wichita State University, the Archaeological Association of South-Central Kansas, and Stantec are proud to host the 45th Annual Flint Hills Archaeological Conference. This conference promotes archaeological and historical projects in Kansas, Nebraska, western Missouri, northeastern Oklahoma, and nearby areas. This is primarily an archaeological conference, although presentations from the other subfields of anthropology are welcome, as are discussions related to tribal organizations associated with the area. Registration is FREE, though attendees are encouraged to renew membership with the Professional Archaeologists of Kansas at the meeting. On-site registration will be available, but we encourage everyone to pre-register to properly plan all sessions.

General Schedule

Friday, March 22

1-4 p.m.: Etzanoa Site Visit with the Etzanoa Conservancy (must pre-register, meet in Arkansas City)

5-6 p.m.: Anthropology Open House at Wichita State, Neff Hall. Archaeology Labs: 2nd Floor

5-8 p.m.: Early bird party at Social Tap on WSU Campus (4510 E 19th St N, Unit 101, Wichita KS 67208)

Saturday, March 23^rd:

9 a.m.: On-site registration opens (Woosley Hall)

9:20 a.m.: Welcome statement

9:30–10:30 a.m.: Oral presentations

10:30-10:45 a.m.:  Break

10:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Oral presentations

12:30-2:30 p.m.: Lunch break (on own). Lowell D. Holmes Anthropological Museum Special Open Hours.

2:30-4:00 p.m.: PAK business meeting and poster presentations

5 PM: Post-conference Social TBA

Presentations

11:05-11:20: Nolan Johnson, Jennifer Banks, Brian Goodrich The 2023 Community Dig at Ft. Atkinson State Historic Park

11:25-11:40:Shelby Beltz Who's Who at the Kansas Historical Society: Personnel and Program Updates

11:45-12:00: Donald Blakeslee The Art of Archaeological Interpretation

12:05-12:20: Crystal A. Dozier Preparing the Next Generation Plains Archaeologist

12:30-2:30: LUNCH BREAK

2:30-4:00: PAK BUSINESS MEETING AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Ayla Alves Borges, Dylan Allen, Blair Schneider, Lauren Norman, Bob Miller New discoveries at the Bender family homestead using near-surface geophysics (Site 14LB24)

K.M. Carter Preliminary Analysis of Ground Stone Artifacts from Etzanoa (14CO3)

Norm Conley Etzanoa Relational Databases

Max Gosch, Matthew Howland AI Archaeology: Using AI to Write Python for GIS

Monika Hoffman Wichita Phonology: The Key to Reinvigoration

Robbyn M.S. McKellop, Douglas J. Kressly Assessment of Caddo Ceramics Within the Great Bend Aspect

Abigail Vaughn, Blair Schneider, Jon Boursaw, Scott Holzmeister Using Geophysical Methods to Locate Burials in Uniontown Cemetery

Local Arrangements

Venue: Wichita State University, Woolsey Hall 134

Hotel: Hyatt Place Wichita State University, 4703 E 19th St N, Wichita, KS 67208

Cost: Conference rate $107 plus taxes and fees, book through this link until 1 March 2024

Parking: Free visitor parking, Lots 13, 15, 41