On one of many pinnacles along the bluffs lining the Missouri River southwest of Columbia, atop the steep face of jagged rock plunging to the landing, there is an inconspicuous 10-foot lump of earth.
What appears to be a natural point in the landscape — insignificant in the swath of hills and valleys — is a burial mound, formed by human hands thousands of years ago.
In another state
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Early Mississippi/Middle Mississippi
A Gulf Coast shell gorget — an ornament usually worn over the chest — created during the Woodland Period is featured at the Museum of Anthropology in MU’s Swallow Hall.
A collection of pottery samples from the Woodland Period are displayed at MUÂ’s Swallow Hall. Civilizations in central valleys and Missouri and Mississippi rivers started making pottery and building burial mounds around 600 B.C. Shown here are Naples Dentate stamped pot shards and Renner crosshatched pot shards.
Late Woodland continued
Archaeologists survey a site at Rogers Shelter in southern Missouri during a salvage work inspection trip in 1964. From left are Carl Chapman, Wilfred Logan, Henry W. Hamilton and Zorro Bradley. In 1986, Chapman established an 11,000-year timeline for a civilization that lived in the Rogers Shelter area. The discovery is one of the longest cultural sequences found in Missouri.
Late Woodland
Les Bourgeois Winery in Rocheport is an example of both an obtrusive and nonobtrusive blufftop development, says Jeff Barrow of ColumbiaÂ’s Planning and Zoning Commission. Although the restaurant, top right, sticks out, the wineryÂ’s A-frame, top left, blends into the natural settings, Barrow says.
Middle Woodland
A collection of bone awls — tools for scraping and making holes — and bone fish hooks created during the Woodland Period are displayed at an exhibit at MU’s Swallow Hall.
Early Woodland timeline
Current periods
An excavation at a site in St. Joseph was conducted under the direction of Carl Chapman in 1966. Chapman, the first person to graduate from MU with experience in American archaeology, is credited with providing much of the knowledge of MissouriÂ’s historical and archaeological record.
Riverfront connection
Mississippi Period/Migration
A SnyderÂ’s corner-notched point created during the Woodland Period is featured in an exhibit in Swallow Hall.
Woodland era burial mound
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American Indian burial mounds abound in mid-Missouri, especially along the blufftops of the river. Many date back 2,000 years or more to what is called the Woodland Period, from about 500 B.C. to about A.D. 900.
With developer Jose Lindner’s purchase of the former W.B. Smith Feed Mill and Hatchery property — 1,024 acres between the city and the river — government officials say city annexation is inevitable. And others say if planning doesn’t precede development, the future of the burial mounds along the blufftops is uncertain at best.
Few protections exist for the prehistoric sites. The federal legislation meant to protect them only applies to development projects that are on federal land or use federal money. State protection only applies to “known” prehistoric sites.
But without an official database, many sites only become known when construction runs into them, at which point archaeologists say the damage is generally already extensive.
Layers of history
While some city and county officials seek ways to protect the burial mounds, development creeps steadily southwest toward the water.
Boone County is home to more recorded burial mounds and other archaeological sites than any other Missouri county, with 1,300 known sites as of Aug. 31.
There are 37,000 known sites in the state, but thatÂ’s probably a small fraction of the total, said Judith Deel, an officer with the State Historic Preservation Office.
Burial mounds were typically built on blufftops overlooking rivers or streams. In some cases, mound builders saved the bones of their tribeÂ’s dead for years until they camped in one area long enough to build a mound. As a result, some mounds contain bones and cremations from different years.
Many of these mounds have been excavated in the past, and the information gleaned from their contents has given archaeologists a picture of Missouri that dates back at least 12,000 years to the Woodland Period and earlier.
Some recent discoveries were accidental. In 1989, during a construction project along Forum Boulevard, a mound was hit. Because it was already damaged and partly exposed, archaeologists decided to excavate its contents. They found the remains of 11 people from the Late Woodland Period, about A.D. 700 to A.D. 900.
They also found a female who was about 20 years old when she died, sealed in a limestone tomb and buried in the mound. Carbon dating showed she had lived in the Early Woodland Period, between 850 B.C. and 450 B.C.
Much of what is known about the historical and archaeological record of Missouri is owed to Carl Chapman, the first person to graduate from MU with experience in American archaeology. Chapman dedicated his life to discovering MissouriÂ’s history and prehistory.
In 1986, Chapman was researching the Rogers Shelter area in the Osage River Basin when he established what he estimated to be an 11,000-year timeline — from about 10,000 B.C. to about A.D. 1,000 — for one civilization in Missouri. The discovery is one of the longest cultural sequences found in the state.
He also uncovered a mastodon tusk near Miami, Mo., in the 1970s. Even more significant was the “flake knife” found next to it, suggesting people may have lived in Missouri at the same time as the mastodon — about 18,000 years ago.
... you were being sarcastic
