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The Simonsen Site

Perhaps you have heard of the Head-
Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in Alberta or the
Olsen-Chubbuck bison kill site in Colorado, but did
you know that large scale bison drives also took
place in Iowa? One of the oldest bison kill sites in
the state was found along the banks of the Little
Sioux River in Cherokee County, near the town of
Quimby. The Simonsen Site (13CK61) represents
a large-scale bison kill similar to better known
kill sites from farther west. Excavations at the
site began in the late 1950s under the direction
of W.D. Frankforter of the Sanford Museum in
Cherokee, State Archaeologist Reynold Ruppé,
and George Agogino of the State University of
South Dakota. During three years of excavations Bison bones uncovered with drawing grid on top.
eight strata were identified that included three
cultural layers separated by periods of frequent became extinct about 5,000 years ago. A large
flooding. dog mandible was also found, which suggests
The cultural strata included a bed of bison that these people may have had dogs to help
bone 25 feet wide and 75 feet long buried 14 with the hunting.
feet below the ground surface. Several hearths, The Simonsen Site continues to inform archae-
projectile points, and other stone tools used for ological research today. Corrected radiocarbon
butchering and processing hides were found dates indicate that the site was occupied 8,000
along with the bone. The large animal bones years ago, during the Middle Archaic period. This
found at the site were identified as Bison bison was a time of drought and harsh conditions on
occidentalis, an ancient form of giant bison that the Plains, and early theories in Great Plains ar-
chaeology assumed that the region was largely
abandoned. Recent research, however, revisiting
data from the Simonsen Site and other early sites
is changing the way archaeologists look at this
time period. The research indicates that large
herds of bison inhabited the region, and early
Plains hunters were capable of obtaining an am-
ple supply of meat.

If you are in the town of Cherokee, stop in at
the Sanford Museum and see some of the arti-
facts from this and other archaeological sites in
the area.

Projectile points recovered from site.