Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society
Volume 7; July, 1957 - April, 1958
Reynold J. Ruppé, Editor
"It is with some reluctance that this is written. We have already embarked on a Journal of different format and the response has been favorable; but we have become attached to the old appearance and are saddened by its disappearance. We wished to continue the old style, but financial and practical considerations dictated otherwise. The unequal struggle against rising printing costs and the mechanics of fitting manuscripts of variable length to a fixed number of pages was too much. In retrospect, it is clear that the original format was too much. In retrospect, it is clear that the original format was too ambitious for a young society. But in 1951 who could have predicted the great rise in the cost living?..."
"The collection of the State University of Iowa's Museum of Natural History includes the following:
- Six celts, seven full-grooved axes, twenty-five three-quarter grooved axes, a bannerstone, a two-bitted ax, a quartzite hammer and a basalt abrading stone collected by J. L. Kallam near Chelsea, Iowa.
- Four celts, one three-quarter grooved ax, a chopper and a limestone hoe collected by Mr. and Mrs. Frank Louvar, Sr. in Johnson County, Iowa.
- One pointed maul found near Cherokee, Iowa, by M. D. McNeil.
- One full-grooved maul from Winterset, Iowa, donated by A. E. Goshorn.
The axes examined fall into three distinct classes: an ungrooved ax or celt, a three-quarter grooved ax and a full-grooved ax. Each group will be described in turn...."
"The United States is a nation oriented toward the future with a firm belief in the concept known as progress. But even this forward-minded nation still retains an active interest in its own past cultural heritage and the cultural horizons of the human groups that preceded them in this country."
"This essay is based on a circular which the author prepared for use at the University of California, Berkeley, to answer the periodic inquiries of students. The present version has profited by comparison with circulars on the same subject put out by the Chicago Natural History Museum and the University of Chicago. The former was kindly furnished by Donald Collier, the latter by its author, Robert J. Braidwood. Valuable suggestions for revision were received from Irving Rouse, Richard E. Woodbury, Gladys D. Weinberg, Robert F. Heizer, Jotham Johnson and Mrs. L. Earle Rowe. To all of these friends and colleagues, grateful acknowledgement is made...."
Volume 8; July, 1958 - April, 1959
Reynold J. Ruppé, Editor
"Stone hammers and river pebbles with usage marks are a common occurrence in archaeological sites. As often as not, their former functions are considered to have been for "general, utilitarian purposes," if thought of at all. We seldom focus our attention on the specific nature of those utilitarian purposes...."
"Several years ago I made preliminary surveys of three localities in southern and southeastern Iowa for the River Basin Surveys, Smithsonian Institution. These localities -- the sites of flood control adn water supply projects planned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- were the Rathbun Reservoir area on the Chariton, the Red Rock Reservoir area on the Des Moines, and the Coralville Reservoir area on the Iowa rivers. The purpose of the surveys was to locate and record the archaeological sites in these areas and to recommend (or not recommend) further reconnaissance of, or the excavations of important sites lying within, the reservoir areas in the event that the projects became active and would thus threaten permanent destruction to the materials...."
"Discoveries of artifacts which may be assigned to the Archaic period of development of American Indian cultures have not been uncommon in western Iowa. However, so far as can be determined, these items have been restricted to surface finds. Therefore, the discovery of a cultural zone buried approximately seventeen feet below the present surface and containing a series of stone artifacts which appear to be Archaic is of considerable importance to students of prehistory in the Midwest.
This report will present the results of an investigation of the Hill Site (13ML62) which came to the attention of the writer early in the summer of 1958. So far as is known, the culture represented at this site has not been reported heretofore, in this area, nor has a name for it been suggested. For convenience the name "Pony Creek Complex" has been applied (Frankforter 1959) since the site occurs in deposits along a stream of that name...."
Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society
Webpage by Heidi M. Thunhorst, September 3, 2002.