Page 16 - DesMoinesRiver

The house at the Lambert site was set upon a ridge overlooking

the river, but well out of danger from floods, and was probably

occupied in the summer by a family or extended household

group. The situation of the site would have provided the inhab-

itants with easy access to plant and animal species from forest,

prairie, and riverine/aquatic communities. Pottery from the

site was associated with the end of the Middle Woodland and

the beginning of the Late Woodland period Stone tools recovered
during excavations
dating to around A.D. 500 to A.D. 600 (Ful- at the Lambert Site,
mer et al. 1977:51).

The Wenke Site (13VB402) 13VB82. From Fulmer
et al. 1977.

Archaeologists do not always have to excavate
a site to learn about its inhabitants. If a site has not
been seriously disturbed, the patterns of tools and
debris types that frequently appear together can indicate the
performance of certain activities. For example, hammer-
stones, cores, and flaking debris indicate a flintknapping
area where stone tools were made and repaired. Scrapers
and cutting tools might indicate an area where hide, bone,
or wood was processed.

The Wenke Site (13VB402) is located on a terrace of Hon- Map of artifact distribution densities at the Wenke Site, 13VB402. From Miller 1987.
ey Creek near a small intermittent stream. Although never
excavated, an intensive, systematic surface collection, mapping, Nearby exposures of Keokuk chert, a stone used for making stone
and statistical analysis of the data have provided researchers with tools, appears to have been one attraction. Flint knapping tools, flakes,
insights into the ways in which the site was utilized (Miller 1986, and other knapping debris were abundant telling us that this is a loca-
1987). This location was apparently used frequently over a very tion where people came to gather raw material and make their stone
long period of time. The types of pottery and projectile points tools. Large concentrations of fire-cracked rock and ceramics were also
that were recovered indicate that the most intensive use of identified and grinding stones were common. This evidence suggests
the site came during the Late Woodland period; however, that plant processing and stone boiling were also important activities.
evidence of Early and Middle Woodland occupations were While it is impossible to be certain, the Wenke site could have served
also identified. One spear point may be as old as the Late as a fall hunting and gathering camp. Nuts and berries would have been
Archaic period, telling us that this site was used for centuries (Miller plentiful along the creek and bluff area, while deer and small mammals
1987:55). also would have been present in the area (Miller 1987:55).

16 A River of Unrivaled Advantages—Life Along the Lower Des Moines River