Page 3 - RAGBRAI2010

SIOUX CITY TO STORM LAKE

COWAN SITE Great Oasis
ceramic pot

Archaeological work along an Iowa Depart- of the Great Oasis prehistoric
culture first identified 50
ment of Transportation bypass project for U.S. 75 years ago and initially
believed to be con-
around Sioux City resulted in an important discovery. fined to a limited
area of southwest-
Named after the landowner at the time, the “Cowan ern Minnesota.
Recent research,
Site” has revealed significant information about early however, has ex-
panded Great Oasis
farming villages in northwestern Iowa. occupation to a four-state
area, including parts of Ne-
In 1998, a crew of 24 archaeologists, led by braska, South Dakota, and Iowa.
One of the important research questions about
Toby Morrow of the OSA, undertook a 12-week Great Oasis focuses on the amount of contact with
Mississippian peoples who also frequented the same
excavation to mitigate the highway’s impact to the
area. The Cowan Site, despite
site. Over 122,000 items were recovered, some the presence of non-local cherts,
has yielded no evidence of trade
buried as deeply as 120 cm (4 ft) below the sur- with Mississippian groups. One
explanation is that Great Oasis
face of the modern Floyd River flood plain. Burned is chronologically earlier than
Mississippian occupation of north-
earth, daub, and post molds confirmed the presence west Iowa.

of houses, and animal bones and carbonized seeds

from storage pits yielded detailed information about

the inhabitants’ subsistance activities.

Cowan has

been interpreted

as a small farming

hamlet, possibly

consisting of up to

five houses occu-

pied concurrently

approximately 1000

years ago. Residents

raised corn and

other domesticates,

made decorated pottery, Above:
manufactured stone tools, excavation
and processed various plant photograph

and animal resources for Right:
clothing, shelter, and food. excavation
in progress
Archaeologists define

the Cowan Site to be part