Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society
Volume 39, 1992
William Green, Editor
The Paul Rowe Collection contains thousands of prehistoric specimens from Mills County, southwestern Iowa. It is a significant collection because of its exclusive focus on a specific region and because of the quantity and quality of documentation associated with it. Recent work has cataloged the collection, compiled previously scattered site data, and field checked many sites. This paper presents biographical information on Paul Rowe, reviews his contributions to regional archaeology, and discusses the significance of the Rowe Collection. It also describes in detail the archival sources utilized and the methods used to obtain and collate data on archaeological specimens and sites from over 300 maps, letters, and manuscripts. A brief summary and concluding statement reviews the project and recommends measures to further enhance the utility of the Rowe Collection. Special consideration is given to the large segment of the Rowe Collection on exhibit and in storage at the Mills County Historical Museum in Glenwood.
During the 1930s and 1940s, inmates of the Glenwood State Hospital-School (formerly the Institution for the Feeble-Minded) excavated over 15 Nebraska phase earthlodges near Glenwood, Mills County, Iowa. An inmate named Frances McDowell led the digging. Paul R. Rowe documented many of McDowell's excavations and acquired artifacts and valuable information despite the inmates' generally poor excavation techniques. Rowe's documentation and collections from these sites have been largely ignored and the sites' data thought to be unsalvageable. However, the current study shows that Rowe's maps, letters, floor plans, photographs, artifact lists by provenience, structural information, and artifact labelling and cataloguing system are of considerable value in bringing the excavated sites into the corpus of Central Plains Tradition earthlodges which can be productively analyzed. This paper presents summary data from these sites, as well as details on the better-excavated earthlodges, demonstrating the potential of these sites for further research.
Intensive documentary research, field work, and interviews in 1991 verified the exact locations of 120 sites Paul Rowe investigated in southwestern Iowa. During this study, additional sites were documented as well. In total, 183 previously recorded sites were updated and 210 new sites were recorded. The Iowa Site File for Mills County now is largely updated, corrected, and usable for further research.
Paul Rowe wrote detailed reports on three Nebraska phase sites he excavated in Mills County and one whose cross-section he profiled. These reports provide new data on Central Plains earthlodges in southwestern Iowa.
Human skeletal remains from several Mills County, Iowa, sites were examined in accordance with Iowa statute. Comprehensive series of metric and nonmetric attributes were recorded. Remains of at least 20 individuals were studied, most of whom probably were prehistoric American Indians.
Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society
Webpage by Heidi M. Thunhorst, September 3, 2002.