[meteorite-list] Archaeologist Finds Brenham Meteorite Among Artificats from the Hopewell People

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.dodgeglobe.com/stories/060104/sta_0601040015.shtml

Archaeologist searches for artifacts from the Hopewell people
Dodge City Daily Globe (Kansas)
June 1, 2004

Wichita archaeologist Jim Dougherty is on a treasure hunt. This 
treasure is information, not gold or silver. The information is 
about the Hopewell people who lived from eastern Kansas into 
Illinois and Ohio from approximately 50 B.C. to 500 A.D. Dougherty 
hopes to learn more about how far into Kansas these prehistoric 
people got by studying the artifacts they left behind.

The Hopewell culture is best known for the earth mounds along the 
Ohio River, but evidence of their passage has been known from 
eastern Kansas for decades.

Dougherty believes he can trace where in Kansas the Hopewell were, 
and possibly when, by finding particular kinds of pottery sherds, 
certain styles of arrow points, perforated bear teeth, small stone 
bladelets and other objects.

The Hopewell influenced other native American cultures throughout 
the mid-continent and beyond. They dispatched trade and acquisition 
expeditions far and wide. Dougherty says "we know they had villages 
in northeast and southeast Kansas, but I am intrigued with the 
question of the extent to which they may have traveled west along 
the Arkansas River drainage system. We know they obtained 
meteorites from southwestern Kansas and obsidian (volcanic glass), 
bear teeth, and bighorn sheep horns from the Rocky Mountains. We 
do not know, however, what routes they took and where they camped.

Dr. David Hughes of Wichita State University says "there are some 
tempting clues to possible movement of Hopewell ideas and trade 
goods through Kansas, but we desperately need more information on 
it. When Jim's study is finished, we may have that information."

Dr. Donald Blakeslee, also of Wichita State, has worked with 
Hopewell pipes and meteors. He is certain that Hopewell expeditions 
from Ohio got at least as far west as Greensburg. "Iron from two 
sites in Ohio has been identified as coming from the Brenham 
meteorite," he explains. A large piece of the Brenham meteorite is 
on display at the Big Well in Greensburg. Blakeslee also suspects, 
but cannot prove, that Hopewell people visited the Pikes Peak area.

Dougherty hopes that farmers, ranchers and amateur archaeologists 
in west-central and western Kansas will help by contacting him if 
they have found artifacts like those illustrated here. He says that 
other items could also be suggestive of a Hopewellian influence. 
These objects could include certain copper ornaments and tools, 
ceramic figurines, intricately engraved bone, or a cache of fossil 
shark teeth.