Late Woodland Adaptive Patterns in Eastern Kansas

Data available from 15 eastern Kansas Late Woodland sites, sequentially occupied over an approximately 500 year span of time (A.D. 500-1 000), have been assembled in an attempt to understand the nature of the adaptive system. Numerous small sites, situated on floodplain elevations or terrace remnants and in proximity to perpetually flowing streams, contain one or two impermanent house structures, a few small storage facilities, and hearths either within or without the house walls. Faunal and floral remains indicate a hunting-and-gathering reliance on a wide variety of native plants and animals supplemented, at least late in the sequence, by horticulture based on corn, squash, and sunflowers. Artifact assemblages, limited in size and variety, are almost entirely representative of activities related to procuring and processing various subsistence components. This pattern contrasts markedly with that of Middle Woodland Kansas City Hopewell nucleated villages; a contrast believed related to differentials in natural resource potential. Implications for the onset of agriculturally-based subsistence economies are explored.