Continuity and change in pipestone sources at Great Bend aspect and Wichita sites

Abstract

Previous research has focused on identifying the various sources for pipestone that were used prehistorically, including Kansas pipestone, Minnesota pipestone, and Wisconsin pipestone. During the current study, in which pipestone artifacts from Great Bend aspect and Wichita sites were sourced, it was revealed that James Gundersen had located the source of Kansas pipestone in Jasper, Minnesota. He alluded to it in previous studies [Gundersen, James N., and Joseph A. Tiffany (1986) Nature and Provenance of Red Pipestone from the Wittrock Site (130B4), Northwest Iowa. North American Archaeologist 7(1):45–67], but never published the significant finding. The results of this mineralogical sourcing study found that prior to and during the Great Bend aspect occupation in Kansas, Kansas pipestone was the primary material used in pipe manufacture. This differs from the two eighteenth-century Wichita sites in Oklahoma where the majority of the pipestone was Minnesota pipestone. Multiple factors are proposed to explain this shift, including tension with neighbors and increased European influences.

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