The Tobias-Thompson Complex, also known as the Little River Archeological District, is a complex of archaeological sites on the banks of the

Little Arkansas River The Little Arkansas River ( ) is a river in the central Great Plains of North America. A tributary of the Arkansas River, its entire length lies within the American state of Kansas.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-reso ...

near

Geneseo, Kansas Geneseo is a city in Rice County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 236. History For millennia, the land now known as Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans. In 1803, most of modern Kansas was s ...

, United States. The complex is an important set of sites that is one of the few in the region bridging the periods of prehistory and European contact, with a period of significance between 1500 and 1700 CE. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1964 and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

in 1966.

Description

The Tobias-Thompson Complex consists of eight archaeological sites, located on both sides of the Little Arkansas River. They are believed to represent portions of a single large settlement area, subdivided into separate villages. Given the complex's location, it is possible that this was a village site visited by Spanish explorer

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado Francisco Vázquez de Coronado y Luján (; 1510 – 22 September 1554) was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who led a large expedition from what is now Mexico to present-day Kansas through parts of the southwestern United States between ...

during his 1541 expedition to a place he called

Quivira Quivira is a place named by Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1541, for the mythical Seven Cities of Gold that he never found. Quivira was a province of the ancestral Wichita people, located near the Great Bend of the Arkans ...

. Typical features of these sites include the presence of a

council circle A council circle is a distinctive feature at the center of some tribal communities in North America. The historical function of the council circles is debated. Some suggest that the talking circles are ceremonial, and others support a hypothesi ...

, depressions consistent with known forms of period semi-subterranean living structures, and mounds representing food caches or refuse middens. Some of the sites have lost surface-level artifacts due to cultivation, while others have never been cultivated and are covered by a layer of native sod. Some of the sites have long been known as sources of artifacts, and have been subjected to looting. Despite this, the size and scope of the sites is such that there is a great deal of potential information to be recovered by further investigation. The Tobias site was excavated three times by archaeologist Waldo Wedel for the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, in 1940, 1965, and 1971. The 1965 excavation was particularly significant, because it uncovered evidence of a deeper habitation layer beneath that site's council circle. Finds from these investigations include pottery fragments, stone and bone tools and projectile points, and human remains.

References

External links

* {{coord missing, Kansas National Historic Landmarks in Kansas Geography of Rice County, Kansas Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas National Register of Historic Places in Rice County, Kansas Plains Village period

Archaeological sites in Kansas This is a listing of sites of archaeological interest in the state of Kansas, in the United States. {{DEFAULTSORT:Archaeological Sites In Kansas Archaeology of the Great Plains Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. It ...

Native American history of Kansas Former Native American populated places in the United States

Description

See also

References

External links