Researching Ancient Kansas Native Americans will be topic at Sumner Historical meeting
On Monday, March 23rd, at 6:30 p.m., Donald Blakeslee, Professor of Anthropology at Wichita State University, will present “Researching Ancient Kansas Native Americans†to Sumner County Historical and Genealogical Society members and guests at the Good Taste Chinese Buffet, 1311 E. 16th St., Wellington.
Donald Blakeslee
No cost for the program; guests are welcome. In case of bad weather, contact Jane Moore at 620-447-3266 or the Good Taste Chinese Buffet at 620-399-8401 for meeting cancellations.
If people want to bring in artifacts that they have found, arrowheads, flint chips, pieces of pottery, etc, Blakeslee said that he will try to identify them for the collector. Â
Blakeslee said that he specializes in the history of the Great Plains with a special interest on the Walnut River basin during all time periods. His current research could, in his words “rewrite the Great Bend culture.†The Great Bend Aspect, as archaeologists call it, refers to ancient Native American people, particularly the ancestral Wichita tribe, who lived in several regions of the state, including Cowley County, from about 1425 AD to the early 18th century.
Blakeslee said that many Great Bend sites and artifacts have been identified in Cowley County and in the Arkansas City area in particular. Blakeslee’s latest research suggests that present-day Arkansas City covers the southern end of a massive settlement that covered at least a 5-mile stretch to the north. Blakeslee said that there are other sites along the river, in Winfield, and scattered up as far as Augusta. Spanish records from the 17th century that Blakeslee has examined suggest that perhaps as many as 20,000 people may have lived in the Arkansas City area settlement at one time.
“There were lots of Wichita’s here,†Blakeslee said, but added that by 1719, most of them were living in Oklahoma.
“They came back temporarily during the Civil War,†Blakeslee said, “there were lots of Native American refugees in Kansas during the Civil War.
“As soon as the Civil War was over they went back to Oklahoma,†Blakeslee said.
Blakeslee said they will be doing a little survey during Spring Break around Arkansas City to see if they can get permission to go on people’s lands, then in May & June they will have a field school that will start up in Rice and McPherson Counties where there are similar sites and then move to Arkansas City.
